Married

[JuSp02]

Because Game of Thrones is over, DH and I are test driving some new shows. We watched the first few episodes of an FX show called Married and my mind exploded. The main couple are married with children. The wife is a SAHM and the dad seems to do part-time/contract work for a design company and refuses to work full-time because he doesn't like the work. In the first few episodes, they can't make payments for their daughter's braces and can't make one of the payments for the husband's vasectomy. In addition to both of the procedures being completely optional, the show shows them frequently going to bars and restaurants with their friends. And the wife talks about getting a job, but can't even put her resume together.

[Bracken_Joy]

=\ That is just depressing sounding. Why would someone want to watch that for entertainment? At best, it reflects too much of your own misery. At worst, it's voyeuristic mockery of those who can't get their shit together. Doesn't sound like anything that anyone would grow from, feel better after watching, or generally be fulfilled by.

[zephyr911]

=\ That is just depressing sounding. Why would someone want to watch that for entertainment? At best, it reflects too much of your own misery. At worst, it's voyeuristic mockery of those who can't get their shit together. Doesn't sound like anything that anyone would grow from, feel better after watching, or generally be fulfilled by.

"I may not have my shit together but I'm nowhere near as bad as these people on TV, so actually, I'm AWESOME! Where's my trophy?"

[iamlittlehedgehog]

We tried to watch this show. It was painful, we couldn't do it so we switched back to Community.

[Bracken_Joy]

=\ That is just depressing sounding. Why would someone want to watch that for entertainment? At best, it reflects too much of your own misery. At worst, it's voyeuristic mockery of those who can't get their shit together. Doesn't sound like anything that anyone would grow from, feel better after watching, or generally be fulfilled by.

"I may not have my shit together but I'm nowhere near as bad as these people on TV, so actually, I'm AWESOME! Where's my trophy?"

Ah! Point taken, I can see why people may watch then. Normalize/aggrandize their own reality.

[CommonCents]

I wouldn't take it quite so seriously.  People often go to restaurants/bars on tv shows for a different venue than the home.  e.g. How I Met Your Mother often had them in the bar.  Other places use a coffee house or such.  Big Bang Theory puts them in their lunch café, or the "Cheesecake" factory where two of them worked.  They don't always want them sitting around on the couch for the conversation.

[MgoSam]

I wouldn't take it quite so seriously.  People often go to restaurants/bars on tv shows for a different venue than the home.  e.g. How I Met Your Mother often had them in the bar.  Other places use a coffee house or such.  Big Bang Theory puts them in their lunch café, or the "Cheesecake" factory where two of them worked.  They don't always want them sitting around on the couch for the conversation.

I think the reasoning goes that having them at home all the time would be boring, but by putting them at a cafe or something it is a comfortable place for audiences to see them. Audiences don't like surprises all that much.

[Ashyukun]

In the first few episodes, they can't make payments for their daughter's braces and can't make one of the payments for the husband's vasectomy.

Wait... so if they fall behind on payments for the vasectomy, do they threaten to reverse it or something? O_o

[MgoSam]

In the first few episodes, they can't make payments for their daughter's braces and can't make one of the payments for the husband's vasectomy.

Wait... so if they fall behind on payments for the vasectomy, do they threaten to reverse it or something? O_o

Isn't a vasectomy a one-time thing? Does it require maintenance, or instead are they referring to the fact that he is paying for the procedure on an installment basis? I was confused by this.

I would hate to get snipped and then find out that they reversed it due to non-payment, or for any other reason.

[slugline]

If you fall behind on your vasectomy payments, a truck will show up in the middle of the night and leave a kid in your driveway.

[James]

If you fall behind on your vasectomy payments, a truck will show up in the middle of the night and leave a kid in your driveway.

This should be SOP for all collections agencies... fastest payoffs guaranteed...

[vivophoenix]

If you fall behind on your vasectomy payments, a truck will show up in the middle of the night and leave a kid in your driveway.

This should be SOP for all collections agencies... fastest payoffs guaranteed...

i dont know, have you checked the black market rate on fresh baby? sounds like the indebted comes out ahead, using this method.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

If you fall behind on your vasectomy payments, a truck will show up in the middle of the night and leave a kid in your driveway.

This should be SOP for all collections agencies... fastest payoffs guaranteed...

i dont know, have you checked the black market rate on fresh baby? sounds like the indebted comes out ahead, using this method.

Nah, use an angst-ridden teenager who's in the middle of a growth spurt.

[psinguine]

=\ That is just depressing sounding. Why would someone want to watch that for entertainment? At best, it reflects too much of your own misery. At worst, it's voyeuristic mockery of those who can't get their shit together. Doesn't sound like anything that anyone would grow from, feel better after watching, or generally be fulfilled by.

"I may not have my shit together but I'm nowhere near as bad as these people on TV, so actually, I'm AWESOME! Where's my trophy?"

I have read research, honest to God literal research, that "reality" television is having a profoundly negative impact on society for exactly this reason. Apparently people who watch these shows feel as though they have accomplished something, simply by not being as terrible as the people on television, and as such they tend towards an inability to pursue further accomplishment.

[Elderwood17]

If you fall behind on your vasectomy payments, a truck will show up in the middle of the night and leave a kid in your driveway.

No doubt! 

What a dumb thing to make payments on. 

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Aren't vasectomies supposed to be free these days? Mr. FP's was. It's an ACA thing.

[Squirrel away]

If you fall behind on your vasectomy payments, a truck will show up in the middle of the night and leave a kid in your driveway.

Lol.:P

[zephyr911]

I have read research, honest to God literal research, that "reality" television is having a profoundly negative impact on society for exactly this reason. Apparently people who watch these shows feel as though they have accomplished something, simply by not being as terrible as the people on television, and as such they tend towards an inability to pursue further accomplishment.

Awww, fuck. I had the feeling this shit was dumbing us down but I didn't know they had quantified it.