Would happier TV programmes improve mental health?

Get fed up with the news, brexit and may, drive me nuts. Like the old repeats, of comedy shows. Escape to the country which I will never do now. The new programme money for nothing like to see what they turn things into. My h loves bargain hunt.
Also like to put on my radio in the kitchen nice to listen to when I am cooking etc. Have a DVD too enjoy music.

I don't watch a lot of ITV/BBC News apart from Local News, I like to know what is happening around me. I have a daily paper for news.

Having Sky helps as so many channels to choose from but Freeview is very good too. I have just been watching Wild at Heart & now Heartbeat, lost count of how many times I've seen them. I enjoy both Emmerdale & Corrie. I do love a good laugh though but find most of the stuff on now such as Bad Move is unfunny. Bring back Dinner Ladies.

I too enjoy Doc Martin - his interaction with the dog makes me laugh

TellNo1Ok I agree with you about graphic violence and believe that some people have become desensitised to death, violence and destruction by watching fictionalised situations depicting them.
Mass murderers have been shown to be enthusiastic computer game players, where graphic violence and murder on their screens is later translated to real life. Obviously games don't have the same effect on everyone, they must be very maladjusted and mentally ill to kill in real life.

I try to keep to light entertainment.... but then up pops the adverts for funeral plans.... give me strength!

Although, Outlander becomes more like GOT in every episide ! I can only wonder what comes next, an undead Highlander??

I love whodunnits,they dont depress me at all,I have avoided Question time for a few years as watching politicians avoiding answering questions infuriates me .I do like old fashioned style crime series like Vera and Shetland and Taggart even ,currently we're watching Outlander and enjoying it immensly ,pure escapism

There are plenty of programmes which are not gloom and doom. Personally I find most comedy programmes distinctly unamusing though Upstart Crow with David Mitchell makes laugh.

I love UniChallenge and most quizzes. I also enjoy a good murder mystery (I enjoy the puzzle not the gore). However, real footage of war, famine, natural disasters, etc. really upset me because I can't prevent them. There have always been terrible things happening in the world but we didn't know about them in detail 24 hours a day. There is too much information now.

humpty we were devastated when OC moved from Mondays to Fridays so now we record OC and then watch it after UC on the following Monday so we get our full hour. We love Victoria - she’s engagingly bonkers

My favourite programmes are on in the afternoon. "Find it, fix it, flog it" on Channel 4, then "Money for Nothing" on BBC1. I love to see old stuff being repurposed and it gives me a few ideas of my own. I've even got my DH interested. He re-covered a stool, and refurbished two kitchen tables.

maryeliza

"At the moment I regularly watch Only Connect, University Challenge, Rellik, Liar ( best laugh going), Doc Martin, Antiques Roadshow and C4 News. I’d only miss the last one if my TV broke."

You sound like my sort of person! Haven't seen anyone else mention University Challenge which is great! unitl recently I never figured out what Only Connect was about, now I understand I enjoy that too - and Eggheads

Can't see why these would give anyone anything but enjoyment, so great in addition to news - by the way, I always like to see what tie/socks Jon Snow is wearing!

HillyN Agreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I love watching comedy on The Telly, it 100% does help with mental health, it is fairly obvious really that in putting positive laughter into your brain is a good thing

People may sometimes forget that the brain, like the body, needs taking care of..

Brilliant thread !! I do not know if there is a joke thread on gransnet,but that would be a good idea I think, so that if you are feeling a bit down you can jump on gransnet and read a few jokes

I totally agree with the OP and think that watching all the horrible stuff has, with many people, dulled their senses to things around them. Just today in our local paper is a story of an 82 yr old woman who fell in our main street. Cars and people went past and ignored her until a van driver stopped to help.
I cannot think how, in our small town, the others could pass by and leave her there unless they have been blinded and deafened to reality.

