Reruns are my guilty pleasure; almost an addiction of sorts.
I probably watch a lot more of them than I should; although to be fair, the word “watch” isn’t completely accurate since I tend to just leave these familiar, favorite shows on in the background as I do other things, especially tedious errands like sorting laundry, shredding papers…you name it, a loved rerun will always make the chore fly by, whether the show is being rebroadcast on TV or I’m playing a DVD. Plus since I’ve seen it before, I’m not likely to get so sucked in that I focus more on the show than on what I’m doing.
Usually the reruns I’m drawn to are from sitcoms; I rarely want to watch old dramas and mysteries again, even though I loved shows like 24 and Lost when they were on the air. For me, the main draw of those shows was the suspense, which doesn’t exist once you know how things turn out!
Nor do I usually rewatch movies, unless it’s Christmas and we’re talking about A Charlie Brown Christmas, Elf or A Christmas Carol (the Alastair Sim version from 1951, of course; in my opinion, none other compares!). Perhaps because movies are longer and more involved; I’m more likely to get distracted (or on the flip side, bored) by them.
No, my favorites vary depending on my mood but usually include episodes from sitcoms like:
- The King of Queens (my all-time favorite!)
- Perfect Strangers (I never see this in reruns anymore on TV, but I have seasons 1 and 2 on DVD and am eagerly hoping for the rest to be released)
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (although I can’t stand the episodes after they switched the actress playing Aunt Vivian; Janet Hubert was the best)
- The Honeymooners (none of my peers like this show, but I love it!)
- I Love Lucy (I always find most of the jokes and plotlines to be very relatable and amusing even today, versus some other old shows that seem too dated to watch other than for nostalgia’s sake)
- Frasier (I’ve seen all of the episodes thanks to Netflix, but still put on a rerun of it now and then when it airs on TV)
- The Middle (yes, this is still on the air, but it’s also already in syndication too, and I love putting an episode on when I find one or remember to DVR it — and occasionally I catch one I hadn’t seen the first time around)
- Keeping Up Appearances (this is a British sitcoms from the 90s; it’s a bit slapstick but I like the main character’s uptight ways and her forced attempts to move up in social status, failing each time)
- As Time Goes By (another show from England; it starred Dame Judi Dench and featured a mature, understated form of comedy I like a lot)
- Becker (rarely do I catch this on TV but I have it on DVD; it featured Ted Danson in an ornery role, playing a doctor from the Bronx)
This is by no means a complete list; I’m sure I’m missing another couple of shows. But this is a pretty good idea of the kind of reruns I love. I can’t give them up and can’t imagine not being able to re-enjoy them via reruns, DVRs and DVDs. I love the technology that makes this possible; without it, it’s quite possible I would never get anything done!
Note: This post was written as part of LindaGHill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday; this week’s prompt was the prefix re-. The word “reruns” popped into my mind and I ran with it — with a rerun on quietly in the background, of course (The King of Queens, if you were wondering)!
Some Kernels of Truth 
Netflix is great for reruns. Being British some of the shows you mention are unknown to me but I’m going to check them out,
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cool — hope you enjoy them! 🙂
LikeLike
Nice job on the prompt and like you I am a fan of re-runs as well
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are some shows I can watch over and over as well, which is for the good, since I don’t like anything that’s been on in the past… oh … 5 years. Cheers, Frasier and Will & Grace I can watch endlessly. And of course A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim. I have it memorized from beginning to end. 🙂
Thanks for the walk down memory lane! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ooh, I forgot about Will and Grace — I like that show a lot too! And I love finding another person who appreciate that specific version of A Christmas Carol — it’s the best! Glad you enjoyed the nostalgia tour. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m NOT the only one who remembers Becker! I really liked it.
I’d like to find Qiincy reruns.And Blossom, so I could show my kids what Amy Farrah Fowler was like as a teen (sort of…). We watch a LOT of Big Bang Theory reruns around here.
