Report: Most Mother-Daughter Conflicts Solved By Watching 'Antiques Roadshow' Together

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.—Sociologists at Harvard have found that a significant number of conflicts between emotionally repressed mothers and daughters who fear becoming them could be quelled by having the two sit down and watch hit PBS program Antiques Roadshow together.

This announcement comes on the heels of a study piloted by Dr. Adam Steinhoff conducted at the prestigious university.

“When we first started this study, there had been no intention of having the subjects watch Antiques Roadshow,” Steinhoff explained, “It was more about having them come together to find some form of catharsis and closure. But we just couldn’t get the break though we were looking for. The mothers and daughters would argue for about an hour and a half, fully give up on trying to understand each other, and then ask the observing researcher if they could just watch that antique show instead.” 

 The study has attracted mountains of attention since its publishing, focusing mostly on the possible risk factors that would lead stoic moms and their absolute trainwreck daughters to engage in this behavior.

  “One theory we’ve considered is that, for many mothers and daughters, it’s infinitely easier to point out when an exotic antique has clearly been stolen by a white person than it is to unpack the combination of years of misogyny and unprocessed trauma that they often share,” posits Lila Fox, a researcher at Stanford University. “This television program is already one of the most gratifying television programs ever created, and I’m sure it becomes even more gratifying when avoiding the fact that the woman you are supposed to be the closest to in life feels like a stranger.” 

PBS has provided no comment in response to these findings.