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Does anyone else find watching old tv shows soothing?

163 replies

GingerbreadCrisps · 23/11/2024 18:18

I’ve been watching Tales of The Unexpected and while the stories certainly aren’t cosy, there’s still something soothing about seeing the old fashioned haircuts, clothes and decor.

I watch a lot of old shows for this reason. I appreciate that there are many less appealing aspects of certain older shows but I generally find them comforting.

Which old programmes do you find soothing? I’m always looking for more. I’ll leave it to the individual to decide what constitutes old.

OP posts:
LadyChilli · 23/11/2024 22:23

There’s still something soothing about seeing the old fashioned haircuts, clothes and decor.

As soon as I saw the thread title I thought of Tales of the Unexpected. Watching it I could be back in my childhood living room with my mum and dad, blissfully innocent with not a care or worry in the world. I love old episodes of Delia Smith for the same reason.

Daysnconfuddled · 23/11/2024 22:30

I loved the Delia Smith How to Cook programmes. I also have her. Cook books, very reliable recipes.

tobee · 23/11/2024 22:33

LadyChilli · 23/11/2024 22:23

There’s still something soothing about seeing the old fashioned haircuts, clothes and decor.

As soon as I saw the thread title I thought of Tales of the Unexpected. Watching it I could be back in my childhood living room with my mum and dad, blissfully innocent with not a care or worry in the world. I love old episodes of Delia Smith for the same reason.

Re seeing the decor and hair and clothes etc, I was a teenager through the 1980s so those 1980s fashions and styles were what "grown ups" looked like.

I especially like watching 80s episodes of TOTP on iPlayer because it brings back the memories of transitioning from child to adult, dressing up to go out to parties, discos, pubs etc, all things that seemed so exciting and being on the brink of a thrilling life. Ok, maybe it was mostly about hoping to spot the latest boy I fancied 😁

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LarkinAboot · 23/11/2024 22:40

EatTheBastard · 23/11/2024 19:16

Lots of pp's have already mentioned mine

I'll add:
You rang, m'lord?
The Golden Girls
George & Mildred
Lots of p's

Hi-de-Hi!

Are You Being Served?

Blackadder

Open All Hours

Victoria Wood - As Seen on TV (with the Marvelous Acorn Antiques)
Is it legal?
Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister

I've found my people. George and Mildred and Bless This House especially.

All the cosy whodunnits 70s & 90s British comedy

Ealing comedies too. Total joy!

TheDowagerCountessofPembroke · 23/11/2024 22:52

Andwhomightyoube · 23/11/2024 20:28

Oh god all the time, it's so much better than what's on offer and brings a lovely big of fuzzy nostalgia.
Most recently it's been:

Absolutely Fabulous
The League of Gentlemen
The Fast Show
Grange Hill
They Think It's All Over
90s crimewatch (to bring back the crush I used to have on Nick Ross).
The X files (ditto above with David Duchovny).

90s Crimewatch? I get the rest of them but not that.

Dappy777 · 23/11/2024 22:53

Yes, absolutely. Part of it is nostalgia. I remember Matt Haig saying that when he was in a severe depression, he re-watched all the films and TV shows he'd loved as a child. It soothed his mind. I guess it put him back in the warmth and security of childhood. I was a child of the 1980s, so I love the films of that decade (even the bad ones). And I sometimes go on youtube and watch clips of Oliver Postgate's TV shows. They have such sweetness and charm compared to the ugly, garish stuff they make now.

I much prefer old TV and film. Everything seems so loud and ugly and aggressive today. Just watch Blue Peter from the 1970s. It's so polite and genteel. We forget how much more crowded the world has become as well. In 1960 there were three billion humans. Today there are eight billion. Every year there seem to be more houses, more cars and more noise. Plus, thanks to IPhones, we never switch off. And that's all reflected in our TV and film. Everything is too fast-moving and ugly.

It's the same with literature. Most of my favourite writers (Oscar Wilde, P. G. Wodehouse, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, etc) are either late Victorian or early 20th-century. They grew up in a much quieter, slower, emptier world, and you sense it in their writing. In 1900, there were just a billion humans. The world's population today is eight times larger! Think of C. S. Lewis' Narnia books, in which the children wander around this big, empty house. No one lives in a big, empty house now!! We all live in overpriced rabbit hutches jammed on top of one another. One of the things I love about the Sherlock Homes novels, or P. G. Wodehouse's Blandings books, is the world they create. It seems a much softer, quieter, more charming world. It's one of the things I love about The Wind in the Willows as well – that sense of calm and peace.

In a way I think I've pretty much opted out of the modern world. I almost never read contemporary fiction, never go to the cinema, and hardly watch TV. I generally watch old films or repeats of old TV shows. Another thing that really strikes me is the dumbing down. Just watch I Claudius. For a start, everyone speaks in a sharp, clear cut, RP accent, and they also speak quickly and eloquently. Same with Brideshead Revisited. If they were made today, critics would accuse them of elitism.

Andwhomightyoube · 23/11/2024 22:54

TheDowagerCountessofPembroke · 23/11/2024 22:52

90s Crimewatch? I get the rest of them but not that.

