Category: Entertainment

Entertainment

You Be the Judge

Martha Spong

Do you watch our favorite shows?

#1 Son is home and tonight, while The Princess is off at a choral rehearsal, we are watching an old episode of Battlestar Galactica.

He says, "This is SO much better than Lost."

I say, "Is it?"

He says, "Yes!"

I say, "At its best, maybe."

He says, "It’s more consistent."

I say, "I’ll tell you if I agree with that when they wrap everything up."

Then there is a flashback to Gaius and his interior 6 in the "previously" and I am into it once again.

So, what do you think? Is Battlestar Galactica better than Lost?

Children, Entertainment, Politics

Conflict of Interests

Martha Spong

I arrived home from a church meeting last night just after 9 p.m. and found #1 Son watching TV. Soon The Princess appeared, wanting to watch something else.

Dems_debate_3 Which did you choose?

Barack, Hilary and John in a remake of "Viva Las Vegas?"

(Which is to say, reasonably adult discussion of the issues facing our nation and world, I suppose.)

Idol_judges_2Or Simon, Paula and Randy in the City of Brotherly Love?

(Which is to say nothing of the sort.)

I suspect you can guess that at my house the decision broke not on party but on age and gender lines. #1 Son got the boot and went upstairs; The Princess commanded the remote control and employed the DVR, and we caught up with the Philadelphia auditions, the usual assortment of agonies, ecstasies and insults to our ears.

Somewhere out of our range of consciousness the three Democrats took questions from Brian Williams.

I don’t feel good about this. But at that moment it was beyond my control.

I hope the next debate is on a different night of the week.

Entertainment, Highbrow Family Values

I Feel So Dirty Redux

Martha Spong

It’s been two weeks, and we are still watching American Idol. You may wonder how I can possibly stand to do such a thing, or to live with myself in the face of doing it.

Just before leaving for his symphony rehearsal, Snowman gave me a lecture about how his sister will be ruined forever by watching such a show. Her values, he feels, will be marred and skewed beyond redemption. She is already, he tells me, far too concerned about things like boys and social life and image.

I feel sure there was something I ought not have let him watch at 11, but I couldn’t think of it quickly enough.

I do have a vague recollection that The Father of My Children allowed the children to watch Seinfeld repeats, a show about which I had bitter feelings after hearing him laugh over the episode in which George’s fiancée died after licking toxic glue on the envelopes for her wedding invitations. Perhaps I took it too personally. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

He, on the other hand, gave me a hard time for letting #1 Son watch The Best Damn Show on Television, Homicide: Life on the Street. I’ve had a chance to watch some of the DVDs recently, and I stand by my decision. That was good acting, and it was good bonding time, too.

Snowman, meanwhile, has been my Lost watching buddy, and we got into 24 together. Neither of those is exactly highbrow, is it? But he’s not turning into a terrorist or a counter-terrorist, or even an Other.

Here’s what I think. I don’t really care what the show is, as long as it isn’t obscene. If my 6th grader wants to watch something with me, and spend time with me, and GET ALONG with me, I’m saying yes. Even if it makes me feel a little dirty.