I missed all of Star Trek: Enterprise when it was new, but now I watch it over and over, picking up nuances, and then writing fan fiction – but I can’t really watch it without getting pulled in….
Loved the post, and the memories! =D
LikeLiked by 1 person
I so agree on Becker — so many people I’d mention it to would have no idea what I was talking about! How is that?? As for Blossom, that’s a good idea. I find it interesting she also hasn’t really changed much over the years — your kids would definitely recognize her and get a kick out of that! I too watch the Big Bang Theory, mostly for Sheldon; I love his uptight ways, like how he had “bus pants.” I haven’t ever watched Quincy or Star Trek, believe it or not (for as much as I’ve seen, I’ve also missed some big names; like in movies, people are always shocked I haven’t seen Titanic) but may have to check them out some day! Glad you enjoyed this look back at some classic/great shows! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
When my daughter was little, she loved Blossom!! They had a Blossom marathon a few weeks back – yeah, I had to tune in & watch a few 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d have to watch, too — I remember the show well, especially Joey Lawrence’s signature “woah!” line!
LikeLike
Sheldon is awesome. He reminds me of more than a few people I know.
Star Trek is my passion. It changed my life on so many levels. My favorite incarnation is Enterprise, which is set before the others, but aired from 2001-2005 (I was making and raising little people then, and missed it when it was new). It’s funnier, sexier, and has wonderful story arcs the other series didn’t. It also has a resident beagle, so how can that be bad?
Quincy starred Jack Klugman as a medical examiner. It fascinated me as a teen and preteen.
It is really cool to meet someone else who saw Becker! No one ever seems to talk about it, and it just kind of disappeared without a trace…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha — “making and raising little people” made me laugh! I often marvel at my friends who have had kids and say something similar like, “Do you realize you made ANOTHER HUMAN? A person exists today that didn’t before because you made him?!” Loved your comment — and thanks for the show info, I’m intrigued to look for them! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It really is a pretty magical trick. Especially now that the first human we made is as tall as me, and the third stands almost to my shoulder!
It’s hard to look at them, and realize that once they were two cells too tiny to see, coming together, seemingly randomly –
And now, here they are, billions of cells big!
Nature has the most spectacular magic tricks of all! =D
If you watch any Trek, I hope you’ll share your impressions with me. In 2015, I plan to watch the entire live-action franchise in chronological order, which means I get to start again with Enterprise (and that I’ll get to see if Voyager can capture me, which it didn’t when it first aired…).
Right now, I post Enterprise fan fiction snippets on Wednesdays, but soon I’ll be shifting to my fantasy time-travel novel-in-revision, Chameleon’s Dish.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are shows that as re runs we can’t get enough of. I like your choices, I have found ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ in recent years. It ran, British by the way, for 31 years, all written by the same writer. Superb humour and so well acted.
From my childhood I love F-Troop, I have a few of DVD and get them out every now and then.
I always found ‘I Love Lucy’ very ground breaking as she paved the way for so many female comedians.
Great post enjoyed, made we think of the re runs I like.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Never saw F Troop or Last of the Summer Wine; in fact, I never heard of the latter, so I looked it up and found a clip online. It looks like the kind of show I’d like! Thanks for mentioning it, I’m going to try to watch a full episode…it’s cool they had the same writer throughout its long run, I imagine that would give it a sense of continuity and consistency other shows don’t have when they have frequent writer changes. Oh and I agree, I Love Lucy was indeed ground-breaking, especially since she was willing to do things many women in TV and movies at the time wouldn’t do, like the odd expressions she’d make, the physical comedy she’d do, or even appearing to be drunk (ever see that episode where she’s filming a commercial and gets drunk on the product?) etc. Great!
