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I would slit my wrists

even re-runs of old golf tournaments. I always have a book with me when I'm "watching" TV with them!

when Lawrence Welk and Miss America Pageants were the shows of choice.

Visiting my mom this past weekend and while I scrolled through the channels the Welk show was actually on! The old familiar players all had dark hair and no wrinkles so it had to be an ancient rerun. I turned it before the accordian king himself showed, but it was definitely a blast from the WAY past!

Grand parents show.

More to the point, I don't have a TV, although I watch my fair share of television shows. It's just that I watch them on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime. What that means is I watch only what I want, and I never have to see commercials.

So when I visit my sister, who is pretty much on the same page politically, it's not a problem of unwanted TV shows, it's that there's a TV in the main living area which is often on. It can make me crazy.

I don't understand turning the TV on and leaving it on, no matter what it is tuned to. If you are not actually watching something, turn it off.

There, that's not so hard, is it?

She left the TV on the entire day for “company”

Mostly network TV - soap operas, talk shows, “ infotainment “ type stuff

Plus she was hard of hearing so she had the volume on Blast and I always came home with a headache

But it's the lack of an "off" button that makes me crazy.

I live alone (and I'm not an old man, yet) so the TV is on most of the time, at a low volume. It gives the brain the illusion that someone else is in the room.
I may being using it for "company", but I am choosy about who I let in.

We lived an hour and a half away and I believe we could hear it.
🤯🗣👂🆘✴️🔈🗯📢

From a weekend visiting 93yr old mom who is in asst living now. At this point she will watch pretty much anything, but does like Family Feud with Steve Harvey. I can deal with that for a couple of hours.

A few years back when she made her own choices, it was TORTURE to visit and have to sit through hours of the Pawn Stars, and Pickers (Is it American Pickers?). Omg, there were times I was ready to cut my wrists!! She also liked Dancing with the Stars which I also can't stand. Like you say, it seemed so fake and the suspense of waiting to see who would be eliminated...aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

even when someone is visiting, a lot of people never turn the TV off. To me, that's beyond rude. If you have guests, you focus on them. When you're alone, watch what you want at whatever volume you want. But when someone else is there, you need to discover the "off" button.

It depends on the people involved. My Mom doesn't have true dementia, but zero short term memory. So when I visit we can have a 'reasonable' conversation for maybe 15 or 20 mins. After that the subject matter is exhausted and there would be a lot of dead air if not for some tv stimulation. It gives us more to comment on, and maybe a topic to carry on from there. It might bring up some memory for her--like the picker guys finding some antique and she relates it to something from her past that we can talk about.

Because she lives hundreds of miles away, when I go to visit I want to spend a good part of the day at her facility. Often when I arrive her tv is not on and we do talk for awhile. But as I say, then I'm searching for things to talk about with her that she can relate to or remember. I will be the one to turn the tv on, and for example it's Family Feud, she knows enough of what's going on that we can comment on the game, laugh at the answers or Steve Harvey, etc. We are enjoying it together. (As I said in previous post, the other shows went on for hours, and while we did talk about what went on, it was tedious for me. But I figure she probably thought the same when she had to do things for/with me when I was a kid. It's my turn to be patient! )

Because my parents are long gone, and because the other relatives and friends of mine are not in the kind of situation you describe, I am probably inappropriately intolerant of some.

Again, thank you. I remember very well when my two sons were young. I remember, more or less, when I was very young. It's all too easy to judge, and your post is incredibly enlightening and helpful.

I think because I just spent 3 days in this situation the topic is really relevant to me. And I do agree that in most cases when people are visiting and trying to have a conversation the tv should not be going in the background.

Headache inducing!

DVR recording to lower bill and u can't FF or pause. So they run and do something and hurry back so they won't miss seeing if the "nice" one on Wheel won.

Both drive me crazy.

ready? GUNSMOKE, BONANZA, other 50s Westerns! It's very lullling after you get used to it! Beautiful scenery, horses. A lot of gun play, though.

Recently she and my husband did enjoy watching college football together!

Kinds good napping fare. Like pro golf or baseball.

If you pay attention there's some real humor, good stories. Festus. Need I say more. His physical humor was great!

Yes, there are some soap opera narratives, but that show started a narrative structure in TV that had not been done successfully before. The pilot was mind blowing in that regard. And the acting is stellar. I get if you don't like it, but it's not some shitty soap opera.

just the script the other night. Whenever someone gets up from dinner and starts playing the piano and singing it seems so unnatural to me..like a real family would be laughing their asses off. But don't mind me..I seldom like the shows with the ratings and awards. Like I thought Modern Family was stupid and zillions loved that.

and the poster above is not wrong. It started off being very different from what we've seen before. But I, personally, think it's ventured into predictability and I am no longer particularly interested in the story anymore. I'll keep watching because it's something we both watch together but I'm having to keep my opinions to myself. I'll post them here instead, lol.

She was a night owl and always up on current politics, so right up until she died I would sit up late with her to watch her favorites. She would have loved Trevor on the Daily Show. Thankfully she lived long enough to see Obama as President but she didn't have to witness the horror of the 2016 election disaster and aftermath as she was a huge Hillary fan.

with my mother in law. I'm not sure where she found this but it was a marathon of episodes. It's not awful but it was A LOT!