Television, streaming services, and streaming Internet ideas and REVIEWS

pointfarwest

Hello.  I'm looking for engagement ideas and want any advice you can give.  This is for my mom, who is in mid-stage of Alzheimer's.  We have had hit-and-miss with various televised programs, streaming service programs (Netflix, Amazon Prime) and Internet streaming videos (YouTube and others).   

Unlike Siskel and Ebert of the past on films, the only review that really counts is, did you get engagement with the person you are caring for?  We live in a new world, and sadly Siskel and Ebert aren't here to help.  I'll do my best to review.  We do have more options now, and a few things on navigation as we have many ways to get at these programs.  But the televisions are nearly impossible for a person with dementia or Alzheimer's to navigate.  Even people that work in the technology industry wrestle with balky interfaces.  

Streamer service search: Your television will have a search option, agnostic of streaming services--this is different than an Internet search on my tv, it only searches across various streaming services such as Prime, Netflix, Vudu, Discovery+, etc.  Some of what I list below has different viewing options and will change from time-to-time.  

Internet Search: Further, a lot of great things are free (or with short ads) from within a search conducted while you are within YouTube, or even from an Internet search.  Most TVs have the YouTube app, or taking a step back, you can search from the Internet (and generally the content is on YouTube, but not all the time).   

Back to my specifics, as my mom is in mid-stage.  She is still verbal, and can connect on an intellectual level to some programming, but not others.  Some things work, and somethings don't.  Here's a few reviews.  I'm looking for ideas, so please reply with your own.  I couldn't find a thread, so if there is one, point me to that and bump it forward so it is higher up.

1. PBS: Finding Your Roots  (broadcast--check local listings, or streaming with the PBS app, if you are a donor).  This is an ancestry show on two (or three in the older episodes) where the host delves into stories of the past that the celebrity may or may not have known.  Mom talks about this show and seems to have an awareness of "is it on tonight".  She follows the entire thing and is wide awake, and isn't starting to nod off or head to bed early.  I think this works because there isn't a test as to "now, was that the 3rd great grandfather on the mothers side that was in the Civil War", but rather, the host essentially gives short vignettes on American history and you don't need to worry about if that was the mother's side or father's side etc.  Really this program is more bite-sized history or bite-sized American Studies.  Crisp, illuminating for all, and engaging for everyone.

Two big enthusiastic thumbs up.  Great engagement, enjoyable, and can also stimulate conversation on your own family stories.

2.  Amazon Prime: Time Team (this is currently free on Amazon, but the series dates back several decades so it may get picked up elsewhere).  A British show where they examine an archeological My younger brother watches this with my mom, and generally he gets great engagement.  The last time it was later and he didn't get great engagement.

I was unable to review, but given mom's engagement, thumbs up there.

3.  Various: Snow Chick: A Pengiun's Tale currently no charge if you have Discovery+ streaming, and $1.99 on Vudu and on Amazon Prime.  This is a gloriously shot 1 hour documentary on an emperor penguin chick being born and growing up.  It's narrated by Kate Winslet.  If you liked March of the Penguins, this is shorter.  Though the films aren't related, you could think of this as a prequel to the more famous "March", and the little chick grows up and comes back as a parent in March of the Penguins.  The little penguin is kind of a late bloomer and with nurturing and nudging from his parents, eventually thrives in the world.  I think Ms. Winslet did this in an outpouring of her maternal instinct, maybe after her divorce from Sam Mendes.  Hey, her narration is amazing, but I did notice in the similar documentary about polar bears, Snow Bears, that unlike penguins who marvelously co-parent, the male polar bear is usually a bad, worse-than-deadbeat presence--perhaps Ms. Winslet had a more unfiltered reaction to her divorce, still maternal here, but the men don't come off as well in Snow Bears.  

We sort of split on the review.  I paid the $1.99 to watch with mom because if I had one choice before I left for the airport later that day, this was it (a metaphor about me receiving parenting, and a thank you mom!).  So it's a big thumbs up from me, but mom only sort of engaged (and maybe that was only because of my enthusiasm), but she seems to tire of nature documentaries fairly quickly.  (When I tried another one on a different animal, she only got into it for about 15 minutes and then said she was bored).  

