TV Time!
These days have found many of us watching the tele tube way more than usual. I am catching up on sitcoms, series, and movies I haven’t seen from seasons past.
What used to be movie night in my home, that usually ended up with one or more of us missing the conclusion of the film, has now morphed into “movie day” when we each pick a movie of our choice to watch together. Six hours of mindless entertainment complete with popcorn, drinks and some sort of comfort food like pizza or wings to cover meal time.
Movie day has rules:
1). If I sit through your choice, regardless of whether I take an unplanned nap or not, you have to sit through my choice.
2). For bathroom breaks during the movie, you can opt to pause or not, but they must not last longer than 10 minutes.
3). This rule was instituted by my son, Jacob—No “listening” to the movie while looking at your smartphone on TikTok (aimed at Robyn) or checking emails and texts (aimed at me). That little guy, who turned “9” on Wednesday, doesn’t yet possess a cellular phone much to his angst so he is all for limiting everyone else’s use. But hark, he is now less than a year away from his very own smartphone of his choice. He finds it extremely offensive if we are watching a show together and I am on the phone. The protest typically goes like this, “how are we watching a movie together mom when you’re looking at your phone. If you’re not going to watch let’s just turn it off.” He wins.
Robyn’s choices are usually some teen-themed comedy as she hates horror or anything gory. With Jacob we know it will be action usually Marvel or Disney and likely something he has seen dozens of times and the rest of us a couple of times. Though he is venturing more into horror films which he wouldn’t watch before. He and I watched “A Quiet Place” last weekend in anticipation of its sequel later this year. It was his second time viewing it and my first but he gladly watched it with me. The older Lil Jac gets the more he tends to remind me of Big Jac (my father) especially when movie watching. If my father knew the plot of a movie before it was revealed, so would you. My son seems to have inherited that from his grandfather.
My choices vary, if we are watching together it is usually something historical with a lesson to be learned or related to National Geographic. For instance, last week my son and I watched Disney’s “Elephant” narrated by the former Duchess of Sussex. We both loved it as we learned about the migration patterns of elephant herds in Africa. Spoiler Alert: Don’t finish this paragraph if you plan to see it. The film took us through a range of emotions. Happy when Jomo was saved from the mudpit but sad when the matriach Gaia died, and Jacob was mad when the herd left her behind without a burial. This week we are planning to watch Disney’s “Dolphins,” same premise but different species.
Most of my solo television time is spent watching informative shows like the news (local and national), investigative shows like 20/20 and Dateline, and documentaries. However, I do have my leisurely pleasures that are usually primetime shows. Those shows which used to be deemed as guilty pleasures, I now find as a brief reprieve from “the corona show” as my daughter deems most newscasts lately.
I am currently roped into the final season of “How To Get Away With Murder.” What am I going to do when power house lawyer Annalise Keating goes away on Thursday nights? I will survive just like I did when Liv, Fitz, Mellie, Huck, and the rest of the gladiators disappeared two years ago. Almost every weeknight brings some sort of primetime getaway—Tuesdays are for the “Resident,” “This Is Us,” and “FBI: Most Wanted”; Wednesdays are for the Chicago dramas and “S.W.A.T.”; and Fridays are for “The Blacklist.” I have found myself very thankful for my digital video recorder (DVR) service because without it I would have to work way harder to catch up on my shows that air simultaneously.
My kids miss the movie theater outings as they were really excited about seeing the non-animated version of “Mulan,” which was set to hit theaters three weeks ago. No doubt we will see it when it is released through streaming and the showing won’t include a $10 popcorn bucket or multiple tickets priced the same in a cold theater.
Until we can see the light at the end of this social distancing tunnel, I’ll just keep watching my shows from the comfort of my couch.