I'd love to say it was for something highbrow like Masterpiece Theater or 60 Minutes, but I'd be lying. My favorite things to do on a Sunday night are to kick back with The Amazing Race and Brothers & Sisters.
I'm not, generally, a reality show contest watcher. I've never enjoyed Survivor or any of the weight loss shows. I do watch the occasional Dancing With the Stars, but mainly to see the people on it--not for the competition itself. (And we all know that I spend a ton of time watching HGTV, TLC and the Food Network--but I don't watch the competition shows on those.) On the other hand, I had the current season of Amazing Race marked on my calendar as an event back in July. And Christopher and I have been together long enough that he knows that it's going to have to be something serious to get me away from my television when Phil and the gang are on.
Why does that show have my attention? Because along with the fact that it's a full-on soap opera, winning and losing are entirely based on a team's stupidity. Sure, there's the physical aspect of it, but more often than not it's the smart and/or savvy team that comes out ahead in the end. No one gets voted off. Alliances tend to truly be mutually helpful. Good guys may not always come in first, but they certainly get better air time. Oh--and the scenery is gorgeous! If I were about 20 years younger, I'd be all over applying for the show. Okay... maybe 20 years younger and in much better shape than I have ever been in in my life...
As for my other favorite Sunday night event, Brothers & Sisters... well... I don't know that I would want the characters as my friends--although they could always be counted on to bring good wine to dinner. And I don't consider their family dynamic to be anything like my own family. (Thank God!) But I am drawn to them because the characters are so well written: each with flaws, but with plenty of shine still left on their armor.
I also love that one of the eponymous brothers is gay and married to his partner. (The show is set in California, so that's possible.) And, yet, somehow, the writers haven't made them stereotypes. Instead, Kevin (the middle brother) and Scotty (his husband) are both just as multi-faceted as the rest of the family. In fact, they might arguably have the most stable marriage on the show, complete with arguments and disagreements and the occasional nights on the couch.
** sidenote ** Even in this day and age, I can't think of any other show on Network TV with a healthy gay couple. Can you? ** end sidenote **
Now if only we could get the folks from Brothers & Sisters to go on The Amazing Race, I think my life would be complete. Well... maybe not, but I do think it would make for some spectacular viewing.
5 comments:
Healthy gay couple? Hmmmm, will have to think about that one for a while. How recent? Wasn't there a recurring healthy lesbian couple on Friends? Of course, I no longer watch much mainstream TV as much of it is just too annoying.
Yeah... But "Friends" went off the air about 5 years ago. (And Carol and Susan were only secondary characters for most of the series.) I can't think of anyone current...
Yeah, that's what I thought too. Also thought of the two couples on Northern Exposure, but again, that was years ago, and they were secondary characters (but then, wasn't everyone a secondary character on that show?:-). The only "couple" I can think of in a current (more or less) show is a horribly psychopathic relationship involving torture and murder (Battlestar Galactica-- Kane and a Six model).
Tara and Willow, at least for some of the time, on Buffy, although that is not current obviously.
Greg Berlanti, the creator of Brothers and Sisters, is gay (I think anyway that I read that) and I have noticed he frequently has very well-written gay characters with very believable plotlines, although before now they were more teenagers coming to terms with it characters (Dawson's Creek, Everwood). Some of the Jack coming to terms with being gay episodes on Dawson's Creek were really amazing. OK I am not gay and so I guess I don't speak with authority, but his gay characters always seem like real people with real issues to me and not stereotypes.
Looks like we have more tv in common than just Torchwood. :) Although you will never catch me watching The Amazing Race.
Well... at least we're getting a list--albeit not of current characters!
I had never watched Dawson's Creek before there was a huge outcry over Jack's coming out. I started watching and was hooked from there because of how well they presented it.
Keep the suggestions coming, folks!
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