4.  The Sound of Music. once-a-year on ABC, or you have to pony up $14.99 and buy it (Vudu, other services, or even a DVD).  Why is this now shown at Christmas every year, like the Rankin Bass stop motion Christmas specials?  Exactly what does it have to do with Christmas, I don't think there are any scenes in it?  Perhaps the Disney / ABC executive did the Salzburg Austria tour where you can see the sites where it was filmed, and then the next day went on the "Silent Night" tour (the hymn / carol was written by a humble priest in the area) and came back and juxtaposed these two events.  This is a cinema classic, and the "Do-Re-Mi" number was hugely innovative at the time, and perhaps the first music video ever.  There's a sing-a-long version, but you can simply just turn on the CC / Close Caption and show the words.  You'll be surprised, most people know a lot of the words and the tunes, and for older people, the original versions of these probably stuck with them.  Watch the whole thing, or just use the chapters function and watch parts--and sing along!

Two thumbs up.

5. Evening news shows: MSNBC: Maddow; CNN: Anderson Cooper; or Fox: Sean Hannity

Regardless of where you fall on this spectrum, these shows are ubiquitous on your news / cable in the evening.  When you are tired after a long day, these are easy to just passively flick on, and not nearly so fussy as actively searching and pulling up a show on an app.  A problem is that the discussions or the video can get animated some times, and sometimes can cause anxiety.  And its no longer cute on Cuomo Primetime like it was when the two brothers were on together a year or so ago--even though Chris Cuomo (who compared to, say Anderson Cooper, is almost always very animated), mom found it cute, even if the two brothers picked at each other.  Now, well...oops!  That said, somewhere perhaps you can find streaming Cosby Show reruns and this might work and not sure mom knows.  I'd agree that the caregiver needs adult dialogue and its good to stay connected and informed.  But watch it, as this isn't good engagement some of the time.

While recognizing the shows my hold interest for the caregiver, ultimately, this is two thumbs down.  

Next week, as with Time Team, we'll go to Britain again and review history and a meditative tour through the canals of the English countryside.  Save me the aisle seat.  

In the meantime, post your thoughts and ideas here!  Hoping to get some more ideas!  

Farm Gal

I have found that YouTube on our TV is invaluable in keeping him entertained.  Engagement not so much but he is able to get some pleasure out of his favorite types of videos. 

Right now we are watching a documentary about Alaska.  I have trouble finding / searching through my TV for videos we want to watch so I have signed into my YouTube account on the TV but then use my phone or computer to actually do the searching.  When I find something he might like I save it in my account.  Then am able to go to my account on the TV and pull it up.  

The type of videos he loves to watch are rodeos, horse documentaries, animal documentaries, travel, old westerns, Grand Old Opry, country music from the 50's, etc.  

harshedbuzz

An interesting topic.

I think part of the challenge here is that the answer to engaging with video entertainment is going to be 1) a moving target as the disease progresses and 2) specific to the individual with dementia based on age, interests and degree of apathy. 

The advice for using music to engage is to play the like of music they enjoyed in their youth which might be more of a challenge for a child-caregiver than a spouse because of the generational difference. The last picture I have of dad smiling was taken in MC while he was singing along to "Blueberry Hill" during a party; it was "our song" for my parents. Video and movie choice would likely be best informed by what was enjoyed when they were younger, too.

A number of folks at mom's support group meeting say their older husbands/dads enjoyed westerns on INSP and Starz Encore Westerns; you tube also has a western TV channel. A lot of the moms enjoyed classics like Lawrence Welk, I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners, some of the younger ones enjoyed MeTV's later classic shows. Dad's MCF had 5 TVs in the common areas; one was always tuned into old games shows, another had TMC, another had classic sports, and the rest tended to be classic shows unless someone specifically asked for something.

