Your Go-To Comfort Food (1 Viewer)

[Gary OS]

Just curious. I'm not asking necessarily what your favorite TV show is, although your TV on DVD 'comfort food" might be that show. What I'm really asking is what show never fails to put you in a good mood. It always lightens your day and calms your stressed out mind.

My favorite TV on DVD show of all time is The Fugitive. But I'm not sure I'd go to it as "comfort food", or to just relax me after a stressful day. With that in mind I doubt I'd go to any drama or serious action show to wind down or cheer me up. Don't get me wrong, those shows are great when the mood is right. But I'm talking about a show that always leaves you in a good place no matter what.

With that in mind here are a few of my "comfort food" shows:

The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet: It's at the top of the list by a long ways. It never, ever fails to give me a chuckle and put me in a good mood. Truly a tonic for the soul. It's such a shame this show was not remastered and released in season sets. There is nothing else quite like it. It's gentle, calming humor that just hits exactly the right chord in this chaotic world we live in today. I just love it.

Leave it to Beaver: In particular, any of the later season episodes that involve Eddie and Lumpy joining in the fun. Those are just so enjoyable and they always "de-stress" me.
The Munsters: The interaction between Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis is sensational and never fails to deliver for me.
Gilligan's Island: The first season in particular. Same dynamic as above with Bob Denver and Alan Hale, Jr. providing me with laughs and a merry heart.

Oh, and how could I forget! If I really want to be put into a relaxed, lighthearted mood I can always pull out The Defend... Oops. Nope. Definitely just kidding.


Gary "hope everyone gets a chance to unwind and relax every so often" O.

 

[Jeffrey D]

My first reaction to this is either Cheers or Frasier.

 

[jcroy]

Whatever is on all the time in reruns.

Currently, it is stuff like The Big Bang Theory

 

[rjd0309]

Barnaby Jones. Just kick back with Barnaby and a plate of mac & cheese.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Many of my 'comfort food' shows are the British 'panel game' shows, like QI, Would I Lie To You, 8 out of 10 Cats, and The Big Fat Quiz. We just really don't have anything like them over here (though Netflix has tried to replicate them--using a couple of UK panel show ringers--with The Fix), and they never fail to keep me entertained. Also, QI 'teaches' me stuff, too, but in a fun way.

As for American shows, I'm kind of like JR in more popular/current reruns, like The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family. I'll usually put them on in the early evening (via local over-the-air TV) just to have something on that I don't mind to watch.

 

[ScottRE]

That's easy: the one, the only, the original Star Trek. I can always find myself in a better mood after watching an episode.

Second choice: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Third: Space:1999.

My go-to's for feeling better.

 

[Darby67]

Excellent topic, Gary! Here are my picks:

Daniel Boone

pretty much anything from the Walt Disney anthology television series

 

[BobO'Link]

Just about any "classic" comedy show fills the bill for me. While I like some better than others the main thing is that it's *comedy* and NOT one of those "Special Episodes" so many 80s "comedy" shows seemed to like so much after a few seasons.

Stuff from the 60s is generally my default for that with favorites being Leave it to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island, The Munsters, The Addams Family, F-Troop, I Dream of Jeannie, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, The Monkees, Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Phil Silvers Show, and a few non comedy entries with Batman (which arguably has comedic appeal - but it's light and bubbly and just plain fun), Zorro, and The Adventures of Superman. The "just plain fun" description works on all those non comedy entries for me.

Also Star Trek, The Time Tunnel, or The Wild Wild West all make me happy.

In spite of my 60s leanings, there are some from other decades that work just as well. Especially WKRP, Newhart, The Bob Newhart Show, Cheers, Frasier, Seinfeld, Weird Science, Newsradio, and some non comedy entries with Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, again a couple of "just plain fun" series.

And then some British fare with The Brittas Empire, Keeping Up Appearances, 'Allo 'Allo, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Are You Being Served?, Chef, Father Ted, The Vicar of Dibley, Last of the Summer Wine, and a few others.

 

[John Sparks]

Going exactly by the thread title...drinking beer out by my pool and eating a Casaba melon ( in beautiful So Cal) ...like right now...and listening to the BEST OF JOHNNY CASH...again..

 

[jcroy]

This may sound very "paradoxical".

In practice I've found that whenever I purchased the tv season dvd (or bluray) sets of a particular show, that show is no longer "comfort food" for me.

 

[John Dirk]

I'm almost ashamed to admit it but for me it's the true crime series, American Greed. Not that I enjoy accounts of people being ripped off and taken advantage of. I don't. What I do enjoy is the suspense and excellent narration by Stacy Keach.

 

[Harry-N]

Sentimental favorite, THE TIME TUNNEL. But with only 30 episodes, I tend not to watch them too often.

STAR TREK in any incarnation is usually just fine for comfort food viewing - we watch them a lot.

M*A*S*H is probably the winner, as we watch an episode just about every night before retiring to bed.

MANNIX is so comforting that I can almost always fall asleep watching it.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Good to see you back round these parts, Gary! Fun question, and there's no doubt that we could all use some "comfort food" TV these days.

