Ambien TV: Boring Shows That Put You To Sleep

[whatsatool]

I started this topic because I always fall asleep watching Elementary and wake up with a middle-of-the night TV show on instead. Always.

[magicdog]

Early episodes of "The Avengers" (pre - Diana Rigg) tended to put me to sleep.

[ParadoxLost]

South Park.  Its Pavlovian.  Years ago it was syndicated at midnight and I got in the habit of going to sleep with it as background noise.  Now I can grab it off on demand if I have trouble getting to sleep.

[wilsie]

I watched "Taxi" in it's original run.  At the time it was one of my favorite shows but when the theme came on I was out.

[festivus]

2nd season of True Detective. I literally could not stay awake and I just gave up watching about four episodes in. I don't believe I missed anything.

[Neurochick]

2nd season of True Detective. I literally could not stay awake and I just gave up watching about four episodes in. I don't believe I missed anything.

 

I gave up after the third episode.  No matter what I did I just couldn't stay awake past fifteen minutes into the third episode.

[Crisopera]

Mythbusters.  Something about their soothing voices. I really loved that show, and it was a frustrating struggle to stay awake each time.

[MaryMitch]

I just figured out the title of this thread... I thought it might be a reference to "Oz", the show about the prison in Baltimore (which I don't watch). Because, I just saw "The Wiz" which reminded me that in "The Wizard of Oz" it's the poppies that put people to sleep, and the snow wakes them up!  Sorry to be picky...

Edited December 5, 2015 by MaryMitch

[fishcakes]

Arsenio Hall's original late night talk show used to do it for me. He was just the worst interviewer ever. "So what were you like as a child?" "What's your favorite restaurant in L.A.?" It got to the point where as soon as he walked out on stage and the dog pound started woofing, I'd fall fast asleep.

 

Nowadays, Seinfeld can put me to sleep, but it's not on at the right time for that any longer. I love the show, but I've seen every episode so many times that I can follow along without looking at the screen until I drift off.

[spaceytraci1208]

If I fall asleep with the TV on, it's usually in the middle of a marathon of American Greed or Dateline. Downside to that is whatever's happening on screen worms its way into my dreams

[roamyn]

Actually, it's the poppies that put people to sleep.

The snow woke them up.

Sorry. Just wanted to point that out.

[Irlandesa]

The Food Network or HGTV is always good but I always like to throw on Law & Order to both sleep to and wake up to.  I've seen every episode a million times so I don't wonder how an episode ends or how it started.

[blueray]

my local news. Yes, I'm weird for my age (I'm in my twenties) and often fall asleep with the news on. Then I'm generally woken up by "It's the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fellon!" then his music. Seriously a lot louder then the news.

Edited December 15, 2015 by blueray

[Demented Daisy]

How It's Made.  The narrator's voice and the repetitive actions of mass manufacturing.  I'm lucky if I make it through one episode, even one that I really want to know, you know, how it's made.

[Neurochick]

Many years ago it used to be "The Joy of Painting."  

[DearEvette]

When our kids were little we'd make a point to watch what they were watching and I swear, Thomas The Tank Engine (narrated by Ringo Starr) was absolutely snooze inducing.  As was Little Bill.  The snoozy jazz score and the soft voices.  Man, I don't think I ever finished as episode.

[Ohwell]

Any golf tournament puts me to sleep because of the announcers' whispers.  I just doze on the couch.  Years ago, it used to be bowling shows but you don't see many bowling tournaments on tv anymore.

[lucindabelle]

House of Cards.

[FormerMod-a1]

It didn't start out this way, but in its later seasons CSI became the show I napped to.  I'd put in on purposely to nap.  I'd watch maybe 5-10 minutes, nap, and then catch the last 5-10.  I always felt like I knew what was going on and didn't miss anything either.  

[Blergh]

I know it's a classic show but between the almost constant 'dusk' lighting, the fortune-cookie bromides and virtually zero action until the very last part when Caine would whomp the provincial cowboy hicks who didn't 'get' him, I never failed to fall asleep to Kung-Fu. 

Then there was Larry King Live featuring a dullard blockhead who eagerly bought his own hype and would always cut his guests off with bogus questions the second they actually came close to saying anything vaguely interesting. I guess millions of folks needed him to get them to sleep every night- as no other explanation as to how he lasted as long as he did makes any sense to me. 

[Bort]

I don't necessarily find the shows boring, but they're on in reruns constantly, and the cable networks that show them run them in blocks but... Friends and Big Bang Theory. They're my white noise napping shows. Probably because I don't feel like I'll miss anything, the rerun will come back around soon enough and I've already seen it anyway. The fear of missing something is why I can't usually sleep with the TV on and it'll keep me awake.

[piccadilly83]

On 12/2/2015 at 4:18 PM, wilsie said:

I watched "Taxi" in it's original run.  At the time it was one of my favorite shows but when the theme came on I was out.

Well that theme song is really mellow.

My addition to this thread would be Inside the Mossad.  It's a docuseries on Netflix about the inner workings of Israel's intelligence agency.  It's actually really interesting, and the stories I was able to get through were very good, but I haven't even been able to finish the first episode yet.  I've tried at least three times.  I don't know if it's because it's in Hebrew, or if it's because it's part documentary, part re-enactment and I watch it before bed.  Maybe it's some combination of the three, but I fall asleep every time. So frustrating. To be fair, the show isn't boring, I just can't ever seem to make it through.

Edited September 19, 2019 by piccadilly83

[slf]

Nature shows. They're always beautiful to look at but I pass out every time. I think maybe it's the narration?

[festivus]

6 hours ago, slf said:

Nature shows. They're always beautiful to look at but I pass out every time. I think maybe it's the narration?

I think so. I've been making nature shows and space shows my nap shows forever because the narration is soothing. We've been watching that country music documentary by Ken Burns and it is so interesting but I find myself getting sleepy anyway. I know it's because of the narration. I've been trained, lol.

[SVNBob]

Not a TV show per se, but a YouTube show with really good production values.

Citation Needed, made by Tom Scott and his mates from uni, collectively known as The Technical Difficulties.  It's a basic British panel show hosted by Tom, where he's pulled up a semi-random Wikipedia article, and quizzes his friends on the facts contained within the article.  There's lots of jokes and tangents, and quite a few Mystery Biscuits.

The reason I use it as a sleep aid is that I've seen them all, several times (so I actually put the playlist on shuffle).  It's a form of comfort TV (which I know is a different thread), but for some reason, I can drift off easily while listening.  I've also done the same with their Reverse Trivia game podcast, and now their new show, Two of These People are Lying.  It's got to be something about the free-wheeling nature of a group of mates joking around, combined with 3 Yorkshire and 1 Midlands accent that makes the whole thing relaxing.