Thanksgiving Aftermath: When Viewing Habits Collide
Bravo Photo: Barbara Nitke
Family holidays are about bringing back together what has been torn asunder. Children are reunited with parents, brother with sister, young with old. By getting back together, of course, families also discover how their members have grown apart, or re-discover differences they always had to begin with. Generation gaps become manifest, culture clashes emerge from marriages and in-laws.
And is there any difference more likely to cause strife in a family than TV preferences? Well, OK, maybe religion or politics or sexual orientation. But this blog isn't about those. Holidays bring families back together around the hearth, and when that hearth is your brother-in-law's new 42-inch LCD, you find yourself suddenly battling over whether to watch HGTV or football, or convincing Mom and Dad to give up their CSI: NY ritual so you don't miss the new Project Runway. (No one ever fought over a turkey drumstick as fiercely as they fight over a remote.) Or you find yourself settling into long-lost comforting routines, as when I take the family to visit my Mom and reliably find myself zoning out in front of Jeopardy! again, like when I was 12 years old.
So how was your TV holiday? Did you try to convert any of your relatives to Pushing Daisies? Did your 8-year-old niece introduce you to The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, or your Uncle Frank, to The Military Channel? Or did you and your relatives try to stick to relatively uncontroversial conflicts, like abortion or same-sex marriage?
-
1
Spent Thanksgiving in the mountains with family and no tv. Fantastic because it avoids just the situation you describe.
Plus, if you don't have a DVR at this point, you are not a serious enough fan of tv to justify having your tv-related opinions considered.
-
2
Haha, good point James. I must admit, I totally wussed out and missed Pushing Daisies because I let my Dad watch that stupid Brad Garrett show instead. Boy did it suck.
-
3
Tried to sell my father on "Battlestar Galactica." Again. Told him it had "Stands with a fist" from his favorite movie, "Dances with Wolves" in it. He still insists that "Two and a Half Men" is the best show on television. I think we'll simply have to continue to agree to disagree.
-
4
The only things that Danes hate more than encroaching American holidays are turkey and pilgrims, so I sorta skipped Thanksgiving this year.
In general, though, TV has been a major source of familial strife. Between Dad's baseball, Mom's PBS, Brother's hip hopera and my Food Network (I'm thankful for streaming 'Molto Mario'), the cease-fire that usually takes place at holiday meals never makes it past 8 pm. These days we try to rent something we can all enjoy in scoff-free silence. 'The Incredibles' is the only movie that has ever successfully done this, so we watch it more or less every year.
I think a good test of whether you're a Type A person or a Type B person is whether you can stand to watch TV with other people without being Remote Guy. I totally can't do it. Other people's capricious channel-surfing (as opposed to my own) drives me absolutely nuts. "Leave it there!" "Oooh oooh, back to that!" "Why are you stopping on 'Tyra'?!"
-
5
My computer solved all of those TV issues. Since I prefer surfing the web over family and TV, I had no issues.
- poniewozik Loved the season. Mrs Tuned In wd have put u on the main list RT @boredtodeath Thank u for incl us in Time's Top 10. We'll take hon mention. - 4 hours ago
- poniewozik @carr2n Virgin is the best, LAX-JFK - 5 hours ago
- poniewozik Did NPR interview abt multiscreen multitasking. After, automatically reached for iPhone in pocket. Like don draper wd have for cigarettes. - 6 hours ago
Most Popular »
- Best of the Decade: Sci-Fi Movies
- CNN Poll: Man Made Global Warming Takes a Hit
- "How Will Dave Ever Make Fun of Sex Scandals Again?"
- Is Harry Reid Burning Out?
- Why Wells Fargo isn't paying back TARP
- How Will Obama Pay For Stimulus 2.1? (or 3.0, 3.1, whatever you want to call it)
- War of the Supermen: Q&A With Matt Idelson
- The Health Reform Abortion Wars, Part Deux
- Economists Growing More Wary of the Senate Health Bill
- Quinnipiac: Obama Gets Bump on Afghanistan
- The Truth Behind the Leaked Climate-Change E-Mails
- Mexico Witness Protection: Corrupt Program, New Killings
- Tiger Woods Must Face His Fans' Moral Outrage
- Helicopter Parents: The Backlash Against Overparenting
- Taiwan: World's Lowest Birthrate Could Affect Society
- Creating Jobs: Can Obama Government Boost Employment?
- How Strong Is the Evidence Against Amanda Knox?
- U.S. Doesn't Know Where bin Laden Is; Time to Let Go
- Suspect Headley: Pakistani Terrorist Group Going Global?
- Humanure: Goodbye, Toilets. Hello, Extreme Composting
Quotes of the Day »
RSS