LikeLike
Love reruns 😊. And anyone who can write quality stream of consciousness blog posts such as yours, is well worth reading. Thank you. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
~victoria
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much for your kind words! I really appreciate the compliment. 🙂
LikeLike
My blog is called My [redacted] Journey and I am the Anonymous posting previous comment. Dont know why my name didnt show…
LikeLiked by 1 person
No worries; thanks for clarifying, though! I’ve been enjoying your blog and love SoCS for introducing me to other interesting blogs like yours! 🙂
LikeLike
Great post & take on the prompt!! Though there are a lot of new shows I enjoy, we watch a lot of reruns around here, too! And I agree, often they are the easiest to watch & get other things done. Made me think about how I went into labor watching a rerun of Quincy at midnight 🙂 Thanks for the memories . . . 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much! Ha, so Quincy will always hold a special place in your heart, huh? 🙂
LikeLike
Yes 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
well I must tell you that I only started watching TV about 8 years ago – was never my thing – but wow – when I did start watching I realized it is packed with variety and not all of it is junk TV. I was not too critical of TV – but I guess in my head I did have some bias – but again, my “not” watching was more a matter of my busy lifestyle and just habit. Even though as a child I did watch some shows here and there – but if you missed the airing of a show (on the 3 man in channels) that was it – you missed it! so I agree that our tech these days is so awesome.
anyhow, enjoyed this post. You write with such a nice flow.
ditto on the reruns of the Fresh Prince.
For a short season I watched Lucy – and actually got some insight about an Aunt who lived in Florida – too long a story for here – but Lucy’s “cute dumbness” was always rewarded and accepted – and it seems like they played up the dumbness in the last couple of years of the show even more, which I did not like. This is not to insult the comedic genius and fun dialogue among characters that are enjoyable – but that show helped us understand a few behaviors of an old aunt who watched that show during her impressionable years – and sometimes she would reenact this cute dumbness and well, – it was also a poignant reminder to me that sometimes these shows become models and imprint us…
ditto on Christmas Carol – except I like the 1988 version for reruns – 🙂
and for background re-runs to add ambience – MONK all the way. Have you ever watched this show? My kids used to like it and one day – after the show was canceled and in syndication – I sat down to watch Mr. Monk and the 3 Julies – and got hooked. Best show ever made (in my humble opinion..ha!)
Lastly, regarding The Middle – my husband uses that show for video clips for teaching courses – and well, I have never seen a full episode – but looks like they had some pretty amazing writers.
Maybe someday I can check out a few of your other sitcoms – thanks for a great post – 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve gone through phases where I haven’t watched TV, also usually because my schedule didn’t allow for it like you said. Plus I prefer not to have a TV always on if I can avoid it; for some time I got used to it as background noise but once I trained myself not to do that, I liked the peace so much! I also got into talk radio…hmm perhaps I just transferred my focus then? 🙂 Anyway, like you though, once I started watching here and there, I did find so many shows that I liked and hadn’t expected to! Oh and I do remember those 3-channel-only days! Ah, memories…! 🙂 OH good point on the 1988 Christmas Carol movie — that’s the one with Bill Murray, right? I actually have that version, too; I found it at a going-out-of-business sale at a video store a few years back. While I don’t like it as much as the 1951 version, I did find it to be a pretty good adaptation — good call! I also agree with you on Monk — that’s another good one I forgot! I like that show a lot and actually do put it on when I see it; I especially like when there’s a few of them on in a row when I’m doing things. Even though I’ve seen a lot of them, I always like it. I also felt the same for Psych, have you seen it? Sometimes I wondered why Gus was always so hateful towards his supposed best friend, though, but I still liked it a lot overall! Thanks so much for your comment, I love discussing things like this — and I so appreciated your compliment on my writing! And one day I’d love to know more about the I Love Lucy story in relation to your aunt; have you written about it on your blog? If it’s not too difficult to share, I’d love to read it; let me know if you have written or will write a post on that…and thanks again for your kinds words!
LikeLike
I love reruns too and I actually often discover/love shows only when they’re rerunning! Rarely am I watching or appreciating a tv shoe, especially a sitcom, live! Great post!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yeah, that happens to me too! Or, I get into a show while it’s still on the air but many seasons in. That happened to me with Lost and 24; I was still in season one when they were airing season 3 or 4 I think!
LikeLike