The TV Ties that Bind

Last night I had a fantastic time watching the two-hour Heroes premiere that Matt DVR-ed for me in Southeast while I was in class on Monday. I had to make cookies for work and I was really excited to accomplish two things at once, so I drove in to the city after class. This was also an opportunity to continue my new mission of teaching Matt life skills before he goes to college, though I’m not sure that knowing how to bake cookies will make him that popular on his future hall of 18-year-old boys.

Matt was in Japan for two years and I was worried about losing touch with him because of the time difference, not really talking on the phone, his active social life as a high school kid, and how incredibly lazy he is about answering my emails. Actually, though, we had many shared cultural experiences while he was in Japan being a kid and I was in D.C. trying to be an adult. I am, of course, talking about TV.

There are so many easy reasons to vilify television. It’s rotting the brains of America’s youth. Watching TV uses less brainpower than sleeping. TV contributes to obesity in the children who aren’t playing outside while they’re watching marathons of Hannah Montana. Etc., etc., etc. I get it. I agree with some of it, especially the obesity argument. However, watching TV together is a tie that binds my family, so I can’t get totally on board with the argument that TV is evil. It shouldn’t be a substitute for parenting, but if you’re watching selected shows with your kids then it can be a decent source of family time.

My family has geeked out to many shows in the past five or six years since TV on DVD became ubiquitous. Now my mom and Mike don’t have to suffer through commercials and can turn on closed captioning because they are losing their hearing more every day. Before we were in to TV on DVD and I went away to college, we often watched multiple movies in a weekend. James, Matt, and I also played soccer, t-ball, volleyball, baseball, karate, and basketball; Mike ran and biked (still does); we all read like crazy (well, except for Mike); my mom did logic and crossword puzzles; Matt and James played video games (together, often); and we always sang like ridiculous people in car (Laura could always be counted on to join right in if she was around). However, watching five episodes in a row of Gilmore Girls, The Office, Monk, or The West Wing, etc. is one of the ways we prefer to spend time together. Also, it’s not like we’re watching I Love New York.

When they were in Japan and I was in D.C. they got hooked on Heroes around the same time I did, when the first season came out on DVD. I have Amin, Musson, and Adam to thank for convincing me to overcome my fear of watching something that might be slightly scary; my family members are each much braver than I am. Once we figured out we were all watching it, Heroes became a way for us to connect with each other via phone, email, and when I visited at Christmas (we watched the entire second season that I had missed). Heroes connected Matt and me the most because we are geeks who will sit at our computers and read additional information about the show on blogs and Wikipedia. We have to share and dissect this information with each other because no one else we know would possibly care.

Other families might cook together, or ski, or sing, or tap dance. We watch TV and marvel at intricately woven stories and cool special effects. I loved every minute of the two-hour episode last night (Tim Kring is back on his A-game), but even more than that I loved that my baby brother was interested enough to watch it again and spend two hours with me. He also learned how to make cookies.