Modern viewers have a unique relationship with how the past is presented on television, creating a shared understanding of history through the shows they watch. The rising trend of reboots, new historical and documentary programs, the use of archive footage, and a general wave of nostalgia content all point to this. This article delves into how television uses its power to share and contextualize the past in today’s world of media convergence, especially through niche or specialized programming on digital television platforms, with a focus on nostalgia-driven content. These platforms showcase the many ways people can access and interact with television programming across different devices in our multi-platform age.
It’s crucial to further examine the role of television professionals – such as producers, schedulers, commissioners, and researchers – as key players in this process. This article highlights how meaningful connections are made with previously aired historical and nostalgic content, specifically through the careful curation of niche programming schedules and production choices. These elements of television’s creative process often don’t get the academic attention they deserve. Furthermore, we will explore how well media policy in the Netherlands acknowledges the re-circulation of older broadcast material and programs about past events. We will also consider the potential of television to “re-screen” references to the past in today’s media landscape.
This analysis combines textual analysis of audiovisual archive material with a production studies approach, drawing on interviews with industry professionals. This helps us understand the strategies creators use when developing and scheduling nostalgia programming. Ultimately, this article demonstrates how national collective memory, as understood by television professionals in the Netherlands, shapes the scheduling and distribution of “living history” on digital thematic channels – essentially, collective cultural memory acts as a Digital Television Tv Guide, pointing viewers to the past.
