Television

Watching TV was something new I started this year. It's always been hard for me, since I don't like watching non-PG rated stuff in front of my parents, and the only TV I like to use can be heard everywhere in the house (Literally everywhere. The acoustics of my house are such that you can hear the TV in my room better than in the rooms immediately adjacent to it). The shows I've watched include How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Chuck, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, and most recently, The Office.

Yeah. That's a lot of time spent on television. Usually I watch when I'm either really bored or doing mindless work, like Chinese homework or typing 251 solutions. It's always good for a laugh, and most of those shows mean a lot more to me than that. It's kind of funny to see what I missed out on but now understand. For example, in the senior superlatives, the title of "best couple" award was called the "Jim and Pam" award. I didn't realize where that came from, or why they would bother to call it that until I saw The Office. Similarly I once tried to ask about appropriate times to use 'who' and 'whom.' Greyson asked me, "Did you watch The Office last night?" I didn't see how that was relevant until three years later when I watched Episode 4 of Season 4.

In the end I love the shows because you can instantly relate to them. Ted Mosby, the hopeless romantic. Barney Stinson, the only character or person I've ever seen who may be more awesome than I am. Leonard Hofstadter, the giant nerd. Chuck Bartowski, the guy who hasn't the faintest clue what he just got into. Shawn Spencer, the guy who could never live up to his Dad's expectations or legacy*. Jim and Pam, the example of what almost everyone is looking for. No bad guys are running after me. I don't have to solve crimes or cure patients, and I certainly don't work as a physics professor at Caltech. But as Royal Pains so dutifully points out, we all have the same problems. They just appear slightly differently to each of us.

You can analyze these shows to find what is or isn't there until the cows come home, but they are hilarious and heart-wrenching, they make me elated and worried, and many other pairs of adjectives that have roughly opposite meanings. Worth a few hours of my week, to say the least. While I don't recommend becoming a fanatic (I might be starting to reach that level), I highly recommend you check out a few of these shows. Happy viewing.

*Yeah, I have absolutely no good reason to watch Burn Notice.