Picket Fence Post

It’s been several weeks since the fall TV season commenced and the new half-hour ABC comedy Modern Family – about a multi-generational, messed up, loving American family — has not only lived up to its pre-season buzz, but it’s exceeded it.

Paired with another family half-hour comedy, The Middle (starring Patricia Heaton), these two have made Wednesday nights the big comedy night of the week. And when you factor in The New Adventures of Old Christine (starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus) on CBS on Wednesdays as well, it’s family dysfunction at its finest. (You can view previous episodes of The Middle and Modern Family on the ABC web site, and Old Christine eps on the CBS web site.)

For your Friday funny viewing, here’s a segment from a recent episode of Modern Family where new adoptive dads, Cameron and Mitchell were taking their baby home from the hospital after accidentally hitting her head against a door jam and discussing whether they are good parents:

If you ever get to feeling down about how you’re doing in parenting your kid (or kids) do yourself a favor and spend a moment watching Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ sitcom, The New Adventures of Old Christine for a reality check.

Take last week’s episode, “Honey I Ran Over The Kid,” Christine Campbell (Louis-Dreyfus) was in a heated debate with her ex-husband Richard over who was the safer (and saner) parent. In the video below, Christine was incensed when Richard brought Ritchie home with a minor, post-skateboarding injury after she’d secured so much safety gear onto the boy that he put Randy in the giant red snowsuit from the Christmas Story movie to shame. This scene occurred BEFORE, Christine accidentally ran her son down with her car (she was following him “for safety” when he was riding a bike to a friend’s house). This kicked off a warped competition for “worst parent” where Christine and Richard kept trying to one-up the other with sordid tales of each other’s poor parenting.

When I’m done watching this show, I always feel as though I’m not doing such a bad job after all. At least I’m not Christine Campbell.

Item #1: Not Ready for Leaves to Fall

I’m still appreciating the beauty of this year’s unusually bright autumn leaves, especially the way they look when the sunlight shines upon them. (Like in the photo I took above when we went apple picking last weekend.) I’m definitely not ready for them to fall off the trees, clog the drains on the streets and leave behind barren, depressing limbs.

Besides, once fall’s over and the leaves are gone, that signals the beginning of The Holidays, otherwise known as the time when I long to go into hibernation. I’m DEFINITELY not ready for them to arrive just yet, despite the catalogs I keep receiving in the mail telling me I’m already behind on my Christmas shopping.

Item #2: ‘Mad Men’ and the 1960s Suburban Mom

Season two of the 1960s drama Mad Men  concludes Sunday night at 10 on AMC and we’ll find out whether slick ad man Don Draper (Jon Hamm) wises up and makes up with his wife Betty (January Jones) – mother of his two children living in a NYC ‘burb – after he repeatedly cheated on her and she finally called him on it.

My money says that the finale will find our man Don back in New York trying to reconcile with his wife, or maybe that’s just the hopeful romantic in me. I also think Betty’s pregnant.

Item #3: ‘Old Christine’ Gets It Right Again

This week’s episode of the Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy, The New Adventures of Old Christine again made some spot-on observations about parenthood amidst its usual brand of uncomfortable, Larry David-like nuttiness.

The recent episode focused on Christine’s 12-year-old son Ritchie not wanting to say, “I love you” and rebuffing his mom’s hugs. (My 10-year-old son’s already rebuffing my hugs in public.) This turn of events sent Christine over the edge, questioning whether she should have another baby (so someone would willingly hug her for at least a few more years) and wondering whether she should still be sleeping in Ritchie’s bed every night. (Um, no.) Link to the scene that sets up the entire episode here.

Item #1: Beware of the Mice

If you live in the MetroWest area outside of Boston and pulled one of those plastic Little Tikes Cozy Coupes from someone’s trash thinking it was your lucky day, boy were you wrong. The thing’s filled with mice.

My sister-in-law called me today and related the story of how, when my nephews were playing with their Cozy Coupe outside this week, one of them spotted a mouse sticking its head out of the hole where the steering wheel had been. (The steering wheel was busted soon after the boys got the car.) Horrified, my sister-in-law wheeled it away with the intent of dealing with it later until she realized there wasn’t just one mouse living INSIDE the plastic car, but a whole bunch of them.

She put the car out on its side on the street next to her trashcans this morning, but before the trash haulers arrived, she noticed the Cozy Coupe was gone. She then started feeling guilty that some unsuspecting parent had grabbed the car and might’ve put it inside his or her house not realizing that it’s filled with mice. They’re in for a big surprise.

Item #2: Old Christine Gets Guilted

Speaking of guilt . . . the latest episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine really hit home for me this week as it dealt with maternal guilt, specifically, Julia Louis Dreyfus’ character Christine feeling badly because she was working so much and missing things for her kid, including forgetting to submit the application for her 12-year-old to join a lizard club. She felt so badly that she missed the deadline — as well as a party she’d promise to attend — that she agreed to go on a date with the creepy head of the club in order to secure her son’s admission to the group. Only it didn’t go as planned. (Link to the video here.)

This week I missed several deadlines for my own kids. Papers requiring my signature and homework that I was supposed to initial and correct have been flooding my house like a never-ending onslaught of junk mail. For example, I forgot to sign The Youngest Son’s reading list one night (didn’t write down what he read) and we got the list back marked with a red question mark. Last night, I didn’t have the chance to listen to The Girl read me a passage aloud three times and then grade her reading skills. This morning I had to quickly write a note telling her teacher why the homework wasn’t done.

So when the lizard guy told Christine, “A good mother doesn’t miss deadlines,” I felt that one. Right in the gut.

(more…)