At times, I have scared people with my knowledge of television and movie trivia. I don’t aim to know minutiae about my favorite shows. It just happens sometimes.
But even while I can recite lines from any number of “Friends” episodes, tell you what college J.D. and Turk from “Scrubs” went to (William & Mary) or proudly display the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness on the wall outside my cube at work, I do have some blind spots.
I have never watched an episode of “The Wire.” Or “The Sopranos.” Or “Survivor.” However, I have eliminated a blind spot recently.
While home from work the yesterday because of the weather, I watched the final two episodes from Season 3 of “Mad Men.” After only nine months or so, I have caught up with the show. Well, except for the most recent season which has not yet come out on DVD.
I can see what all the fuss is about now. I didn’t doubt that the show would deliver – and I know the earlier ones I mentioned (save “Survivor”) would do the same – but I just never felt like my life would have a hole if I didn’t get all the Don Draper references I found online.
Now all I need is a drink, a cigarette and for a woman to go get me a sandwich.
We never had HBO so those other shows never really had a chance with us. We tried Season 1 of Mad Men with all the hype, but it was summer at 10 p.m. and I just never made it a priority to watch it on the DVR. Thankfully, I’ll never be one of those “You HAVE TO watch this” people. Because as a former co-worker once said, “I don’t have to do anything.”
It’s funny how similar we are in this respect. I have also never seen any full episodes of The Sopranos*, Mad Men or The Wire. (I did watch the first two seasons, though, of Six Feet Under before two things happened simultaneously — the show got less interesting and I dropped HBO). The only “hip” show I’ve watched recently is “The Walking Dead” and that’s not quite as acceptably mainstream as those other dramas. … FOOTNOTE: *Though I’ve never seen an episode of the Sopranos, I’ve watched the ending on YouTube and will admit to a fascination for reading all the various in-depth essays/interpretations on what happened or didn’t happen after the screen went black. It fascinating to see how much time and energy people spend thinking and writing about their theories on the last scene of a TV show.