Shows/games/media that got you through tough times

[Lance Uppercut]

I don’t want to say something “pulled me out of depression” as depression is a loaded word.

But yeah, I remember a thread where someone mentioned how Impractical jokers was a show they got into at a low point in their life and they have a lot of favorable memories of that show due to it.

I have similar experiences. Around 2009, I was feeling really down for reasons I don’t want to get into. I just remember the only thing giving me comfort and eventually put me back in a good mood was watching Chuck and Community over and over.

I graduated college a year earlier, had no idea what to do, and would take community college classes for fun, so it really resonated with me. I felt like a mix of Jeff and Pierce, and my weird obsession with tv, I could resonate with Abed.

Chuck was also a story about a guy whose life fizzled out and had no idea what to do as well, so that resonated with me as well.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Parks and Rec kept me from going crazy when Covid knocked me on my ass for three weeks a couple of years back.

And back in 2010 I went through an absolutely horrific breakup, and playing Red Dead Redemption solidly for almost the entire year following numbed the pain.

[ayumidah]

My father passed in 2008, and Supernatural helped me through. I think it felt relatable in a way because the brothers were mourning John at the time as well.

wrestling has helped give me other things to focus on during low points quite a few times in my life.

[CMWaters]

No specific examples from me, but "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

[Zone Was Wrong]

Critical Role and it's thousands of hours of content desperately helped me stay strong during the pandemic lock down. That and Persona 5 Royal.

[Derk!]

BTE and AEW in general helped keep me sane during the pandemic.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

movies:
Hot Fuzz
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Friday the 13th Par 4 specifically

Albums:
Agalloch - The Mantle
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Red House Painters - Rollercoaster

Comics:
Transmetropolitan
Superior Foes of Spider-Man

Games:
the Suikoden franchise
Tetris

[BlackoutCreature]

I remember when my fiance started self-destructing and destroyed our relationship I started getting really into the Stargate shows.

[Gunhaver]

At a point where several major changes occurred at once and I felt powerless to change things, there was ALF.

[Bobeddy]

About a decade ago I was in my early 20's, was in my final year of college and was unsure if I'd done the right course and what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

I was studying and working part-time as a dishwasher in a restaurant, so I was stressed, tired and fed up. A lot of the media I was consuming at the time was fairly dark and bleak so at this particular low point, as silly as it sounds, watching something as overbearingly wholesome and optimistic as MLP:FiM actually helped a great deal.

Oct 10, 2023 2:13:17 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

No specific examples from me, but "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

MST3K was another show I discovered during college. I've strong nostalgia of watching full episodes late at night on YouTube feeling a sense of nostalgia for the aesthetic and vibe of the show. So double-nostalgia for me.


Similarly, during that first year or so of the pandemic when lockdowns were strictly enforced here in Ireland, having NXT and AEW to watch was something to look forward to every week.

[thechase]

1999 (first bout with depression after being rejected by college)

Power Rangers In Space
Space Ghost: Coast 2 Coast
Dexter's Lab
Powerpuff Girls
Johnny Bravo
Sunset Beach
Hercules and Xena
Stargate SG-1
Pokemon (Indigo League)

2010 (mental health breakdown)

A daily dose of Pre-School CITV
Sam and Mark's TMI Friday
Tracey Beaker Returns
Dani's House
Doctor Who
Sarah Jane Adventures
Toy Story 3

[Ultimo Gallos]

Rocket to Russia side 1
Damaged entire album
UHF,the movie not the second dial on the TV
Robert E Howard's Conan the Barbarian
Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

[agent817]

I went through a tough time not long ago. I went through a bit of a mental health breakdown mixed with depression. How it happened was a long story. I know back in March, I binged on a lot of movies. I also went for long walks. One of the days that I walked I listened to Tha Dogg Pound's "Dogg Food." I listened to a lot of hardcore rap as it helped comfort me. That often helps, particularly West Coast rap, along with other stuff like Bone Thugs.

Then came the end of the semester when I became a recluse because of some other related things to those issues. I listened to a lot of rap like before. One of the things that helped was watching "Speed." I love that movie. It never gets old for me.

[Mandarin Dessert Version 0]

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.

Not anything depression-related but I found out about the show one month after I hastily returned from Japan from a research trip for my master thesis due to 3/11 happening in Japan. After I returned I was in a funk due to the German media making it seem like Japan would be close to being lost forever, making me worried about my future job prospects having studied Japan Studies and being in general in a sad mood.

That's when a certain thread on FAN opened, I decided to check out the show...and it led to probably the happiest 9 years of my life so far.

[Ben Wyatt]

Oct 10, 2023 2:00:34 GMT -5 Mighty Attack Tribble said:

Parks and Rec kept me from going crazy when Covid knocked me on my ass for three weeks a couple of years back.

I never had covid, but when the lockdown was going on, I found Parks and Rec to be something of a warm comfy blanket to relax under

[schma]

This wasn't a huge comfort, but I was roughly the same age as the characters in How I Met Your Mother. So when they were struggling with entering their 30s and life not having turned out the way they thought, their plans not going how they'd hoped, etc, I could really relate. It was nice to see characters being portrayed with similar struggles.

[The Ichi]

Friends and Buffy helped me through the more...turbulent times of adolescence.

2010 was the roughest year I've had so far in my personal life, and as daft as it sounds, TNA in their prime LOLTNA era as well as this place to riff on it kept me sane.

Similarly AEW both softened the blow of lockdown a few years back and rekindled my love of wrestling again.

[James Fabiano]

Yes it'll mostly refer to That Year....

While we couldn't go out a lot, we binged all of Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated. Rewatched various YouTubers: AVGN, Funny or Die...

We also binged a series of YT videos devoted to presenting all the MST3K host segments, season by season.

Concentration (the '70s version with Jack Narz) just started on Buzzr.

Think I went back to watching some Raccoons too.

I tried various stuff on Netflix, most notably The Stranger and Tiger you-know-who. There was a nice Masters of the Universe documentary there too.


As things went back and forth in the subsequent recent years, I've found similar in Ghosts (both versions) and What We Do In The Shadows. Any rarities that Buzzr was presenting (Match Game/Hollywood Squares, Whew!).

I guess TV and gaming helped a lot when I was really younger. I had tops one outside-of-school friend and I was bullied/misunderstood. I was happy when watching all my favorite stuff or listening to songs I liked.

Shows that remind me of my original house when I was starting grade school give me comfort in general. This is how things like short-lived 1983 game shows, The Raccoons, He-Man, Laugh-In, various sitcoms that local stations showed reruns of, Popeye shorts, etc. came to have sentimental value.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

My “comfort” movies when I feel crummy? Die Hard, Total Recall 1990, the Back To The Future trilogy, a lot of MCU stuff like Guardians, Thor Ragnarok and Winter Soldier, Disney films like Aladdin, Zootopia, Emperor’s New Groove and Lilo & Stitch, Talledega Nights, Blues Brothers, Good Burger, UHF, Austin Powers 1, Friday, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, some of the camper Bond films like Goldeneye, Octopussy, Live and Let Die, etc.

[Soultastic]

I got into One Piece as I was having a crisis over what the f*** I was gonna do with my life. I can't express how much I needed it.

Also, there's been waaay to many times that I've been down in the dumps and then newLEGACYinc just saved the day. The pandemic lockdown was killing me and then boom, Kingiest of the Ringiest.