What you watch when you want to wind down

We asked you to share the TV shows and movies you find yourself returning to again and again, and your answers took us back many decades to different, if not simpler, times.

In her Jan. 16 column putting out the call for “comfort watches,” Inland 360 contributor Jeanne M. DePaul mentioned her lifelong love of TV Westerns and listed several other shows she watches on repeat.

I share her love for — and tendency to rewatch — “30 Rock” (streaming on Hulu), and her list offered some new-to-me options for watching away the winter blues with supernatural Western “Wynonna Earp” (Netflix) and crime drama “Lie to Me” (Hulu).

Then we started receiving your suggestions, and my list got longer.

Inland 360 contributor Kaylee Brewster earned a master’s degree in film and television studies at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and she said the concept of comfort TV came up during her studies. Just like you’d expect, a comfort watch meant a show so familiar “you can just put it on and kind of let your brain go into autopilot to relax, but it’s still fun.”

Procedurals like “Law & Order,” sitcoms like “Friends” and reality TV were among the comfort watches students mentioned during their discussions, Brewster said.

“I don’t think there’s a rule about what counts as comfort TV shows,” she said. “It’s just kind of whatever is a comfort to you.”

Her top three comfort watches are sitcoms: “30 Rock,” “Parks and Recreation” (Peacock) and “Community” (Peacock).

Below are the comfort watches shared by Inland 360 readers:

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I seldom miss “Emergency!” (over the air on MeTV and streaming on Peacock) and “Adam-12” (Philo).

The actors are like my older brothers. I developed eczema (a skin disorder) shortly after I was born. My brother (4 years old) and four boy cousins (10, 8, 7, 6) were always there, taking care of me.

We farmed, keeping cows, pigs, rabbits, geese and an old plow horse named Mag (who sometimes let us ride).

The boys, with our mom’s supervision, entertained me and taught me how to survive in a world that was difficult, to say the least.

The eczema was somewhat better by the time I reached high school, and the boys were all in the military, two in WWII and the others in Korea. My brother was air control on the carrier Valley Forge at the Inchon invasion. When he came home, he joined the Boise police force, married his boss’ daughter and later had a well-recognized career as a California Highway Patrol officer.

All the boys are deceased now, but I’m reminded of their antics when I see “my guys” on TV.

Jody Smith, Lewiston

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The old NY police show “Barney Miller” (streaming on Family Entertainment Television, or FETV, on channel 323 on DirectTV) is my nightly half-hour respite. My uncle, who was an L.A. officer, said it was closest to real-life police work of all the shows. I’ve grown to love the characters, and for a cop show it is remarkably nonviolent.

Dixie Johnson, Grangeville

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These days, whenever I need a little comfort, I find myself turning to “Little House on the Prairie” (streaming via Roku, Peacock or Philo).

Watching it feels like stepping into a simpler time, one where neighbors helped each other, families gathered around the table and life moved at a slower pace. I’m drawn to the picnics, the barn dances and the way the characters leaned on one another through life’s ups and downs. It’s nostalgic, but it also feels like a reminder of the values we need more of today.

The show takes me back to my own childhood in the ’80s, when I’d race home from school to watch it every afternoon. It reminds me of my parents — my dad, always helping a neighbor or a friend in need, and my mom, who made everything from scratch, with ingredients straight from our big gardens. Some of my favorite memories are of us gathered around our backyard picnic table, laughing and sharing a meal.

Watching “Little House on the Prairie” now inspires me to embrace those same values of connection and slowing down. It’s even influenced me to open my own small business, Wild Rose Picnic Co. — my way of helping others pause and savor the little things, one moment, one picnic, one memory at a time.

Janelle McRoberts, Lewiston

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Before an outage on Direct TV, I had all the “Tremors” movies recorded and bounced around them, but now I just have the first two, “Tremors” and “Tremors II: Aftershocks.” I’m waiting for the others to be shown so I can record them again, particularly No. 6: “A Cold Day in Hell.”

The characters are great, and they’re too funny to take the blood and gore too seriously. But if I’m not in the mood, then it’s a kids’ animated movie. My current favorite is “The Addams Family” (Max) with an occasional diversion to the “Ice Age” series (Disney+).

Sandi Lee, Lewiston