Despite Hannah’s constant need for attention during day hours, we usually still manage to sneak in a bit of couple time every evening when I’m back home from work. This window is usually just a few hours, and between Hannah’s 5:30 to 6:30 pm feed and her next feed that’s usually at 8:30 pm.
And what do we do? Well, two things: have dinner, and stone in front of the TV. Dinner during weekdays is usually either dinner that visiting parents bring along – which is always both delicious and nutritious – or takeout dinner that I’ll buy on my way back – which is typically not very savory food, unless it’s Roti Prata (but of course).
And what gets played on TV? Well, invariably, it’d be episodes from the stacks of sitcom DVDs I’ve bought over the years. These include Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld, Frasier, and – lately – Scrubs. Then there’s also the odd Brit comedy here and there: specifically Rowan Atkinson’s, better known as Mr. Bean, Black Adder, or the hit 1980s World War II comedy series ‘Allo ‘Allo.
The funny thing is that Ling is a relatively newcomer to American sitcoms, while I’ve been watching them for as long as I’ve been watching TV, i.e. as a young boy.
Interestingly, Ling does not usually immediately like a sitcom, or any American TV drama series when she first watches it. Rarely do TV series grip her from the get-go. She needs to watch a bit of it first, then ask me questions to fill her in on the context and background of the show and its characters. And after a couple of evenings, that’s when things can go either way: she’ll either like the series, or she won’t like it.
Here’s my scoreboard so far at home:
Everybody Loves Raymond. She liked it from the start when I started replaying episodes. This is now her favorite comedy series. Success.
Seinfeld. This took a short while to grew on her, but she eventually grew to love Kramer’s antics. Success.
Frasier. This was a much more sophisticated comedy that was far less slapstick and more on wordplay. I didn’t acquire all the seasons of the series though, but whatever I did get she didn’t mind watching. Half-success.
Scrubs. Early on, Ling repeatedly said she preferred Grey’s Anatomy (I in-turn thought that Grey’s Anatomy was good only in the first two seasons, after which material was no long refreshing but constantly regurgitated). Five seasons of Scrubs later, she loves it. Success.
How about dramas? All hyperlinked below to blog posts here.
Star Trek Voyager. She wasn’t impressed in 2005 when we were still dating and we were watching episodes of it. But after saturating her with all ten Star Trek films before J. J. Abrahms ‘reimagined’ film this year, she got hooked. Success.
The Sopranos. She thought the show was extremely crass and very violent. But it grew a little on her. Half-success.
The West Wing. This is the only TV series in memory where I got her hooked, line and sinker from the first episode. Success.
Battlestar Galactica. Didn’t understand head or tail initially, but it also grew on her. Success.
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There’s a lot more stuff we watch at home, these days also while we’re playing with Hannah in the living room. But that’s for another post, another time.:)
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