I watch just enough of my wife's TV shows to (kind of) know what's going on

This is what it's like when I start asking my wife questions about whatever she's watching on television. I think she enjoys when I interrupt her.

My wife Terry has always been someone who gets things done.

Most days, you can find her working around our house cleaning this, organizing that, cooking dinner, or otherwise keeping things together.

Whenever she takes a break from her various household duties (and she isn't out thrifting or spending time with our grandson), you can find her in one of two places.

Sometimes she sits in the corner of the living room putting together large jigsaw puzzles of the kind I could never in my life finish.

Other times she reclines on our couch and watches TV.

This usually takes the form of Terry making her way episode by episode through a multi-season show like "Smallville," "Charmed," "Supernatural," or many others.

Most recently, she has been watching "Once Upon a Time," the ABC fantasy drama series that ran from 2011 through 2018.

Usually she does this alone, as I'm either at the office or otherwise occupied with whatever my to-do list prescribes for the day. But a few times a week, often right after I shower at night, I come sit on the couch and watch whatever she's watching.

Which of course means I randomly pop in and out of television series that have complicated, evolving plots.

Which also means I'm not always 100% sure what's going on.

Still, I've usually seen enough of a given show to know: (a) the main characters, (b) the general direction of the story, and (c) how these series are generally written.

So I can follow along.

Sort of.

I try not to plop right down and start asking my wife questions to bring myself up to speed, but from time to time, that's exactly what I do.

Sometimes she'll answer mid-episode without hitting the pause button, while other times she will sigh, stop the show, and fill me in.

I also do various Google searches to discover major plot points, the fate of certain characters, and even the backgrounds of the actors on the show.

This last item is something that either amuses or annoys my wife, I can't be sure. Out of nowhere I'll pipe in with something like, "The actress who plays the evil queen is Lana Parrilla. She used to be on '24.' She has her own online clothing company."

Terry, who has asked for none of this information, will stare at me for a second. Sometimes she'll sarcastically thank me "for that important update" before returning to her show. Other times she'll simply turn her attention back to the TV without saying a word.

Either way, I like to think I've enhanced her viewing experience.

BLOG RERUN: Things I miss and don't miss about growing up in the 70s and 80s

NOTE: This post originally ran here on the blog 11 years ago today (August 12, 2013, for the calendar-challenged). I bring it back now because I still miss and don't miss these things.

Things I Miss

Fantasy Island

There have been some good shows on TV in the past 50 years, but none have matched the awesomeness that was Fantasy Island. Saturday nights at 10, as I recall. ABC aired it right after The Love Boat, and I have to believe they dominated the ratings. Mr. Rourke ruled the island with an iron fist ("Smiles, everyone, smiles...NOW."), but it was Tattoo who got the girls. Something about that little guy was apparently irresistible. 

The Sony Walkman

I could walk around and listen to music outside. OUTSIDE. Without carrying a 14-pound boom box. I could go running and listen to music. Or cycling. Or whatever it was we did back then (I can't quite remember how we filled our days, to be honest.) Of course, the music was on cassette. And you had to fast-forward and rewind to get to different songs. And that fast-forwarding and rewinding drained the life from your double-A batteries. But it was revolutionary, don't you understand?

This version of Michael Jackson

I miss that guy.

Things I Don't Miss

People smoking...everywhere

Good Lord, it was terrible. You kids have no idea how good you have it in this department. People just lit up all over the place...in their homes, in their cars, in their offices, in church, etc. OK, maybe not in church. As far as I know. I mean, I didn't go to church in the 70s. The point is, the world smelled like cigarettes. Which is to say the world was disgusting and it stank. The fact that there are still people who smoke amazes me. I just assumed we all collectively came to our senses round about 1997 and that everyone was going to quit. What did I miss?

Four channels of TV

After the iPod and the Keurig coffee maker, I say cable/streaming television is Western Civilization's greatest contribution to the universe over the past several decades. When I was growing up in Cleveland, you had channels 3 (NBC), 5 (ABC), 8 (CBS), and 43 (independent). And at some point there was channel 61, too. And that was it. The reception was bad during storms AND YOU HAD TO GET UP TO CHANGE THE CHANNEL. Who does that? Not us now. Which is why we're all fat. But still...

Rubik's Cube

There wasn't anything intrinsically wrong with Rubik's Cube, other than the fact that I could never solve it. Ever. Even bought a book explaining how to solve it and couldn't understand it. Yet there were people appearing on "That's Incredible" who, given a randomly configured Rubik's Cube, could solve the thing in, like, 12 seconds. Maybe less, I don't remember. All I know is that I was bitter about it then and I'm bitter about it now. DARN YOU AND YOUR DEMONIC INVENTION, ERNO RUBIK!

My TV viewing is mostly snippets of whatever my wife is watching

This is a common scene in our house:

Terry will be taking a break from one of the million tasks, large and small, that comprise her day. She often does this by plopping down on the couch with a cup of coffee to watch television.

She will be happily watching something when I come wandering into the living room. The screen catches my eye. I stand there for a few minutes watching with her.

I become sufficiently interested that I will ask her a few questions about the characters and the plot. Then I either stand and watch some more, or else I head off to do whatever it was I had intended to do in the first place.

Then it happens again in a day or two. Sometimes I will actually sit down and watch for 10 or 15 minutes. More often than not, though, I stand. Dads often do this and I don't know why. Maybe we simply don't want to commit.

Anyway, over time, I become familiar enough with the show that I can pop in six episodes later and quickly catch up on the action.

Sometimes it's a Netflix series, other times it's a competition show like "Dancing with the Stars." Either way, I never watch the whole thing with her, but rather just enough to establish a baseline level of knowledge that allows me to ask educated questions like, "Are those kids on 'The Fosters' still making bad choices?"

I don't think of myself as a TV guy, and it's not because I have any objections to TV. Nowadays, there's far more good writing and acting on TV than there is in movies.

It's just that, for the most part, I don't have time for it. I choose to fill my non-working hours with other things that aren't any better or worse than TV. They're just other choices.

But Terry has good taste in onscreen entertainment, so quite often when I shuffle through the living room, I see something interesting. I know I should be tackling a particular chore or getting ready to leave for a PA announcing gig or something, but I can't seem to look away.

So I end up watching maybe 15% of a multi-season series through a string of 10-minute (or smaller) chunks of viewing.

If there are important bits I know I've missed, YouTube will more often than not have those scenes and I can use that to fill in my knowledge gaps.

It's not the recommended way to enjoy high- (or low-) quality television, but I can tell you it works.