When my husband and I were dating (circa 12-ish years ago), we lived about 3 hours apart. We spent the weekends together, but long distance can be hard. I remember wishing we could do normal "couple things" during the week, like have dinner and watch TV together...on a weeknight.
At some point, he was watching TV one night at his house and happened upon the show 24 with Keifer Sutherland. He was hooked. And pretty soon, he got me hooked, too. He would record the show and one weekend when I was visiting, he convinced me to watch it. Well, of course there was a big cliffhanger, so I had to watch it the next week to see what happened. And, of course, I called him right afterwards to talk to him about it. We now had a tradition. We would each watch the show and then talk to each right afterwards about what happened. All of a sudden we had a weeknight "couple thing" to look forward to each week.
When we started watching this show, it had already been on for a few years, so we were a few seasons behind. At some point, we started watching the earlier seasons together when the regular season wasn't on.
We got married. We continued to watch 24 together. We had babies. I remember watching 24 together when I was newly pregnant with our first child. I remember being VERY pregnant while watching this show. I remember watching this show with a newborn on my chest. I remember when the babies grew and HAD to be in bed before we watched it. I remember being so unsettled and sometimes angry at the endings of seasons right along with my husband. There is something very validating about your significant other feeling just as shocked as you by the cliffhanger that will leave you waiting for MONTHS for a resolution.
Needless to say, we were both pretty disappointed when 24 went off the air. It ended too soon. :-) Anyway, you can imagine our excitement when a 24: Legacy began (no Jack Bauer, though). AND then Designated Survivor with KEIFER SUTHERLAND began...we could now get our Jack Bauer fix!!! And just like that, my husband and I have another show to watch together and bond over together.
Tonight is Wednesday, which means that as soon as the kids go to bed, we will watch our show together...and anxiously await to see how tonight's cliffhanger is resolved next week...together.
I really enjoyed your post. I, too, am a Jack Bauer fan. In fact, my dog (Jack Bauer) has his name. It was our family show. I'd watch it nightly with my dad and sister. It was "silent hour" as we called it. It is a show that bonds! I'm glad someone else can have it as a family tradition as well!
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