Is my obsession with old TV a form of self-soothing?

[Journey1234]

I feel a little embarrassed and I’m not sure how common this is, so I wondered if anyone might be able to shed some light on it?

I watch a lot of old game shows, sitcoms, and lately I’ve become obsessed with watching old Crimewatch programmes on YouTube. I do occasionally watch new things, but I always seem to default back to older programmes. I’ve watched some of them over and over again for years, and I even have them playing when I go to sleep.

It’s almost like a comfort thing. I genuinely enjoy what I watch, but I do sometimes wonder if it’s a little strange that I return to the same programmes so much.
I had a mother who was emotionally detached from me when I was growing up, and I had to learn to self-soothe from quite a young age. One of my biggest comforts was Alan Robson’s Night Owls, so I’ve wondered whether there could be some connection between that and why familiar voices and old programmes still feel so comforting to me now.

perhaps the familiarity and predictability are soothing, and I don’t have to concentrate as much as I would with something new.
Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I’d be really interested to hear other people’s experiences, or whether anyone with a psychological/therapeutic background has any thoughts on why this might be.

p.s with the crime watch programs I like watching the reconstructions particularly in the late 80s early 90s when I was a child as I like to see the old decor,shops,cars etc.

I’m the same. I love old TV, especially how quiet and measured it all was. As well as enjoying watching all kinds of vintage programmes I have a handful that I watch if I’m stressed, I know them backwards but there is something about them that is always soothing. The BBC archive channel on Youtube has some absolute gems.

It's better to watch things from a range of periods. It would be odd to only read books written in the last year, at least half of which refer to Agatha Christie etc, had you never read any of the classics.
Apparently most of us respond well to music from our youth, so why not TV?

And Columbo got cool with Gen Z over lockdown, so you can just tell everyone that retro is in!

Snap with death in paradise. Mm is a bit too scary!

There's nothing wrong with watching whatever you like. With very obvious exceptions. It doesn't matter if it's just to relax, for a laugh, comfort, soothing, interesting, informative, exciting etc. you don't need to justify it!

I am currently rewatching DIP. I am in series 3

I like the TV channel talking pictures. I find the 1960s stuff v soothing and the plot lines are v simple and there is no realistic violence (choreographed fight scenes, no blood or sound effects) no noisy car chases etc. The misogyny and casual racism is however off the scale which is not great. I have poor MH and these calm shows do entertain me without any adrenaline ! Im talking about The Brothers; Z Cars; Scotland Yard; Family at War and Burkes Law etc. I was too young to see these first time round.

Huge changes in social history and values around then. Im always fascinated by the lack of traffic on the roads and how well people dressed.

Gosh yes, I do this all the time. I go through phases - in the last year I've rewatched Cagney & Lacey (way better than I remembered, such good nuanced characters), May to December (gentle and soothing), The Good Life (Tom shocked me with his macho attitudes, I had no memory of that! But Margo as brilliant as ever RIP), The Bill (so clunky but I love it and used to live in 'Sun Hill' so love location spotting) and some v old Coronation Street (absolutely stellar depiction of Northern women). I must admit I like the odd Crimewatch but am always shocked/saddened to google the cases and see how many remain unsolved. Crimewatch File is better from that pov. If you're weird, OP, then so am I.

p.s with the crime watch programs I like watching the reconstructions particularly in the late 80s early 90s when I was a child as I like to see the old decor,shops,cars etc.

I think that this is super common. I was watching something set in the early 00s with dd and trying to explain how low cut low rise jeans were and that modern low rise are laughably higher.

We only watch old movies and old tV! It’s so much better quality. We tried to watch the new Bergerac on Iplayer the other day and it was shockingly poor. Flimsy script, unlit sets, dreary all the way. We went straight back to the old Bergerac! What a difference! Scripts are very basic now, and there’s too much depressing stories not enlivened by good acting or good direction. Definitely culture is a very low point.
Hopefully it will improve. Even quiz shows these days are full of padding, boring chat we just don’t want to sit through.
id say watching older tV shows you are discerning!

I rewatch old episodes of Morse, Lewis, Frost, Poirot, Miss Marple, Lovejoy etc. For me it is self-soothing but I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I often get bad depression & anxiety and in the past I had treatment with a psychologist. One of the things I learned during that was that self soothing is a necessary skill that I didn't really have. I now have a "tool kit" to use when I'm starting to feel my mental health taking a dip and watching these is part of that.

I read somewhere that this is why some people like studying History - it was all okay in the end, those who suffered aren’t suffering now, there’s not really any surprises, and various people survived long enough to ensure that you are here now.

How are you all watching? Any specific TV channels or packages?

Was it Bob Mortimer who said he’s now become a person who watches ITV3 or something? 😆

@NoCommentingFromNowOn I watch Drama, That's TV, Yesterday, ITV3 and 4, Talking Pictures all on Freeview.

Re the retro decor , we watched The Hairdresser Mysteries and absolutely loved it full of retro 70s music and decor .

Yes I watch them all the time and find some of the sitcoms much more amusing than I did at the time. I love Allo Allo and Sorry! I recently started rewatching Ally McBeal

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Love Talking Pictures. Real gems on there and also some great old films (This Happy Breed was on at the weekend).

Dramas were better even 20 years ago. Dh is involved with the BBC and unfortunately commissions do now have to pass the tick-box test - which of course can and does result in absolute blandness.

I'm reading this with Minder on in the background 😂
I've got a subscription to ITVX as I just prefer older shows.

Self-medicating with old TV is way better than most of the alternatives....

Yes, I rewatch old TV all the time. I love Keeping Up Appearances.

I mainly watch old TV. Old comedy shows and I particularly love a nineties/noughties show like how clean is your house or you are what you eat etc. I am also partial to an old gameshow. It's nostalgic and comforting. I think a lot of people do this. My DH loves old police dramas like the Sweeney and the bill

I love watching tv that I remember from my younger days-ER,Ally McBeal,Frasier,Silent Witness, Cracker and as a particularly long throwback the original series of Survivors. It is comforting and there are lots of episodes available…and I don’t feel I have to stay awake to see the end of the program.

I watch Classic Emmerdale every day on catch up and it brings me comfort as does old episodes of The Bill. Its how life was and is a good representation of how our country was loved and respected. On The Buses, although before my time is lovely to watch too. The streets are wide and have no street furniture or clutter, no rubbish or graffiti, everything is clean and fresh, no vandalism. I wish I'd been around in the 60's.

Absolutely normal. So many threads have said if doing ironing or have spare couple of self care hours, they put on friends, only fools and horses, morse etc. My now 14yr old has watched Benidorm at least 10 times. My now 19yr old watch Pretty Little Liars at least 7 times (i gave up in season 5).

Personally I dont see it any different to having a fave blanket, hoody etc.

I re-watch a LOT of things... mainly because there don't seem to be as many documentaries made these days, so I have to watch old ones instead!

I still like watching The Good Life, Keeping Up Appearances, and some of the old sit-coms that came out before I was born!

Did you see my earlier post when I uploaded a picture from last week of me visiting the keeping up appearances house? I loved it ha ha.