Two years ago I wrote this post. I sort of bemoaned the fact that neither of my daughters were watching TV with me.
Well since then, I have to say the situation has completely turned around 360 degrees.
I guess it started shortly after I wrote that blog. For some reason my younger daughter and I started watching the Mary Tyler Moore show together. We watched it religiously and watched all 7 seasons.
From there we watched the spin off "Rhoda". I missed the first couple seasons with her because as I recall she was on Easter vacation and watched a couple seasons in a week and I wasnt along with her on her holiday. But when she got back we started watching together. Rhoda was kind of a B level of Mary Tyler Moore, but still good.
I guess I was pushing my luck when I suggested we try the Dick Van Dyke show
Anyway (I know that paragraph was kind of worthless blathering)
The question is, how did we get on this track? In the post I wrote two years ago she was in fact hostile to me watching with her. What changed? What I keep coming to is either a) she read my post or b) two summers ago we started watching TV all together on vacation and it continued into the regular year. It was really nice watching TV together during that August.
Our current serial we watch religiously now has 80 episodes. It is Star Trek. How we got on this one is simple. Her favorite serial was/is "the Big Bang Theory" and she loves Sheldon. And Sheldon is a fanatic for Star Trek and Mr. Spock. So naturally from Big Bang she had to see what Star Trek was all about.
We started watching in April 2023 and we have seen 15 shows. And as far as I can tell, she likes the show very much. It is in color, but it too is from the 60s. But it is futuristic so it is not set in the 60s environment. And we love Marvel movies so this is a little bit like a Marvel movie, a little. Guardians of the Galaxy maybe.
For me, it is wonderful as I watched a lot of the shows when I was her age. But I
dont remember many of them. It is sad to think that things even from when I was ten were not cemented in my mind. So now I can see them again like new. They are very entertaining. I dont know why the series was cancelled after just three years. It became a pillar in American culture.
The more pleasant result of watching TV together is a bonding. That is strange, because you figure TV together is an individual thing and more of a separation than a bonding element. But no, something about sitting there quietly watching together is very .... like meditation together. I think even more than watching a sports game together, even though you might think a sports game would bring you closer. I think it is more superficial.
Something about watching the intensity of the show together creates mental connections that one isnt always aware of. And Star Trek is very entertaining.
We also started a Saturday night Movie together. We started with Back to the Future volumes. I had never seen the third installment nor remembered the second movie. My daughter really liked those. Success. We watched the Oceans series. All were good until we got to 8 which we stopped at the beginning after 10 minutes and didnt watch. It seemed too formulaic after 11,12,13, just putting women in the roles. Sorry to say.
I guess we might do Mission Impossible series, though I am not so big on Tom Cruise, I ll have to bury my biases.
Suffice to say, it is a very special nice time of bonding and being entertained..... by TV of all things.
Eh, maybe TV has a bad rap. Maybe it is/was good for something and wasnt just the "idiot box".
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