If you’ve ever ordered takeout, then sat down to watch TV, only to watch one of your favorite shows for the fifteenth time, you aren’t alone. In fact, especially as we’ve learned throughout these unprecedented times, there is a whole psychology behind the term “comfort show” and why we love rewatching certain shows so much.
First things first: what is your comfort show? Maybe you’re like us and you have more than one. No matter the number of comfort shows you may have, think of them as we dive a little deeper into the reasoning behind all of this.
Easy on the Ears
Let’s face it, life can get pretty crazy. Regardless of what stage of life you are currently in, you’ve got a lot going on. After a busy work or school day, zoom meetings, socializing, parenting, and whatever else your life may consist of, at the end of the day, you just want to turn your brain off and a comfort show allows you to do just that.
No Energy Required
Watching TV shouldn’t require a lot of energy, and if we’re all being honest here, choosing what to watch is probably the most energy-sucking part of sitting down to watch TV. But when we choose a show we’ve already watched and enjoyed once, twice or even three times before, that pressure is off and we can allow ourselves to tune out while something merely plays in the background.
No Plot Twists
Sure, sometimes we’re in the mood for the new, exciting show that promises to keep us on the edge of our seats or guarantees a pot twist we would never see coming, but more often than not, we’re going for the storyline we’re familiar with; this way, we know exactly what’s going to happen and you don’t have to think about a single thing.
No Commitment Necessary
When we tune in to an old favorite, we can do so with no strings attached. We can choose any episode of any season and after we’ve watched a few episodes, we can simply turn it off, and there is no obligation to watch another episode until we want to. When starting a new show, however, we feel a certain obligation to watch it for so many episodes to see if we even like it, then we have to keep tuning in to see what happens next, and on top of all of that, we have to pay attention. Sure, a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things, but remember our goal here: tune in and tune out.