The time warp of television

A serial re-watcher ponders the tv shows that dot her life.

Photo by Levi Stute on Unsplash

A change into the long awaited autumn weather lead to an afternoon tv watch which I have not done for a long time. It was so nice to take some time and watch some familiar tv, it felt oddly indulgent and completely satisfying. Diagnosis Murder was on, it only took me to the first advert break to remember the plot of the episode. I think I’ve seen most of the episodes over the years much like another classic and favourite of mine Murder She Wrote.

They now feel like comfort food and whenever I see that Murder She Wrote is on I always flick to the channel to see what Jessica Fletcher is up too even if it’s only for a few minutes. Both of these programmes seem be on a tv channel somewhere in the world at any given time, day or night. (Fun fact Cabot Cove is the same set on the Universal lot that they used in Jaws…love a bit of movie trivia lol)

Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher CBS/Courtesy: Everett Collection

It really was a nostalgic trip watching it and quite nice to find on that blustery day. It took me back to the times I used to watch it -mostly with family and also when I was skipping lessons at college… It made think of all the television programmes I watched at certain times during my life and also the ones that I am serial repeater in watching.

It also brought back a memory of me and my friend racing home from university to watch The Gilmore Girls. It was at a time of having to watch things live, not via a streaming site or on plus1 or an online player. There was such an urgency to vacate whatever lecture or seminar we were in to make sure we made it home in time to watch the next episode. We loved watching Rory, Lorelai and Co and all their Stars Hollow adventures. It was super cosy viewing and we always used to have a debrief afterwards. We still both watch it to this day, however I now tend to pick out my favourite episodes to watch rather then follow the seasons, the perk of instant availability via Netflix.

There are shows like To The Manor Born, The Good Life, Dinner Ladies and The X Files which I seem to dip into each year. I think I practically know all of the words in the episodes of To The Manor Born. Penelope Keith is excellent in this programme and although some aspects have dated, it’s still something I reach for a bit of joy and familiarity. The will they / wont they story of Audrey fforbes-Hamilton and Richard DeVere hit a peak of 24 million viewers by the time the finale arrived which by todays standards seems a mind boggling amount.

Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, To The Manor Born, Photo credit : REX

Whilst I was writing this piece I looked through my DVD cabinet and it felt like I was excavating a cave of treasures ( not sure these days if people still have these or DVDs- but I do) and saw that I had brought or been brought so many TV Boxsets over the years, from Mad Men, To The Manor Born, House, ER, 30 Rock, The Good Life, Grey’s Anatomy, Spaced and Cold Feet to name a few. They were once a staple birthday or Christmas gift for me. I became a serial re watcher of these shows. The physicality of having the boxset meant that you could watch and re watch things easily as so many tv’s back then had integrated DVD players and catching a repeat of these programmes was rare as often the repeat broadcast was at sporadic times.

I find interesting that with modern day tv programmes I don’t tend to rewatch them as much. There are some series that I have rewatched after their initial broadcast but it’s not a consistent watch where I may watch them again and again year after year. Maybe it’s to do with the fact that so many programmes are available to watch now and that the saturation has caused me not to return back to these as often.

Or perhaps as tv has evolved the hunger for new things supersedes the nostalgia of a re watch. I did have a recent experience of rewatching a modern tv series a few years after its initial broadcast and as I am now the same age as the characters it hit home a lot more. A bit more life experience had passed and it felt so much truer to me and my experience. The finale of the show made me cry which I definitely did not do the first time around.

We may binge watch modern tv shows but we return to our comfort shows to unwind and relax. Many a time I turn to my comfort shows before bed or if I’ve had a bad day. I think there is an element of reminiscing that also plays a part in why we watch certain shows over and over again. A rewatch of something familiar gives us a huge nostalgia hit. Also a lot of the shows I watch again are based during a certain time period and perhaps that is also a draw as they provide certainty in an uncertain time.

Do you have any tv shows that you reach for as a comfort blanket? Are there shows you a serial repeat watcher of? Do you tend to re watch shows from the past or modern day shows? I would love to know :)