Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Welcome to the O.C., Bitch

I haven’t been married for all that long, but it doesn’t take a genius to know that there are a couple of key phrases that all men should learn and learn well once they tie the knot. “I’m sorry,” “You were right and I was wrong,” etc. This isn’t to say men should turn into sniveling little weasels once they walk down the aisle, but it just makes it easier for all parties involved (meaning you and her) if you can just learn to give in and admit defeat. There’s a reason (aside from the obvious rhyme) that the saying goes, “Happy wife, happy life.” And come on, fellas, let’s be honest: the reason she rhetorically will ask you, “When am I ever wrong?” is because she is usually right anyway.

There is one thing that I think Krissy is slowly starting to learn that I am always right about, and I don’t mind rubbing it in her face at least just a little bit: I am pretty darn good at picking out TV shows that I think she will not only like, but become addicted to. Doesn’t sound like much of an accomplishment, but I will take my small moral victories where I can get them. After you have been in a relationship for 4 or 5 years, you should be able to pick up on the other person’s TV habits. I always say that I have it pretty easy in terms of the battle over the remote compared to other guys. Krissy, being the sports junkie that she is, has no problem sitting through an entire Saturday or Sunday of NFL or NBA games. Pretty much anything sports-related that I like, she will watch. I’ve even turned her into a “Pardon the Interruption” fanatic, as she will remind me to put it on every day when we get home from the gym and are starting to cook dinner. She refuses to sit through an episode of “Seinfeld” with me though, and she doesn’t like some of the Discovery Channel/nature type shows that I find nerdy and interesting, but it turns out that I have a closet appreciation for a lot of the semi-girly shows that she likes. So, overall we are pretty TV-compatible.

Anyway, I think by now I have a pretty good idea of what makes Krissy tick (at list TV-wise). The 1st show I ever turned her on to was “Friday Night Lights.” FNL was a show that I had only seen 1 or 2 episodes of, but from everything I had heard it was a well-written show that just hadn’t gotten ratings for whatever reason (similarly, I had always “wanted” to watch it more regularly, but just never seemed to get to it). I told Krissy we should start taping the re-runs (we started from the 1st episode of the 1st season), and even though she had never heard anything about it I told her to trust me…she was going to love it. Well, about halfway through the 1st episode I could tell that she wasn’t hooked. She would shoot me looks during breaks of the show as if to say, “This is what you wanted me to watch?” By the end of that show, she admittedly liked it. After 2 episodes, I could tell she was hooked. After 3 or 4 shows, she had reached full-blown obsession! (One day, FNL didn’t tape because our DVR had some kind of mishap…she was not a happy camper.) At some point during the 1st or 2nd season, the network that the reruns were on stopped airing them (even though the show was always critically acclaimed, it for some reason never drew in an audience like it should have…and apparently the syndication of the show was in the same boat.) From that point, we watched the show in whatever way we could: iTunes, searching for free and usually choppy video of the show on the Internet, etc. Like a true addict, the more we watched, the more Krissy’s appetite for the show became insatiable. We ran through Season 4 on iTunes so fast that it was literally a blur to me. There was one Saturday in particular where we didn’t have anywhere to be and didn’t really feel like doing anything, so we went on something like a 7 episode FNL binge…at one point, I got tired and went to bed, but Krissy had to stay up and keep watching without me. When we finally watched the series finale, I had mixed emotions: obviously sad that the show had ended, but also somewhat relieved. All of the sudden, the show that I had gotten Krissy addicted to was gone.

Fast forward to this week, when our DVR queue looked particularly bare (what with the lack of new shows in the summertime). It somehow came to me that there was another show out there that would give us something to watch in the mean time that I thought I could get Krissy hooked on as well: “The O.C.” Much like when we started watching FNL, Krissy was skeptical that she would like it. During one moment of the series premiere (that was admittedly cheesy) she groaned that the acting was pretty “lame.” I didn’t really say much then, but as the closing credits came up for episode 1 she couldn’t help but grin…she knew that she he had been had. “Can we watch another one tonight?” she asked. By 11:20pm we had finished the 1st 4 episodes of Season 1 off of iTunes, and if I hadn’t gone to bed she would’ve stayed up and kept watching. The 1st thing I remember her saying to me this morning after waking up was, “Do you think we have time to watch an episode before work?” Looks like I’ve awoken the beast again!

No comments:

Post a Comment