Help! Need streaming movie / show recommendations for dear old dad.

[GR8FUL-D]

Both my parents are nearly 90 yrs old, & at this point spend most of the day in their recliners napping & watching TV. My mom is entertained by pretty much anything, but it's getting really hard to find shows/movies my Dad enjoys watching--he won't watch movies with much explicit sex &/or lots of gratuitous R-rate profanity. Interestingly he has no problem watching movies with extreme war violence...

Shows Dad likes:

LOVED Call of the Midwife on Netflix, Downton Abby, The Crown, and All Creatures Great & Small.
Most Mel Gibson movies like The Patriot, We Were Soldiers, Braveheart, etc..
Enjoys a good documentary.

Any & all suggestions appreciated!

[mrmass]

Can they handle streaming? Changing inputs/source etc?

Get them on TCM https://www.tcm.com/

[SurferLife]

I would recommend the movie, After Death. Fascinating, and an interesting topic if your'e in your 90s!

[Fractalleaf]

If he has interest in the Cold War, the series Deutschland 83, 86 and 89 is an interesting take on espionage and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Not sure which channels you need, I think we had to sign up with Hulu. Also not sure if English dubbed version is available, subtitles will make it difficult to follow if they "check for holes in the eyelids" while watching. Still, a great series and something a little different.

[ladycat]

Miss Scarlet and the Duke
Victoria (2016-2019 Masterpiece)
Elementary [Sherlock/Watson] (2012-2019)
Not sure if these are on streaming, but they are on DVD.

[Misenplace]

This thread is now in the Personal Consumer issues forum.

Moderator Misenplace

[PeninsulaPerson]

Both my parents are nearly 90 yrs old, & at this point spend most of the day in their recliners napping & watching TV. My mom is entertained by pretty much anything, but it's getting really hard to find shows/movies my Dad enjoys watching ...

Simple!

If they can You-Tube, they can call up movies from the 40s and 50s and 60s - or get DVDs of those movies for them or however they watch TV.

If you don't know what those movies are, Google "Top Movies of 1953" (for example) and etc. & etc. and you can get lists & lists.

Pretty much guaranteed to be no gratuitous sex or profanity!

My husband is a movie fiend and - while we are not 90 - sometimes we do this to get away from The Movies Of Today.

The 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s had so many amazing films.

Good luck and hope your folks enjoy spending time with some "old friends"!

(There's a lot of old TV available online now. A neighbor's grandson loves Dick Van Dyke! And old-time radio is also something your folks might enjoy - might bring back memories of happy and much more innocent times!)

[123]

Movies! Network is a free local channel available in many areas.https://moviestvnetwork.com/ Typically it's one of the X.X over-the-air channels, also carried on cable systems. It shows older films that are somewhat less known then those on TCM.

[Watty]

If they can manage streaming then get them set up with the PBS and Britbox apps. Some of the old series have dozens of seasons available online.

[rockstar]

I recommend Lucifer.

[rob]

For Doco - Just watched Turning Point (Netflix) and it's brilliant - NF of all places has a lot of similar type historical docos that are well worth the time. I also loved the Chicago 7 (99% sure that was also NF) which is very close to a doco although in movie format.

For movies (I know you said not so much), but try The Tom Clancy (Jack Ryan) set - Hunt for Red October, Patriot etc.

[blortchplop]

Movies, he might like "Worth" about the person who administered the 9/11 victim compensation fund.

This is a bit of a left turn from your list, but I've really been digging Columbo recently, the classic detective show. There's a reasonably priced box set.

[PVW]

There are a lot of old TV shows and movies on freevee. And it's free once you get a device to stream it. It's an Amazon network, so you should be able to get it on all Firestick - that's how we get it. It might be available on other devices.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/livetv

[ScubaHogg]

The older men in my life love Yellowstone. I haven’t watched it

[gatorking]

PBS passport is all he needs.

[SmileyFace]

PBS passport is all he needs.

Strangely PBS passport doesn't have all the PBS Masterpiece Theater content which they might enjoy most.

My suggestion would be Amazon Prime Video (lots of ww2, war documentaries) with PBS Masterpiece and Britbox as add-ons - allows them to go to one streaming App for all this content.
Also - all the free vee content someone mentioned in same app. If your parents are like my Dad - too many streaming Apps causes a lot of confusion.

[LittleMaggieMae]

If you have Amazon Prime - the first things that came to mind:

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was a hit with the over 60's crowd.
I hear Monarch of the Glen is on Amazon Prime.

Prime has a lot of "vintage" or "classic" sitcoms and movies... it might be worth a google/checking Prime for something that would be enjoyable to watch.


Since you have Netflix - if The Queens Gambit is still available they might enjoy that - it's got a reasonable plot and not graphic (or gratuitous) violence or sexy times - even when it's implied or central to the character development.

[Eowyn]

It sounds like he might enjoy Blue Bloods. With 14 seasons, it could keep him entertained for a long time.

[Carol88888]

I just watched "Seabiscuit" tonight and liked it.

[Beensabu]

I bet he would absolutely love "Turn: Washington's Spies". So would your mom. It's good. There's four seasons.

Maybe "Outlander" too. Also good.

[Colorado Guy]

WW2 focus:

Available on DVD or on Amazon Prime, 2 mini-series:
Band of Brothers
The Pacific
Both of the above are "real life" stories.

Saving Private Ryan, a Tom Hanks WWII video. Plus, IF you have Apple TV, Greyhound, a Tom Hanks WWII video (not yet released in the US as a DVD). You can find YT videos of some of the battle scenes.

[fizxman]

If you think they are up for it and if they have computers, find them a handful of YouTube channels to watch. The number and variety of things to watch on YouTube is endless.

Bonus points for installing Firefox and Ublock to avoid YouTube ads.

[Lookingforanswers]

My recommendation is to download an app called "Reelgood" to your phone and set up an account. It's a service that scans all the online streaming services and allows you to track what on the services that you subscribe to and get recommendations based on what you've seen.

I would go on the app and pretend you are your parents:
- Earmark the service or services they subscribe to
- Go in and mark a bunch of the movies that they've seen and rate which ones they love (and which ones they hate).
- As you're scrolling it will probably generate a bunch of movies you've forgotten about, but which you can earmark on a "to see" list.
- Then look at their recommendations at what you should watch next.

Then go to Netflix, logged on as your parents, and build a list of what they should watch next.

Reelgood will surface a *lot* more movies and series than you can think of on your own.

[SheReadsHere719]

TV show: The Gilded Age (Max) – more Julian Fellowes, since they’re Downton Abbey fans

Movies (Netflix):
*The Catcher was a Spy
*Operation Mincemeat
*The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Agree with the recommendations for Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Seabiscuit, and Trial of the Chicago 7.

[marielake]

Foyle's War is on PBS. Set in England during WW2. Main characters are an investigating police officer and his driver.