I agree with many of the selections above...especially with Howie on The Wild Wild West. That show never fails to make me happy. It's got great action, colorful villains with nefarious plots, terrific, warm chemistry between the two leads and lots of attractive guest actresses, great music and stunts, cool gadgets and elaborate sets - really, what's not to love? I also second Andy's choice of British comedy panel shows, especially Q.I. They're among the few modern shows that I'll seek out when their new seasons debut, disposably throwaway but undeniably fun. Taskmaster also falls into this vein, though it's not a panel show. (Recommended viewing for a good laugh, Andy). And both Star Trek: TOS and classic Doctor Who give me the warm fuzzies, too.

Loads of the lighter ITC action/adventure shows always leave me with a smile on my face...stuff like The Saint, Randall & Hopkirk - Deceased, The Baron, The Zoo Gang and most definitely the lighter-than-air souffle of The Persuaders. Also lighter-hearted western series like Maverick, Sugarfoot, Laredo, Yancy Derringer, many episodes of Bonanza, etc.

Not much of a comedy guy, myself, mystery, sci-fi or action/adventure shows being my go-to stand-bys most days, but I have been developing a taste for classic '50s and '60s sitcoms in recent years - including your beloved The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Gary. Delightful show. My favorites for comfort viewing sitcoms would be The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons, The Beverly Hillbillies and The Munsters. But my biggest warm blanket of a comedy series is Red Dwarf, which is not only reliably funny and clever, but like the best sitcoms, leaves you with a feeling of having spent some quality time with a group of lovable characters.

 

[JohnHopper]

I agree with many of the selections above...especially with Howie on The Wild Wild West. That show never fails to make me happy. It's got great action, colorful villains with nefarious plots, terrific, warm chemistry between the two leads and lots of attractive guest actresses, great music and stunts, cool gadgets and elaborate sets - really, what's not to love?

I second your answer. Jim and Artie are pure fun all the way.

 

[mrz7]

This one is easy for me......I have several good "Comfort Food" shows:

"I Love Lucy", "The Honeymooners", "The Carol Burnett Show", "Soap" and "Will and Grace".

These shows just make me "laugh out loud".....you really need that in this day and age!!!

 

[bmasters9]

The Streets of San Francisco, simply for that fact that Lt. Mike Stone and Insp. Steve Keller exhibited that kind of teamwork and camaraderie that got the job done, and also because it was a far cleaner cop show than many today (very limited cursing, and hardly any gore).

 

[ScottRE]

Has anyone made a "comfort food playlist?" Like a recreation of a schedule from when you have the best memories of watching shows? In the NY area, back in the 80's, WPIX would run The Odd Couple, The Honeymooners, Star Trek and The Twilight Zone at night. Every so often, I'll pull out my sets and run them in that order.



On Saturday night starting at 11:30, WVIA-44 would run three episodes of Star Trek back to back. It was a PBS station, so they would run them commercial free. I found some of the channel IDs and some fund raising promos from 1991 and put them on a DVD-R with three episodes from Laserdisc and it's like being back in time. This gives me great pleasure and for me is the ultimate comfort food TV.

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm generally a bit too lazy to do a custom schedule. I really like the idea but its execution is just more than I usually want to deal with at the end of a long day.

In a way it would somewhat emulate the 60s TV experience in that back then you'd have to get out of your chair and change the channel instead of a disc and, while I find them odious, the forced corporate logos/pirate warnings/misc. delays getting to a menu would be similar to having to sit through commercials.

BUT - It's just so much easier to pop in a disc, plop in the comfy chair, hit play, and veg while a disc full of episodes plays.

One of these days though...

 

[ScottRE]

I'm someone who loves nostalgia, so I dont mind putting in the effort to set it up. Usually the custom play list would happen on a weekend. Or Thanksgiving, I'll pop in King Kong, Son of King and Mighty Joe Young since they used to play them in my area every year for a decade(ish). I actually found VHS copies of all three as well as 1981 commerials from the WOR Holiday Movie Special and made a DVD-R. That was a lotta work, but every year now, it's kind of a way to connect with my Dad who loved watching that.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Has anyone made a "comfort food playlist?" Like a recreation of a schedule from when you have the best memories of watching shows? In the NY area, back in the 80's, WPIX would run The Odd Couple, The Honeymooners, Star Trek and The Twilight Zone at night.

I remember that line-up (from when we had a backyard "big dish" and I was in high school). However, I much preferred the modified line-up where they substituted Space: 1999 in place of Star Trek, as I hadn't seen any episodes of 1999 since their original run.

(This schedule change was when WPIX retired their old, heavily-edited, beat-up Trek prints and switched them the new ones that Paramount offered in the mid-80s which were edited a lot more sensibly--snippets here and there--than the large chunks taken out by local stations when they were on 16mm).

I think I remember some other things in place of Odd Couple and/or TZ at times. I seem to remember a spectacularly-bad syndicated show called Comedy Break with Mac and Jamie in one of those weeknight slots. I also recall Hawaii Five-O reruns taking place before 1999 came on (whether that was in hour leading up to that, or an hour earlier than that).

Before scrambling, that was a "golden age" of TV to have a dish in the back yard... going from 4 channels to hundreds, and since it was before the second-tier networks like Fox and CW came along, it was also the era when most independent stations were still truly independent stations, who ran tons of old reruns to fill those large schedules!