This may or may not sound strange, but nevertheless, it strikes me as a bit…peculiar.
I know quite a few women age 40 and up. I have observed that for some inexplicable reason, these women all have a “hobby” in common. They don’t know one another by the way…but back to the point…
All of these mature ladies seem to have a “thing” for “real crime” tv. I don’t mean fiction shows. They LOVE to sit and watch stuff like A&E, Unsolved Mysteries, Discovery, Americas Most Wanted, etc etc. Why does this genre, true crime, appeal so strongly to women in this age group? I don’t know any men, 40 and up, who love this genre and watch it. Some of these women almost seem to feel as though they “have to” watch these shows, and as many of them as they can. They become meserized by them.
I am not saying there is anything wrong with these shows, or watching them, I just find it odd how it draws such a certain audience.
Anyone care to put any insight in this “unsolved mystery?”
Or
Maybe they are all frustrated dectectives or fiction writers.
Or
Maybe they are all sick.
(besides liking watching stories about people being horribly killed the only other thing these women have in common is… you)
I’m a 42 yr old woman. I watch these shows, but not obsessively like the women you mention. I guess I like “Unsolved Mysteries” because I like murder mysteries in general. I like to read them. I’m more into fiction than “true crime”, per se. I also have this desire to solve one of the crimes. I look at the pictures of missing persons and children they send out in that flier, too. I’d like to be the hero, and find the bad guy. Or maybe I should say “point out”. I don’t think I’d want to face him!
I know what you mean Magic. My mother, who is 50, watches Court TV religiously. She especially digs the shows on serial killers. Now, don’t get me wrong, I find these shows interesting occasionally. But after the 4th time, “The John Wayne Gacey Story” gets to be a tad boring.
I’m just waiting for the day I take a shower and see the silouhette of a butcher knife coming at me through the curtain.
Her other favorite show, by the way, is NYPD Blue. I know this doesn’t qualify as “real” crime, but it’s close enough for her tastes I guess.
not exactly the same thing, but I have an aunt who is obsessed with “based on a true story” TV movies. Especially if they involve kidnappings or murders. You’ll mention some story you heard or read about, and she’ll say, “Oh, I saw the movie about that. Patty Duke and Valerie Bertinelli were in it. It was really good. They never found that girl’s body…” I think she’s seen all of them.
Actually, this type of thing does qualify in the same genre, IMO.
By the way, to the person who mentioned NYPD Blue, yes, they watch those fiction crime kind of shows as well, but not as much as “real” or “true.” I just don’t understand what the fascination is.
No odder, I think, than the fact that some men are happy to watch sports – any sports --when they come on the TV. Doesn’t matter if they’ve never played the sport themselves.
Who knows? Who cares? It’s just the way it seems to be.
And yes, I know this doesn’t apply to EVERY man. Neither is the OP generalizeable to every woman over 40.
I have a friend like that. I’ll be surfing through the channels, and he’ll yell, “Wait, stop, go back!”
“It’s lumber sports, for chrissakes.”
“Just turn back for a second!”
“Fine. There. I mean, for the love of god, it’s lumber spor… Holy shit, can people actually do that with a saw? Dude, pass the chips.”
My Mom likes stuff about profilers and serial killers. She’s 66, but she’s been like that for as long as I can remember. She’s not exactly obsessed, but books about crime (both fiction and non-fiction) probably make up about 80% of her book collection. She also has a very criminal mind. 8^) She comes up with various criminal schemes, one time when I was a kid her and my sister plotted out how they could rob a local convenience store without getting caught, it was a very detailed plan and would probably work. However, she is one of the most law-abiding people I know - if she was brought up in a more immoral environment she might be a criminal mastermind by now.
Towards the end of my marriage, I was reading a book on forensics and kept it on my nightstand. The ex asked me one day if it was a good book and I answered “Yeah, it’s great, I’m picking up lots of pointers”.
Hubby and I are both over 40. When I watch TV, it’s for light, brainless escapism, so I don’t go in for true crime or docudramas or really much of anything. Hubby watches almost anything - he can recite episodes of Law & Order…
So, clearly, the OP is not applicable to our household.
Wife is a big fan of Cops, America’s Most Wanted, {i]America’s Dumbest Criminals*, anything by Ann Rule, and all the rest of the whole True Crime genre. And she would be well over forty if she hadn’t convinced the kids she’s in her mid-twenties (they stopped believing her some time ago). She was a fan of True Crime magazines when a youngun and that might have carried over.
When she worked in a hospital she claimed she was watching AMW in case any of those people came into the hospital–a reasonable reason. She also did some forensic radiology, so I suppose there was a bit of professional interest.
OTOH, I mostly ignore those shows. But I like forensics books.
I’m 28 and I’m hooked on all those programs. The woman who sits next to me at work is three months older than I am and has the same “hobby”. She especially likes the sex crimes show they have on HBO (I’ve never seen it) and my favorite is City Confidential, although New Detectives is pretty cool.
I don’t know when she became interested in this stuff, but I remember reading a book when I was 8 years old about the FBI (it was written for kids). At that age, I decided I wanted to be a forensic scientist and have remained interested ever since. Unfortunately, my actual science skills and my aversion to blood kept me from pursuing that profession.
My friend at work worries that we might be a little weird, but I tell her that we couldn’t be that weird…look at all the shows they have! There must be a huge audience.
Come to think of it, though, my husband has started looking at me a little funny ever since I bought The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.
