By Connor Small
Contributing Writer
How many of your favorite TV shows are set sometime in the past? Many of America’s most popular shows, such as “Boardwalk Empire,” “That 70s Show” and “Madmen,” are set in the past. But why? What is it about the past that interests us so much that we would spend so much time glued to our couches watching?
For our parents, and maybe some grandparents, this is an easy question to answer: nostalgia. Today’s adults long to remember and relive the past, and many TV shows are able to take advantage of that desire by creating shows which glamorize the periods in which they lived. I know that my parents, who went to college in the 1970s, love watching “That 70’s Show” because it reminds them of their youth. While the escapades of the gang from Point Place may be dramatized, my parents still relate to many of the plots and characters from the show. For example, my father always loves the episode where the posse sees “Star Wars” for the first time, because he remembers having the same reaction after his first time watching it. Members of older generations are trying to reclaim their youth, and for half and hour or so, they can.
Another factor that must be taken into consideration is that people love to escape the monotony and the problems of current times. We all know the issues happening today because we are living and dealing with them right now. And realistically, nobody wants to come home at night and relive the issues that they just dealt with during the day. We are already tired of them by the time we wake up. Maybe this is the reason why many shows that are set in the present are fantastical, such as AMC’s “The Walking Dead” or FOX’s “Fringe.” Although they are set in modern times, they revolve around science fiction elements such as zombies and alternate universes (something that we hopefully aren’t experiencing in our daily lives). These shows put a new spin on our everyday lives, whereas shows set in the past allow us to escape the present.
Perhaps the most important reason that we adore these shows is because humans have always glorified and embellished their memories. Think about it: how many times have you told your favorite story? It is never the same, nor as true, as the first time it was told. The same is true for these TV shows: they embellish the past, creating a world based on a former reality, with more elegance and glitz than we know what to do with. Like our memories, we want to get these moments back–to relive them–and perhaps this is the reason why we are so addicted to watching such TV shows.