Getting "too old" to rewatch good stuff or risk watching questionable stuff..

Cafe Society
#1

I remember when I was a teen I loved Star Trek: TNG, and told myself that someday when I had time I’d go and re-watch the whole thing. Same with several other properties.

Well, I hit middle age and, now - I don’t got time for that shit! There’s also a backlog of stuff I haven’t seen and am getting very selective of watching. It has to have almost universal excellent reviews. I won’t re-watch TV shows, and I won’t re-watch movies unless they’re my favorites of all time. I know I’m probably missing out on some diamonds in the rough though.

Anybody else run into this “ticking clock” sensation as you’ve gotten older where you have an aversion to “wasting time” on anything that isn’t a sure thing?

#2

I do this all the time, even though I strongly suspect that sometimes I’m just making excuses, and I was never going to do any of that stuff anyway.

#3

I don’t think it’s a matter of being “too old”, just that there’s not enough time in the day. I could probably watch TV for 8 hours a day and not keep up with everything that looks interesting to me, so I pretty much have to choose which shows to follow.

#4

Once you get a little older, it’s not “re-watching” at all. It’s all new again.

#5

Since the clock is ticking, you should only be watching/reading certified good stuff. It is the questionable/bad stuff you should avoid. If you mean re-watching, then, yes, you are never too old for Hamlet, while “Star Trek” is more questionable.

#6

For me, a sure thing is something that I’ve watched many times before and know that I enjoy. I am always up for going through my classic Law & Order DVDs one more time, or another complete viewing of NYPD Blue. It’s the new shows (sometimes even new episodes of shows I already watch) that are questionable.

#7

Now that I am an old fart I find it easier to be more adventurous. Because I haven’t got time to waste, I skip anything that in all likelihood is just ordinary and try anything that may be great. However, I am now blessed with the ability to stop watching a movie after 15 minutes or a TV series after 2 episodes and simply forgetting it exists if it is not up to par.

#8

I’d probably go through M Squad again-- I don’t know what it was about it, but I enjoyed the heck out of that 1957-60 NBC police/detective series (w/the late Lee Marvin as Lt. Frank Ballinger of the titular squad of the Chicago Police), and the all-in-one DVD of it has been one of the best I’ve ever had.

#9

I think it has more to do with feeling I have better things to do than binge watch TV for hours at a time. At 46, I grew up during a time where we watched what was on when it was on. The only way to “binge watch” entire seasons of TV shows was to record them on a VCR (later Tivo or DVR recorder), which I never did, or catch a marathon broadcast on some rainy day. Really the only show I binge watch is when HBO runs marathons of Game of Thrones or some other show I watch, right before the season premier. I mean I’m never ever going to sit down and watch several seasons of Lost or The Walking Dead ever again. I’m certainly never going to catch up on Breaking Bad or Mad Men or Stranger Things or any number of other “must see” series I missed.

#10

I re-watch old favorites all the time, because I don’t like most of the new stuff.

Golden TV age, my ass.

#11

I actually did re-watch quite a bit of Star Trek: TNG a year or so ago, but it was definitely the exception to the rule.

In general, the “original” television offerings of Netflix and Amazon and the like are incredibly good these days, and in my opinion put the older shows I grew up with to shame. They’re more willing to go to unexpected places, use honest-to-god interesting cinematography, and attract people at the top of their game to the projects. I’ve started to think of things like three camera sitcoms and even regular drama or action shows that resolve themselves every episode as almost quaint relics of the past, like the circus or jesters or vaudeville shows.

But I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon: as television has gotten so much better and there is so much more of it, I’m actually watching a lot less than I used to. Part of it I think is coming to terms with the fact that there are probably dozens of really great shows right now that exist and are exactly what I like, but even if I tried I’d only be able to watch a small fraction of them. I guess I’ve just come to terms with the fact that I’m gonna miss 90% of some truly great stuff, and don’t feel the pressure to avoid “missing out”. Sometimes I’ll read about something and the timing works out and I’ll give it a shot and stick with it (e.g. Amazon’s “Patriot” right now). But sometimes not, and I’m filling more time with other endeavors (bike riding, learning the piano, basically getting in my fill of mid-life crisis!).

#12

I don’t usually re-watch movies unless it’s an all-time favorite. There are very few of them and it has to be quite a long time between viewings. I’ll re-watch Bringing Up Baby, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation and a few others every five years or so. I don’t think there’s any movie in the last 30 years I’d watch again.

I’ve enjoyed re-watching some of the old 50’s and 60’s TV shows - My Threes Sons is a favorite that I recently “binge watched”, one or two episodes every evening or every other evening. I hadn’t seen any of them since I was a kid so they were basically new to me. I’ve seen all of the I Love Lucy and Andy Griffith episodes too many times so even though they are favorites I can’t stand watching them anymore.

There have been quite a few old series that I was excited to watch again because I remembered loving them as a kid but ended up being not so great now. Amazon Prime has a lot of old 60’s and 70’s series that I had forgotten all about. I watched a few episodes here and there but they just didn’t hold my interest this time around.

#13

Mad Men’s kind of boring so I kind of plodded along with it hoping it would live up to the hype and by the time I knew it didn’t I was too invested to quit it.

I’d have someone slap me if I missed out on Breaking Bad, and Stranger things is pretty good too.

#14

You’ll have time when you get older. Don’t fret, there will come a time when you are looking for things to fill your day.

#15

I watched ST:TNG all the way through, since while I had seen most of it there were a few episodes I missed. I watched Have Gun Will Travel all the way through, since I saw it first when it originally aired and I missed a lot, We watched all of Secret Agent/Danger Man also.
But I’ve also watched some stuff I gave up on, like DS9 after season 4. You can watch till something jumps the shark. Or the Dominion.
Now I’ve put a bunch of movies from some best movies ever book on my Netflix queue (DVD, mostly) which I had never gotten around to. Mostly great. I watched Red River last night for the first time.
You have to be selective.

#16

I have an entire bookcase full of DVDS of TV shows & movies that I loved so much when I first saw them, I just knew I’d want to watch them again. I hardly ever re-watch anything, and I have a whole list of new TV shows I’m watching that I don’t have time for. I should probably donate them to a hospital or a school or something…

#17

I re-watch Hill Street Blues about every two years.

#18

“The play Captain. The plays the thing wherein we shall capture the Conscience of the King.”

#19

I believe the OP was talking about STNG, not TOS.

What?

#20

Yeah, but it’s not a time clock, you don’t owe anybody anything. Plus you’ll never see everything, so don’t stress trying, watch what you want.