We tend to scroll through Freeview and record things of interest to watch when other programmes do not interest us. A few weeks ago I found myself watching very old repeats of On The Buses! and actually enjoying it. On reflection there was quite a few sitcoms back in the day and other programmes like The Generation Game and others, such as Take Your Pick etc. Life seemed to be much more light-hearted then and was reflected in TV programmes like these. I don't really like a lot of the stuff on TV nowadays especially these reality programmes which seem to just want to create envy or materialism in others. Some of today's programmes which pass for humour don't tickle my funny bone either!

I enjoy comedy too. A bit of silliness goes a long way.

I actually quite like the Jack Dee comedy. I do watch and download films and series on the Talking Pictures Channel. They show really old films - The Huggetts is on this weekend. Mainly B movies and I've been watching 'Family At War' and 'The Big Valley' - escaping back to my youth. Although my partner sees some of them and asks if they were made before they invented acting, as some of them are very amateurish. (I love the painted backdrops showing when they are obviously filmed in the studio.) Family At War Trivia - Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton met on the set, married and had Benedict Cumberbatch - obviously not that quickly!

I enjoy programmes like '24 hours in A and E' - not because I enjoy people being hurt. I find it heartening to see the love of families, the commitment of carers, and to hear the backstories of peoples lives. I have a good old cry often, and sometimes am sad, but still, I put it on. It's life, in all its glory.

Comedy is certainly good for the mind, an experiment in a US jail showed that when film comedies were played, the prisoners were a lot better behaved afterwards.
I can watch all sorts of things, including GOT but it’s acting and not real, whereas watching harrowing real reports is very different.
We do need to know some of what goes on in the world, but certainly not all, and yes, it does affect us mentally.
Not reading newspapers ( except rarely, now and then) is better too, and not watching the news non stop.
There is a case for wondering if people now have information overload that we are not designed to handle.

I never buy newspapers and find the news on telly very shallow. I watch the plays and dramas that start at 9pm but that's about it. I like the politics show at lunchtime and radio 4 especially Women's Hour

I think there are far too many loans adverts. Have you seen the rates they are absolutely mind boggling, over 1000 percent, I think one was something like 1698 (and the advert said 5*Trustpilot rated). I think these loans just encourage some people into debt they (sometimes) can't get out of and that is definitely not good for mental health.

My DH suffers from severe clinical depression - but TV does not affect his illness. He will select what he wants to watch - which does include many sitcoms old and new!

However,he still likes to know what is going on in the world, and thinks it is important, like everybody else with a social conscience, to be able to make small donations from time to time to approved organisations out there trying to make a difference to people suffering. Putting your head in the sand where difficult issues are concerned only makes you more self centred, which does not make anyone happier.

Yet we love Midsomer Murders... bodies to the left, right and centre ...
Living near Midsomer i'd like to reassure you all... their death rate is actually quite low ...

I don't like, indeed won't watch graphic violence... and will switch it off immediately i feel uncomfortable...

I loved Ever Decreasing Circles and The Good Life, Howard and Hilda were brilliant. Comedy now seems to rely on the shock factor with gratuitous swearing and idiotic behaviour

There is a new sitcom called Timewasters on ITV2 that I think is funny if a bit obvious in places. Some sitcoms are so bad (like Back and Bad Move) that they make you feel worse.
I think though that although these things can list people's mood, it is getting to the point that mental health care is virtually non existent in this country and nothing that is shown or not shown on TV will affect the impact of that.

Do you think maybe with all this fighting/killing and other bad stuff that people - particularly the young get to think that is the normal way to behave - that also goes for everyone being married and having affairs with every Tom Dick or Harry they happen to see and quite like?
I can remember a debate some years ago about children's TV shows when Ninja Turtles and the like were out and whether or not they affected the children's behaviour. Well anyone who worked with young children knew exactly what programmes they were watching by the playground games - could be 'White Horses' with the girls galloping round or 'Whacky Races' . Why would it be that different to adults with what they see - maybe not copying things but affecting them mentally.
I agree that it would be nice to have some happier new programmes and maybe some where people were really happy in their relationships - Tom and Barbara Good, the couple in 'Ever Decreasing Circles' etc.