TV? Reality?
At some point in life, most people would have seen a sitcom on TV. It could be anything from Friends, Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Scrubs, My Wife and kids, King of Queens, and i could go on for days. TV is such a big thing ever since it was first invented and with the gradual evolution of the modern actor/actress, TV has only gotten better and more convincing to that of real life. When i was growing up, my parents worked a lot and i was a pretty big loner. I didn’t go out much and i chose to delve into the world of media, watching a ton of TV and movies, and listening to a bunch of music. I became completely immersed into each fantasy world and developed strong connections to characters into the shows i watched. As a child with an influential mind I made friends with the characters and imagined my life in each sitcom as they came.
What coffee would I drink in Central Perk with Joey and Chandler in Friends? Would I break in my hospital rounds under Kelso’s supervision in Scrubs? Can I be a good wing man to Barney in How I Met Your Mother? Can I be a good first or second detective with Peralta in Brooklyn Nine-Nine?
My ever growing mind was filled to the brim with fantasies of sitcoms and new adventures never to happen. With my ever growing personality, I gradually picked up lines and traits to add to my person. To this day I still quote numerous shows and I believe I am the person I am today because of these shows. My lonely life was filled with friends and events that made me happy. I watched shows nonstop and it filled my heart. Why can’t life be like a sitcom? Why do we not count the events that happen to us as character development and an arc in our lives to lead to the next scene? Our lives are just character development as we fill our own stories. We are the writers, editors and publishers. We just can’t get lost in the two.
One good example of getting lost in TV would be from a show “Community” with one character named Abed Nadir who is known throughout the show as a character obsessed with sitcoms. He often relates events happening in the show to that of another sitcom he may have watched. It is what is referred to as “fourth-wall breaking”, and at that time that is a newer concept and underappreciated in my opinion. He is under the impression that sitcom rules do not apply in the same way as logic does in the real world, and that is pretty much why he prefers the world of media over the real one.
I can tell life from TV, Jeff. TV makes sense, it has structure, logic, rules, and likable leading men. In life, we have this. We have you.- Abed Nabir (Community)
Life is different but has a lot of relatable moments. Writers appeal to our problems and issues, saying things to calm us and relate to us. The amount of times I re-watch a certain episode because it calms me down or makes me feel better is uncountable. I look to these characters and compare my problems to theirs to take a weight off my shoulders. For at least a moment, my problems aren’t my own. I have someone I can compare problems with. That sitcom is my life for a short while and all of my worries pass by. It is my escape and why wouldn’t one want to have an easy escape and way to cope in these trying times? Problems will always be there but too much of one thing could be crippling. For someone who has always watched sitcoms it gets hard separating the two the more i watch them
“A word of advice: Play along. The more you fight it, the worse it’s gonna get. It’s like when your car slides on ice, you steer into the skid.” — Ted Mosby (HIMYM)
At this point in my life, i embrace this. I know I watch a ton of TV, I know i quote a lot of shows but why is that wrong? These shows have won awards, they warm the hearts of many and I have grown because of them. I re watch shows all the time and learn from them as i grow into the person I intended. TV has helped me through a lot and I’ve made friends and family of fictional characters and that will remain with me. Family is who you make of it, and if i was my life to be a sitcom, it shall be legen- wait for it -dary.