Dad's viewing habits and fare morphed a lot on the journey. It's possible you could hit on something and have it lose its appeal in a month. Early on, before his diagnosis,  he got weirdly interested in the lives and hemlines of the female talking heads that populate Fox News; this was super creepy and a real departure from his lifelong liberal bend. Then he glommed onto Bluebloods as a kind of replacement for his family- it was as if he saw himself in the role of the patriarch. As the disease progressed and he was finally diagnosed, he lost an interest in most programming that required any working memory to make sense. Around this time, we found the most success with the televised auto auction. He also sometimes tuned into really tinfoil fare like Ancient Aliens and childrens programming if left to his own devices. Daniel Tiger was a firm favorite for a time. 

Speaking of which, there is a stage in which it would be prudent to lock down any pay-per-view devices. Dad went through an expensive phase where he was ordering full seasons of sports he never watched, kids movies and karaoke. Parental controls? I thought they were meant for one to employ as a parent not on them. Who knew?

HB

LovingAwareness

PBS channel on Amazon Prime has been helpful - the Nature series, Atlantic Crossing, the Ken Burns stuff, historical dramas keep Dad entertained.

Travel shows work well for Dad, PBS, Rick Steves, Great Walks.

Turner Classic movies is a godsend. Pretty dependable. He relates to the old movies and they are generally are much more restrained and less graphic about showing violence and things that might upset him.

We have to be careful now of violence because it has started to give him some nightmares and waking delusions. No more war shows, crime and detective shows, which used to be his standard fare. 

The zoo and veterinarian shows are usually a good fallback, but we can't really put them on and leave the room now, but have to monitor for surgery scenes with the animals that might upset him. 

One show that has been working lately is Heartland (it's on Netflix). In the past, it wouldn't have been a show Dad would have liked, since it's kind of a wholesome family soap opera on a horse and cattle ranch in Alberta, but now he really likes seeing all the horses, the cute daughters, and he really identifies with the character of Jack, the grandfather. And there are about 15 seasons of it, so a good long run. Farm Gal, Jack was a rodeo star and there's a lot of horse and rodeo stuff on this show, so he might like it. 

mommyandme (m&m)

We have most of the platforms.  My mother cannot program the tv herself though.  You can find anything on YouTube.  We watch a lot of Lawrence Welk, animal vids.  I pay for no ads. 

She’s watching America’s Cutest on Amazon Prime right now.  

Hulu, Disney Plus, HBO max, Amazon prime, and anything else I can grab. Movies like Oklahoma, Chitty chitty bang bang…the fun musicals.  My mother doesn’t do much else besides TV and Music.  Sometimes I’ll put Funny Cats on YouTube with no sound and play favorite music on her stereo.  Nevertheless I’m constantly getting something on that she seems interested in. 

Good luck. 

  

ninalu

Chiming in from my experience with my mother, then mid-stage:

She loved watching and rewatching her favorite films - so we purchased them on DVD and played them again and again. We circulated about 10 DVDs in this manner. For several months, this was as good as having her favorite friends visit. Her favorite films WERE her friends. 

We used Netflix & Prime interchangeably to watch nature and outdoor adventure shows;  anything that was PG-rated seemed fine for her. Even some R-rated stuff worked. She had lifelong interests in these topics.

One thing to note: Mom developed a strong adverse reaction to anything with anger or violence in it. This seemed to happen overnight. One day she enjoyed her documentaries about World War II and the next day she couldn't tolerate it and started yelling in distress. Once she became sensitized to anger/violence on film, her viewing options were drastically reduced (including old favorites.) She became very upset and had nightmares, as others have noted. Programming aimed at younger audiences was not an acceptable alternative. She had no use for "kids shows", as she called them. 

Farm Gal

HarshedBuzz  you are so right that it is a moving target.  My husband simply cannot watch something with a story line anymore -- he just falls asleep.  Of course he does that anyway.  That is why the action of rodeo, the old westerns of the 50's, animal videos or travel with lots of scenic changes work at this point in the journey.  

Thanks for the info about Heartland but I believe he is too far advanced to be able to figure anything out on it.  We used to watch a lot of game shows but he got to where he kept repeating that he couldn't figure out what they are doing so now I rarely tune in any game shows.