TV show??
Is there a TV show a person with dementia can follow? Do you have any suggestions? We used to watch TV together a lot, but there doesn't seem to be a show DH can follow anymore.
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Some favorites were High Potential, Will Trent, and NCIS. Unfortunately, DH can't follow any of those anymore. I've tried oldies but goodies… Star Trek, Magnum PI, etc. Sadly, DH doesn't enjoy them anymore. Any ideas?
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My DW likes short comedies, funny videos and stand up comics. Anything that doesn't have a plot she has to follow.
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My DW was the same way. She doesn't watch TV anymore. She has been occupied with watching YouTube videos on her iPad. Specifically, Steve Harvey videos with kids and A.I. talking parrots. Such a strange and awful disease for everyone involved.
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I wish I could even get my wife to look at a tv. But the last thing I can recall her actually watching was the movie IF with Ryan Renolds. It had a little girl in it and big fluffy imaginary friends (IF). I think it was the colors and little girl that kept her interested.
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For DW, her taste in TV changed as the disease progressed. What works now is well written sitcoms. Things like Friends, Golden Girls, Reba. She enjoys anything with physical comedy. She does not like conflict or aggression. America's Funniest Home Videos (AFV) is very popular with DW.
Fortunately for me, I am a big sports fan. I try to put something she will like on the big TV and I can follow a game on my laptop or tablet. They days of us sitting down together and enjoying the same thing on TV are over, but DW still gets a lot of enjoyment when the right programming comes along.
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My DH enjoys watching old Game Shows - Match Game, Password, The Price is Right. He used to love Westerns but we don’t watch them anymore, too violent. He starts thinking people are outside shooting.
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This is so helpful you all… thank you!!
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It appears to be common that our loved ones like to watch funny stuff. Light-hearted comedy and such. Gone are the days of enjoying a movie together at home. Sad and mad at the disease.
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We enjoyed the British Baking show a lot. We would watch the seasons over and over again. Also Call the Midwife.
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My DH can no longer follow plots and involved shows either, so it's watch repeat watch again. He loves war movies or documentaries on youtube which I put on during the day and repeat shows at night, if there is nothing on free TV I pick a movie that we have watched before and enjoyed. Unfortunately there is not much scope for watching anything new but he doesn't seem to notice when I’m not watching and doing something on my phone as long as I am sitting with him.
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my brother in law streams music videos for my sister with dementia. There are some with animals in them.
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So interesting how similar our experiences are. Nothing with violence or loud people. Old comedies, game shows and ridiculous animal videos. DW just doesn't understand the tiger is really not bringing cubs to a person in a car. But she seems to really enjoy these you tube shorts.
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We watch YouTube and PBS almost all of the time now. He enjoys documentaries (nature, history and music), music/concert videos and old movies. He likes the old Sherlock Homes films, and any documentary about Winston Churchill, FDR, and the Civil Rights Movement. We watch Ken Burn's history of jazz series over and over. Last night, we watched several hours of classic blues artists on YouTube. He really loved a PBS Nature episode about animal rescue workers reuniting with wild animals they cared for as babies. So nothing loud, violent, or fast-paced.
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We are not quite where you are, but I think my starting place would be some the really old sitcoms. They not only had simple plots but they may feel familiar, esp. if he is regressing to an earlier age.
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My DH likes old Westerns: Wells Fargo, Gun Smoke etc. He doesn't really follow the plot but I think he still enjoys them. He enjoys football too but when I try to talk about a previous play or player I realize he is watching bit not always comprehending. I went to the bathroom and the score had changed. I said they scored@ He was surprised and responded who? He sits and watches but I realize he is looming but not understanding or retaining what he sees. Sadly
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My DH seems to like Friends. He watches it for hours. It's funny because he never used to watch it when it originally aired.
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Lately I have noticed DW sitting I think watching a TV Show. But then I walk into the room or look over and realize she really isn't watching it. Almost trance like sometimes. I used to try and find out where she went in her mind but that desert is vast these days and all the sign posts are missing for her. 😢
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travel/national Geographic/ nature…PBS
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DH watches Daniel Boone on YouTube. Says he likes them because they arent violent and he's seen them all so many times he could recite them (truth).
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My DW loves to watch You Tube's funny cats and dogs videos. When I hear her laugh it makes my day.
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DH here likes with shows with segments (Penn and Teller, Shark Tank)
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My DH likes the old cowboy shows from his childhood. Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Wanted Dead or Alive, Rifleman, etc. DH is late stage 5 and doesnt really follow the plot but remembers the characters. I also put on reruns of America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent cuz he likes hearing the singers. He can’t use his phone anymore for calling or texting but when I put TikTok on his phone, he is able to scroll from one to the next one.
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DW is enjoying Olympic figure skating
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My DH loved all the westerns, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Rifleman and and the likes. He had watched them so many times he always knew what they were saying, they were like his old friends. So in his later years, that's all he wanted to watch. His hearing was so bad, but he always knew what they were saying.
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I was surprised. My DW liked looking at that too.
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My dear wife loves the British Baking show and Lawerence Welk
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There is an app called Zinnia that is specifically for people with dementia, with a variety of subjects from animals to cooking to presidents to zinnias ……and all in between. The shows are at a slightly slower pace, but very interesting. It is a subscription, about $10 a month I think. Need to have a smart TV that is less than about 10 years old….I tried to play on ourTV but it was manufactured in 2016, I believe, so didnt work….but anything newer does fine. You get a 10 day or so free trial so can try without losing any money to see how it works on your TV. ……. go to ZinniaTV.com
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My husband too is entranced with the Olympic figure skating; watching the replays on Peacock. And ditto on war videos on youtube, as well as music, symphonic and folk, on youtube. He never watched TV as a child so the old westerns don't interest him; I've tried Law and Order (because it is so linear) and old Sherlock Holmes and Maigret, which he will watch for a while but probably only to please me. He's not wild about cute puppies and kittens. And last, we are watchinng Ken Burns the American Revolution in small segments. I think he likes the combination of re-enactments and charts showing armies going hither and yon. When we finish, I'll try another Ken Burns. At least I can be happy to watch those (the poor caregivers now know more about WWII than they ever wanted to , 12 hours a week of it!!
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My DH likes to watch Cooking with Emirel. He likes it because Emeril talks to the audience and he likes to talk to him.
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Commonly Used Abbreviations
DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
AL = Assisted Living
POA = Power of Attorney
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