We watch a lot of TV around this house -- hey, it's my job, man -- so the kids, ages 11 and 13, get to see a wide assortment of shows. Sure, there's a few I can't get them interested in (hard as I try), like Lost, Heroes, and Grey's Anatomy (probably just as well, with all the bed-hopping). Still, there are lots of shows I've had to recap or review over the years that they've gotten hooked on. Here are a few of our favorites.1. House, M.D. There's something refreshing about an infectious disease specialist who walks with a limp, pops Vicodin like dinner mints, and has the bedside manner of a schoolyard bully. The kids and I can't wait to gather around the TV and watch the tortured doc hurl insults at colleagues and break into patients' homes looking for mysterious mold or a DNA sample. We like to place bets on how long it'll take somebody to start seizing and spewing blood. Last season broke the record when a drug-addicted rock star started puking blood during the first five seconds of the show. Sure, this show is rated PG-14, but it's still a family favorite around here. My kids especially love the scenes where the camera goes inside the cells and arteries of a patient (not). House, M.D. moves to Mondays at 9/8c, and returns with new episodes on April 28.
2. 24. Nothing says mother-son bonding like watching a rogue agent work over the bad guys and hunt down terrorists. We especially love the inane plot twists where Jack Bauer is tortured, injected with something painful, and beaten to a bloody pulp, then sprints off to hijack a plane and do some crimes, all in the name of justice. All this after he's spent the previous two years in solitary in a Chinese prison. All I can say is he must have gotten his hands on some good Chinese herb to have that kind of stamina. Almost as much stamina as the 13-year-old and I had during our four-season catch-up marathon a few years ago. Whew. That takes it out of a person. Season 7 of 24 returns in January, 2009, with a TV movie slated for this fall. We're giddy with anticipation.
3. Family Affair. If you can get past grumpy Uncle Bill, his stodgy life partner Mr. French, and those saccharine sweet kids, this show has some of the funniest stuff in TV history. Sometimes we have to pause the DVD to re-group after laughing ourselves silly at the pointless plots, beehive hairdos, and god-awful green-and-orange decor. And my, how times have changed. Six-year-old Buffy and Jody were always wandering off on their own into New York City, and 15-year-old Cissy often dressed up like a prom queen and hit the nightclubs with her Uncle Bill (hmmm). And is it just me, or does Jody have one of the biggest heads in TV history? His head is as big as Mr. French's with that crazy bowler hat perched on top. Buffy's, by contrast, is tiny, even with those ever-present pigtails. Yeah, I know all about the tragedy surrounding this show. I won't go into it here, because I don't want to be a downer. If you don't know, look it up. Barring that, this is one funny family affair. All five seasons, 1966 - 1971, are available on DVD. We're on Season 4.
4. Mystery Science Theater 3000. There's no better way to introduce your kids to the fine art of The Insult than by watching Joel or Mike and the 'bots rip old B-movies a new one. It's precisely because of the many hours we've spent watching MST3K that we're able to fully enjoy shows like Family Affair and The Brady Bunch. Our favorite offerings from the Satellite of Love are Time Chasers and The Touch of Satan, both of which can be found on Vol. 5 of the MST3K Collection. The worst? Horrors of Spider Island and Swamp Women, starring Mike "Touch" Connors. Yeah, the guy from Mannix. Oh, Touch...be still my heart.
5. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. A kid with a great memory comes in handy when you're watching shows that fall chronologically in between a trilogy of feature films. Like, for example, during The Demon Hand episode last season, I kept thinking they were destroying the hand and chip from the second Terminator movie, but wait, didn't all the original pieces of T2 get destroyed when John Connor threw the hand into that vat of molten metal after the good Terminator was lowered in there? "No, Mom," my son said, rolling his eyes. "The Demon Hand revolved around the hand the T-888 that shot Derek Reese lost in his fight with Cameron. Don't you know anything?!" Hey, at least it prompted a good 40-minute discussion that we otherwise never would have had. At this writing, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is this close to being renewed for a second season. I sincerely hope it is, so the kid and I can continue to have these deep discussions.