Nick Ross and his twinkley eyes!

echt · 23/11/2024 22:55

I've just finished the first series of "Last Tango in Halifax" on DVD. Wonderful.
Now soooo annoyed that my local library has done away with the ones they had and I'll have to go trawling the op shops to find the rest.

Andwhomightyoube · 23/11/2024 22:57

echt · 23/11/2024 22:55

I've just finished the first series of "Last Tango in Halifax" on DVD. Wonderful.
Now soooo annoyed that my local library has done away with the ones they had and I'll have to go trawling the op shops to find the rest.

If you have a TV licence then it's on iPlayer. All series are available.

StormingNorman · 23/11/2024 22:59

Howard’s Way takes me back to my childhood in the “glamorous” 80s.

TheBigSalami · 23/11/2024 23:03

Yes. If I’m on my own in the evening, I’ll often watch Friends even though it’s pretty awful. Just for half an hour or so. It dulls my brain after a busy day.

Xtraincome · 23/11/2024 23:04

TV

Frasier- watch an episode every single day
First 10 seasons of Simpsons
Dinnerladies
Only Fools & Horses
Golden Girls
Camp Cretaceous - watch it loads with my DDs
Ghosts
Blue Lights
Sex and the city

Films - watched several times a year

Little Women
Muppet Christmas Carol
Simpsons Movie
Planet of the Apes (newer flicks)

Also, I watch loads of horror flicks- I like being scared but hate gore/torture flicks. I am a haunted house, creepy kid, ouija board type- the worse premise, the better!

@Jifmicroliquid I watched a documentary on Sky Arts called "Stephen King on Screen" and it has become my new comfort documentary as I am a huge King fan.

StarDolphins · 23/11/2024 23:04

My ideal night is watching the following, dog on lap with a glass of Prosecco..

Keeping up appearances
balls of steel
One foot in the grave
the office
Faulty Towers
Friends
Extras
The hills
only fools & horses
Ali G

Love them all & v nostalgic & calming for me’

DopamineDresser · 23/11/2024 23:07

Xtraincome · 23/11/2024 23:04

TV

Frasier- watch an episode every single day
First 10 seasons of Simpsons
Dinnerladies
Only Fools & Horses
Golden Girls
Camp Cretaceous - watch it loads with my DDs
Ghosts
Blue Lights
Sex and the city

Films - watched several times a year

Little Women
Muppet Christmas Carol
Simpsons Movie
Planet of the Apes (newer flicks)

Also, I watch loads of horror flicks- I like being scared but hate gore/torture flicks. I am a haunted house, creepy kid, ouija board type- the worse premise, the better!

@Jifmicroliquid I watched a documentary on Sky Arts called "Stephen King on Screen" and it has become my new comfort documentary as I am a huge King fan.

Oooh yes definitely Sex and the City - know it by heart!

Andwhomightyoube · 23/11/2024 23:09

StormingNorman · 23/11/2024 22:59

Howard’s Way takes me back to my childhood in the “glamorous” 80s.

Terrible show with an incredible theme tune

Loulo6098 · 23/11/2024 23:11

RisingSunn · 23/11/2024 18:23

I’m going to re-visit Keeping Up Appearances after seeing an old clip on Facebook.

The clip was absolutely hilarious and it just made me feel warm inside. 🫣

I have been watching it. It's brilliant. I love watching the old ways of life more than anything.

TulipTuesday · 23/11/2024 23:18

We watch Only Fools and Horses constantly. Me and DH both grew up with it and because we’ve rewatched it so much our DSs have grown up with it too.

I also watch The Good Life, To the Manor Born and Keeping up Appearances.

coxesorangepippin · 23/11/2024 23:23

Yup

I watch the same thing again and again

Fruitbatdancer · 23/11/2024 23:28

The Bill. Makes me feel safe somehow. Calms me.

Sethera · 23/11/2024 23:35

Oh, yes - DH and I usually have a 70s or 80s series on the go. I recently got the box set of 80s children's series 'Jossy's Giants' which we are watching at the moment. Before that we were watching 'Duty Free' on ITVX.

thatsawhopperthatlemon · 23/11/2024 23:38

I am sitting here right now watching Allo Allo.

Ludicrous, laugh out loud funny, and they really don't make them like that any more.

StormingNorman · 23/11/2024 23:40

thatsawhopperthatlemon · 23/11/2024 23:38

I am sitting here right now watching Allo Allo.

Ludicrous, laugh out loud funny, and they really don't make them like that any more.

I shall say ziss only once

Andwhomightyoube · 23/11/2024 23:41

Fruitbatdancer · 23/11/2024 23:28

The Bill. Makes me feel safe somehow. Calms me.

It's cause Jack Meadows will always put the the wrong un's away!

AfterEightMints001 · 23/11/2024 23:43

mines a mix on the classics some are good , some funny, some intriguing etc

Oldish:
Love thy neighbour
Get some in (i think it was called)

Modernish
Buffy the vampire slayer
Stargate Sg1
X files
The lone gunmen
The Agency
The Unit
Star trek voyager
The A team
Spooks
Ugly Betty
Superstore
Town called Eureka
The tomorrow people (updated series)

smalltreethisyear · 23/11/2024 23:45

Most of the above and also Monarch o the Glen