Why do older people watch crime shows constantly?

[travelguy01]

Law and Order SVU, NCIS, Investigation Discovery shows, True Crime shows, Matlock, Murder She Wrote…. the list is endless. Why?

[Anonymous]

HAHAHA RIGHT? My dad is in his 70s and most of the shows you listed he will watch on a loop. I don’t understand it! However, I can’t judge too much, I’m one of those women that watches true crime shows all the time. 🤷🏼‍♀️
As a side note, My dad grew up in Chicago, like the south side. He was in one of the groups that were always causing trouble.
Anyway, I happened to be at my parents house one time. They now live well outside of Chicago but he fell asleep watching Chicago PD. There was a part in the show they did that aggressive “cop knock” and were yelling Chicago PD. (Also, my dad was in construction so he’s got hearing issues now and watches this crap at an unreasonably loud volume.)
Well the cop knock woke my dad up out of a dead sleep and he went running for the door.
It was the funniest thing, my mother and I were laughing so hard we were crying!!! Like what the hell did you do that the Chicago cops would be pounding on your door, old man? 😂😂😂
He did not like that we were laughing so hard about it. This was years ago and I still randomly laugh about it and will bring it up at family get togethers.

[RageBabe]

I'm not older than you, and I do occasionally watch the real crime shows, but I want to quit since it's negatively affecting my mental health. But I don't think it's a thing for the elderly. Lots of age groups enjoy these shows.

[RageBabe]

@travelguy01 Thank you for the MHO!

[Massageman]

Because the newer shows are such trash, for starters.

CBS/Paramount is one of the biggest offenders. Redone MacGyver (ugh, no wonder RDA refused to do it), Magnum PI (ugh), Hawaii Five-O (this one is almost fairly decent), etc. , too many Star Trek re-dos to count. And now they are redoing Matlock with (blech!!!) and others yet to come? Yes, we WOULD rather watch a sixth or seventh rerun of "The Trouble with Tribbles".

Now, if only we could get rid of those commercials for Medicare supplements (at least they know their target audience).

[KrakenAttackin]

Great points.

[Maybe_Maybe_not]

If assuming this specific age group is looking at this content then... I can see a reasoning: Tradition. I'm not sure for USA, in my location I've started to see an expansion in TV shows' diversity somewhere around 2004 ? Since older people, in general, are anchoring in tradition, since Crime shows have been trending a lot before the 2000's then... Causality?

[exitseven]

There are not many shows that are watchable on TV. There are no more cowboy shows and the comedies are all crap. There is now a bunch of game shows and reality shows. I cannot remember when there was a good sci Fi show. I like some of the cop shows but some are not very good.

[Yabbut]

They're interesting? There's so many of them?

[RedInnocent69]

Like any other echo chamber, to reinforce their irrational fears

[purplepoppy]

Research for when they bump off their spouse.

[Account]

I guess I am old. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Iron_Man]

I can’t stand those show