So, what are some of your favorite shows to watch with your kids?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-21-2008 @ 11:19AM
Claire said...
I used to watch LOST and the 4400 with my dad. It was our bonding thing for the summer and regular season. Now when I'm home for the weekend (from college) he'll sometimes catch up on Torchwood/Doctor Who with me.
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4-21-2008 @ 11:53AM
nancyofthepants said...
my mom and i watched girlmore girls. our age difference was not as small as lorelai and rory's, but it was pretty close. i think she really liked how lorelai turned out to be successful, etc. after all that she'd gone through (just like my mom!)
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4-21-2008 @ 12:50PM
C C said...
I don't have children, but if I ever did, House and 24 would be at the top of the list of shows I would introduce them to.
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4-21-2008 @ 12:51PM
EbonyDad said...
Ben 10: Alien Force
My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad
Spider-Man
Mythbusters
How It's Made
But hey, my boys are 3 & 6.
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4-21-2008 @ 2:53PM
Alicia said...
My oldest son is 7, and we enjoy watching Ben 10 too. I think I was more excited about Ben 10: Alien Force than he was.
4-21-2008 @ 12:52PM
G said...
My dad and I are in the middle of Season two of 24. We watched Season 6 when it aired last year and I bought the rest of the seasons so we could catch up. It took us a couple months to finish Season 1 but we should be on track for Season 7's start in January. My mom can't stand the show so we're keeping it just for the two of us to bond over.
He watches Lost with my younger sister and together as a family we all watch Desperate Housewives, Weeds (yeah, that's crazy to watch with your parents), Top Chef/Project Runway/Make Me a Supermodel, etc.
My sister and I have made Monday's our night - Top Gear, HIMYM, Samantha Who?, and Heroes.
It's nice to share certain programs with the ones you love.
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4-21-2008 @ 1:11PM
FP said...
I'm a parent and I just can't see sharing adult programs like 24 and Grey's with a "tween." They have time for their minds to develop and understand advanced ideas about love, sex, violence, loyalty and government, rather than learn from nitetime TV.
I remember sneaking to watch shows like "Dynasty" and "$6 Million Man" when I was very young (sex / espionage), and looking back they were a joke compared to the chopping off of hands and dozens of killings Jack Bauer performs each week.
Especially when there are so many other shows on that you can share.
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4-21-2008 @ 1:19PM
Melody Warbington said...
My son and I watch Lost and Heroes together (he's 17). Dad joins us for The Office and we watched Arrested Development when it was on. We used to watch Malcolm in the Middle. I was always interested in finding a good "mom" tv role model and Lois (from Malcolm) and Lucille Bluth (from Arrested Development) were my favorites although Peg Bundy was in the race.
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4-21-2008 @ 1:47PM
AC said...
My dad and I are both obsessed with Lost. I no longer live at home, but I often drive back over there to watch with him. It's so much better than watching by yourself.
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4-21-2008 @ 2:20PM
Daune said...
First and foremost, my son and I watch Friday Night Lights together. That's appointment viewing for us. The other hour shows we watch together are: Lost, Prison Break, Supernatural, Psych and Jericho. We have two sitcoms we watch together: How I Met Your Mother and The Office. I like any show that will make him laugh so hard he falls off the couch. Usually, it's something Riggins or Barney does.
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4-21-2008 @ 2:25PM
Jacki said...
We watch a lot of shows together. My boys are 7, 12 and 16. We all watch Eli Stone, Medium, Ghost Whisper, Numbers, Chuck and Heros. My husband watches 24, Smallville and Supernatural with them. And we try to watch American Idol and Hells Kitchen together as well. We all use to watch 7th Heaven, Everwood, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars before they were all canceled.
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4-21-2008 @ 2:39PM
TimCur25 said...
