Do you watch reruns? Do you rewatch favorite series? Do you think most TV is worth watching more than once?
I often watch reruns on tv as “comfort food”, esp comedy series, after a long day.
I have rewatched most of “Breaking Bad” and “Alias” and others on DVD. But I made the mistaked of purchasing some “Lost” DVDs. Haven’t touched them since the finale, which I despised. will sell or give them away. Likewise, a How I Met Your Mother rerun came on last night, and the memory of that horrible finale caused me to turn it off.
so anyhow, how do you guys feel about rewatching? I know some folks don’t even like to watch a movie more than once, or reread a book.
The Simpsons are multi-level full of sight, sound and culture gags and correlations within the show. Rewatching is necessary for study and full appreciation.
some comedies and also dramas (includes comedic elements) both with multiple story lines and guest stars need rewatching as well.
i think in modern times shows have worked to imbed stuff and provide easter eggs.
I just got netflix and re-watched three seasons of ‘Happy Endings’ a show that got cruelly cancelled too soon.
Other than that, though, I don’t really watch old stuff more than once. There’s too much new stuff to keep up with.
I’d like to, but I’ve concluded there is too much new content and “someday” isn’t likely to come.
I watch rerun episodes if I liked them the first time. Often I’ll miss something in a particular episode and watch it when it comes up in reruns just to catch the details. But once I’ve seen the whole episode it would be years before I’m interested in seeing it again. Same with movies.
I re-watch a scene that is particularly brilliant in order to fully appreciate the art and skill that made it so, like the wonderful restaurant/disguise/reveal scene in The Empty Hearse from Sherlock. Or to catch all the embedded clues and foreshadowings that weren’t obvious during the first viewing, or even the second.
And I re-watch shows that are cram-full of gags and references like The Simpsons and Futurama.
Soapy dramas like Ripper Street and Mr. Selfridge - nah.
Reruns are great if I want to have the television on just for noise purposes. Since I have already taken in the story at least once before, I feel free to pay attention or not pay attention at random, secure that I’m not really missing anything when I happen to be focused on something else.
The more and more we get into using our DVR, the fewer reruns we watch.
Right now, the only thing we rewatch regularly is The Big Bang Theory. Rather, I rewatch. This is Mrs. FtG’s first pass thru the old shows for the most part.
OTOH, she does watch a lot of cooking shows, usually not first runs. But I don’t watch them if I can avoid them.
If a show isn’t worth a second or third watching, it wasn’t really worth the first watch, either.
I regularly watch reruns of Magnum, P.I., Get Smart, Psych, and House, either on Netflix or snagged in the middle of the night by my DVR. Can’t get enough of any of them.
All the time. Especially with Netflix I work my way through shows I have already seen. Right now I have been re-watching Frasier and the first season of Lost.
I rewatch episodes of Law & Order (the original series) Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and*** Homicide: Life on the Streets*** all of the time. Lately, after reading an article, I have noticed the development of technology from the 1990s until today and how all of the series reflect the changes.
I also watch The Rockford Files almost religiously as I think that it’s one of the best series ever made.
We’ve been watching a bunch of oldies on MeTV and Antenna TV - it’s a hilarious walk down memory lane! Kojak is sooooooooo cornball!!
I have watched each episode of “I Love Lucy” perhaps 50 times or more over the last 20-25 years, and it has been one of the happiest times in my life.
Our family has different viewing modes, for lack of a better term. When all of us are together watching a show, it’s often a social occasion. We make comments, go on conversational tangents suggested by what we’re watching, look things up on the internet, and pause and rewind frequently to catch things we missed because we’re so damn loud. It is completely maddening if anyone really wants to pay careful attention to the show. Because of this, we all often rewatch our favorite shows, whether or not they’re fine entertainment with worthwhile content, just because we invariably missed something the first time around.
I typically watch my favorite show first with the whole family, almost live (we time-skip enough to fast-forward through the commercials), with everyone commenting loudly. My daughter and I watch the episode later without anyone else, since we’re both fans, and we both usually are online at the same time. Then, especially if it’s an episode I think I enjoy, I’ll watch it all by myself on a weekend morning before anyone else is up so that I can actually absorb the content.
If I want to watch something I’m really, really looking forward to seeing, I’ll reverse that process, watching it alone first before bringing in the more interactive components. We all do variants of this so that we can really watch the things we want to see.
I used to do full rewatch runs of my favorite shows all the time in the age of full season DVD sets first being released, and in theory I could probably never get tired of classics like Whedon and Star Trek shows, but I find I just can’t justify it in the age of multiple fantastic streaming services. Sometimes I’ll feel the tug of the comfortable and familiar, then I’ll glance at the staggering size and promise of my Netflix queue.
I find watching episodes of TV shows I’ve seen before is an excellent way of falling asleep. I usually go through between a third to 3 episodes a night.
I have TiVo and rarely watch live TV these days, but sometimes I’ll “watch” reruns (usually COPS, Frasier, NCIS, or the HGTV channel) if I just want some background noise.
I rewatch shows all of the time via DVD/Blu-ray or streaming, though. Topping the list are all of Aaron Sorkin’s shows and most of Joss Whedon’s (all but Dollhouse, which I haven’t watched once yet), but I’ve also recently rewatched The Shield, The Wire, Alias, and others. Having HBOGo (via my Apple TV) has been amazing: I rarely use it for movies, but I watch their original shows pretty frequently. In fact I plan to start rewatching Carnivale as soon as I finish my first viewing of True Detective.
I’m enjoying old episodes of Taxi, Mary Tyler Moore, Community and even Hogan’s Heroes and the occasional Star Trek or Rhoda. METV is the channel with many of these.
I own and occasionally pull out Get Smart seasons 1-4 and I got my wife the first 4 seasons of Northern Exposure. A very good show. I watch it with her when she watches it.
Dick Van Dyke Show and The Addams Family are usually good to catch also.
I find comedies to be the easiest to watch reruns of. However , I also like Perry Mason, Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The various Star Treks, except for Enterprise, also make great reruns.