From crying while your favorite character on a show finds out they have cancer to watching them graduate from high school with tears in your eyes, we might all be guilty of getting a little too attached to the characters from our favorite TV shows.
The emotions that we feel for those characters might be a little too real, but why stop watching? Writers and producers everywhere are creating new storylines and scripts for televisions shows that we watch weekly, (or daily, if you’re a Netflix addict like myself). These writers know just what to do to make us smile, laugh, or even cry while the different plot lines of our addictive shows thicken.
I sometimes find myself being more concerned for the character’s social life than my own, and that’s when I know: I’m a horrible TV addict, and there’s probably nothing that can stop me, unless somehow my Netflix subscription gets cancelled.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard: “Did you see the finale of Breaking Bad?” I could probably buy Breaking Bad itself, or at least Bryan Cranston. The question always ends with someone proceeding to explain what happened during the finale while I, hands over ears, run out of the room. I was so stubborn to start watching the show because I didn’t want to become obsessed with yet another great TV series, so I am only on season two. So now I have to stay away from Breaking Bad fans (which is basically anyone with a TV) and the Internet until I am caught up with the exciting series.
Reality TV—well, that’s a different story. From the crazy, yet weirdly entertaining Kardashians to America’s Got Talent, most of us in today’s society love reality TV shows. Why? Well, it’s probably the fact that we get to see people fail once in a while. Of course there are those times when someone tries out for American Idol (does that show still exist?) or The X Factor and audiences everywhere are applauding and completely star struck by the incredible talent so many people are blessed with. However, there are those that make fools out of themselves on reality TV.
For example, on almost much any reality show about middle-aged rich women that premieres on E! Network past 9:00 on a school night has to be terrible yet so good at the same time. Sometimes we need to see how different and utterly entertaining other’s lives are to appreciate what we have today—cable.
I recently discovered MasterChef Junior, which is probably one of the cutest yet coolest shows I’ve seen in a while. It didn’t take me long to realize that there were children younger than ten years old that could cook better than I can, even though the highest up I’ve gotten in my culinary experience is the art of making a sandwich. The show, which features kids of all different ages, is a competition for the next MasterChef… junior. It’s adorable, funny, and wildly amusing.
Lastly, I have to mention the devastating episode of one of my favorite shows that I will always remember. The most recent episode of the hit show Glee was as heartbreaking as it was beautiful. The cast of the show honored the late Cory Monteith, who passed after a drug overdose. I personally, as an avid Glee fan from the day it premiered, was bawling crying with my roommate when we both watched this episode. The show featured songs that already were so sad and tear-jerking, that being paired with the actor’s tragic death, just made them even more depressing to listen to. The episode was the perfect tribute to the talented Monteith, and the love that the cast and his fans showed for him is very apparent.
TV shows are extremely easy to get into, yet so hard to get out of. We all have that one show that we can not stop pressing the “next episode” button on Netflix while staying up all night watching and waiting to see what happens next. We get attached to characters, hold grudges against some, and even have huge crushes on those that we know we will never meet (or marry) in real life. All in all, TV shows can shape us into who we are today: passionate, hilarious, and hopeless young adults.