I used to watch the West Wing and all the Law and Orders with my mom. During SVU it got a little awkward sometimes, but its fun to share family time like that.
When my dad and I found 24 during Season 5 we went binging and watched the first four seasons in about a month.
The best though is House because my dad loves the blood, my little brother loves the insults, I love everything, and my mom hates Dr. House and gets frustrated everytime he does something arrogant.
Good Times.
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4-21-2008 @ 2:57PM
Nina said...
Never much thought I'd like sci-fi, but my fourteen year old daughter and I got hooked on BBCAmerica's terrific TORCHWOOD, which got us hooked on the new incarnation of DOCTOR WHO. Both shows are intelligent, thought provoking and fantastically fun to watch.
Now that TORCHWOOD has ended it's second season, we're looking forward to new episodes of HOUSE, BONES, and both BBCAmerica's hilarious chat show, GRAHAM NORTON, and Showtime's DEXTER (two shows decidedly not for younger kids, but great TV)
Since we got clued in to all the great panel shows on British television, we spend quality time on YouTube getting caught up on the incredibly educational, yet hysterically funny panel show QI, hosted by the uber intelligent, Stephen Fry. There are so many more, I could go on and on. British telly is one of our favorite ways to spend quality time together. The topics and the humor have a way of opening up discussions that overly censored American TV just can't.
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4-21-2008 @ 2:59PM
Alicia said...
Let's see... when we actually have control over the TV (meaning it isn't on Cartoon Network, Disney, or Nick) we watch(ed), 1 v. 100, Kid Nation, Top Chef, Good Eats, Pinks, Deadliest Catch, Ultimate Recipe Showdown, Flip that House...
Lots and Lots of TLC and Discovery it seems.
(Oh, for the record, my kids are 7, 5 and 3)
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4-21-2008 @ 4:25PM
nickmagoo said...
My six year old just LOVES dexter. and the eight year old is already dressing and dancing JUST like the girls on pussycat dolls girlicious! i'm so proud. they've also both learned a lot from flavor of love regarding male/female relations - looks like i won't have to give the big talk after all!
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4-21-2008 @ 4:58PM
Camkel said...
My 15 year son and I watch Lost and Heros. We have great discussions on theplot twists and which road it may take us down next. His insights are usually spot on and he ctshes alot of the small hints that I miss.
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4-21-2008 @ 9:53PM
Joan said...
I am a single mother and have been from day one. Him and I LOVE to watch America's Funniest Home Videos. Even when he was 2, he would laugh so hard which always makes the parent laugh. He is 17 now, and we still watch it together every Sunday night!
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4-22-2008 @ 9:00AM
Jennifer said...
My kids are older teens and we watch completely different shows together: Lost, The office, Battlestar Gallactica, and we used to watch the O.C., friends, Seinfeld. I write a whole blog on this topic: Connect with your Teens through Pop Culture http://connectwithyourteens.blogspot.com/
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4-22-2008 @ 1:40PM
Nicol said...
I always get my mom hooked up on some new show we then watch together. It started with Supernatural, Heroes, Navy NCIS, now we moved to Eureka and Psych, and then I'll be introducing her to the fantastic Doctor Who and Torchwood. Other then that, the whole family used to watch sitcoms like Married with Children, Frasier, or Red Dwarf.
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4-23-2008 @ 11:22AM
Alicia said...
I always watch Psych, Murder She Wrote and NCIS with my two little brothers (10 and 12). We always make bets on the who/what/why of the crime. They get out of more chores by knowing who the killer is ...
It's good family time, plus it's good for their brains because they have to follow the story line and find the clues to solve the mystery before Gibbs or Jessica Fletcher or whoever does (and most of the time, they do!) We also like the other crime-solving old people shows - Diagnosis Murder, Matlock, etc. My brother who's 12 often asks why we don't have all of our old people out solving crimes in real life since they're so much smarter than the rest of us.
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