Skip to main content

Summer Re-runs

Summer television. Almost an oxymoron, isn't it? At least for those of us that grew up not watching in the summer. More on why in a future episode of the Glass is Half-Full . . .

In the Piggins' household, however, it means repeated episodes of shows we don't watch (mostly) the rest of the year. And each summer seems to have it's own show. There was the summer the kids watched 'Seventh Heaven'. Another 'Full House' was popular at least with Delaney; her brothers would often groan when she was in control of the remote! As they got older, the shows got 'older' too - like 'That 70s Show' or 'How I Met Your Mother". Questionable content - sparking lots of interesting conversations.

For awhile, these shows were watched as downtime and when they were actually airing. Now, though, the shows are DVR'd and watched whenever they have downtime. Which often means at different times for each of the three not-so-little Piggins.

Let me give you an example. Michael works during the day and sometimes a split shift so he will watch the show when he wakes or later in the afternoon between shifts. Delaney works different shifts on different days, but rarely is her downtime the same time as Michael's. Matthew works nights and wakes later and watches the show when he gets up (usually when his sibs are at work). All this means, they watch the same episode at different times. Which means, I get to watch or listen as to that episode three times as I go about my day. During the school year, I don't even have the television on during the day!

This summer's show is 'Arrested Development'. A show we have never watched and suddenly one I know all to well!

{Next episode of The Glass is Half-Full}

Back in the day (I can almost hear the groans from the readers under the age of 25), summer television was nothing but re-runs of the regular season. Of course the regular season began in late September and ran through April or May with only occasional reruns in non-ratings months. Because shows were less costly to produce and there were only the Big Three networks they could afford to create more original shows. Which really meant, we didn't watch TV in the summer. The broadcast day ended at midnight with the playing of the national anthem - many times babysitting after midnight meant napping on the couch until the parents got home!

Times have changed. Now there are a gazillion channels airing 24/7. Despite the plethora of channels, has anyone else noticed there isn't anything to watch?

Matthew commented the other day while watching something particularly distasteful, that 'this would never have been acceptable' back in the day. And that is true with so much that's on television - even the commercials! Viagra, Cialis, Victoria Secret - and those are just the commercials during family hour 8 pm to 9 pm!

There's no going back, but I shudder to think what it means going forward. Don't you?

Comments

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

Tough time to be a Pollyanna

Remember when 9/11 was just a date or a number you called in an emergency? Our lives changed dramatically post 9/11. For weeks after that September day, we seemed to walk around in a fog, like the haze that loomed over the now-fallen twin towers. I remember trying to minimize my obsession with the news, trying to keep the three little Piggins away from the enormity of the disaster. Remember when corona was simply a beer best served with a lime wedge? It now and forever will be instead associated with this virus that has upended our world in ways we could never have imagined. This tiny little, microscopic virus has brought the mighty to their knees. It has us quarantined and distancing socially (though I believe we've been doing this emotionally for years) and working from home. As anxiety peaks, our economy tanks. As toilet paper and hand sanitizer flies off the shelves, we are looking for new ways to stock our pantries. A good friend observed, "I never thought I'd...

Christmas cards

I sat down to reluctantly address Christmas cards. While our list has slowly dwindled through the years it's still a sizeable number, especially when it's viewed as a task approached reluctantly . Know what I mean? Some Christmas 'tasks' are a lot less taskier - like decorating or shopping or eating or opening presents. I mean, there's a whole different level of enthusiasm associated with 'tasks' that aren't viewed as tasks - I can't ever remember a time when I sat down to reluctantly open a present or eat a Christmas cookie! Anyway, I approached the Christmas card addressing with a less-than-positive, more bah-humbugish attitude. I poured a cup of coffee, grabbed the markers (I had to have a green, a red and a black one), the list and of course the envelopes (which John had already stuffed with the card). I turned on some Christmas music, but not too loud or it would distract me (and it really doesn't take much to distract me. Squirrel!),...

Treatment begins

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Today is the day I begin, at last, treatment. Today is the day I begin to kick cancer's ass. Today is the day I start infusing ugly, nasty, side-affect laden, toxic chemicals for the greater good. Today is a day that I wish I could rewrite the script for completely deleting the part requiring me to need breast cancer chemo. And yet, here it is and at 1:15 EST I will be at the Cancer & Hematology Center in Holland. It's where I will be a lot for the next five months. It's where I will, I'm sure (and surety is something I have less of these days as I know not how I will respond to chemo), create new friendships and forge bonds with people that I am currently unfamiliar. Because that's who I am; a lover of people and a woman that wants to know and love on all the people she comes to meet.  I don't know why I have breast cancer but someday I will ask God (along with a whole bunch of other questions!). I do b...