Comments on: I now pronounce you dull and boring

By: Pauline

Pauline — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:15:34 +0000

I’m not sure why anyone would think that we have the same expectations regarding excitement in real life that we do in movies. There are some excellent dramas that deal with the stuff of everyday life, including marriage. But action movies, especially blockbuster superhero movies, are built around events and circumstances that are decidedly not the stuff of everyday life.

Married life is not boring. But it’s not exciting in a way that anyone would be interested in making a movie out of my life. There are times that my life has enough crisis and conflict in it that I would just as soon it were a little more “boring.” And I would never want to actually live the adventures people have in action movies. But they’re fun to go see for two hours entertainment.

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By: Frank in Phoenix

Frank in Phoenix — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:37:55 +0000

HSK -

KBells beat me to saying what eventually came to me as I gave your reply (at 10) some thought.

Humor works when there’s an element of truth to it, but often times the funny stuff is exaggerated for humorous effect.

E.g., few people in real life are as selfish and loudmouthed as Ralph Cramden. He gets laughs because of his caraciture (sp?) of selfishness, which all of us husbands have displayed to some degree or another at one time or another. But he always realizes and confesses the error of his ways, and Alice always loves him anyways.

When shows want belly laughs, they exaggerate. When they want warmth, smiles mingled with tenderness and even sorrow, they more often play things rather realistically. (For some reason, Eight is Enough comes to mind, although I hardly ever watched it.)

Just some thoughts … YMMV …

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By: Travis Birkenstock

Travis Birkenstock — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:33:11 +0000

Allisa – True, rare to find a successful female-led sitcom, so you’d expect fewer single-mom shows. Still the number of shows with a premise of the Dad only raising the kids is daunting.

Kbells – MacMillan and Wife was a great show! And how about John and Maureen Robinson (Lost in Space!) as another non-boring marriage in the adventure/drama class!

Some other non-dull and non-boring TV marriages: Samantha and Darren. Lily and Herman. Roseanne and Dan. Morticia and Gomez. Oliver and Lisa. George and Weezie. Ricky and Lucy. Thirsten and Lovey.

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By: kBells

kBells — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:18:30 +0000

#10 As I’ve tried to tell my husband when he tries to reason with sitcom characters. “Well-adjusted people aren’t funny.”
It seems to me from a TV perspective marriage only works when the characters are already married. This holds true with adventure as well as comedy. (McMillan and Wife, Hart to Hart). Of course there was Monica and Chandler.
Kim, love the teeth story.

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By: alissa

alissa — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:55:06 +0000

Travis: I think that’s because male-led comedies seem to do better, demographically. Guys and girls will watch a comedy with a male lead, but if it’s only got a female lead, it gets labeled a “chick” show. Same with movies. Some Fox executive said as much earlier this year.

Gross generalization, much? But it makes sense.

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By: Dav

Dav — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 01:22:32 +0000

I truly believe that if you are married to the person God has for you, it’s one of His greatest blessings. The married couple submitted to God’s plan for their lives can look forward to a fantastic, exciting, no-holds-barred life.
However, if you picked your spouse without God’s input, get ready for a lifetime of challenges within that very marriage.

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By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:11:14 +0000

I really don’t have much to add to this conversation. As I have said before, my marriage ended mostly because no one cared to keep it going. My fault.
Anyway, I am reminded of my Aunt Pat-Pat and Uncle Sweetie-Pie (seriously that is what we called them-behind their backs of course!) She was my grandfathers older 1/2 sister. Her name was Volner and when she was in school her sweetheart was named Robertus. The graduated and he went to work for the railroad. He met and married another woman to whom he was married until death and she married and raised a family. When they were in their 80’s they accidentally met and rekindled the romance of their youth. They used to come stay with us when I was younger. She would sit and pat his knee (thus Aunt Pat-Pat) and call him her sweetie pie (thus Uncle Sweetie Pie). Now you all thought this story couldn’t get any cuter, but just wait. —-
Every night before they went to bed she would say Sweetie Pie give me your teeth. He would pop them suckers out and she would go in the bathroom and clean them for him. Talk about your TRUE love!!! Disclaimer: This is absolutely a true story.

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By: Travis Birkenstock

Travis Birkenstock — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:06:54 +0000

What the heck is going on in comic-land these days?

- Characters have stopped aging in Better for Worse.

- Spiderman is divorcing.

- Dynamic Duo downsized (Robin departs, is killed off).

- Captain America takes a bullet and dies.

A more interesting TV/marriage topic is the huge number of Single Dad TV shows that have aired over time, many more than single mom shows. Check out: http://www.tvdads.com/tvdad.html. Think about it. My Three Sons. Courtship of Eddies Father. Bachelor Father. Who’s the Boss. Nanny and the Professor. Gunsmoke. Andy Griffith. Love Boat. Different Strokes. The list gets long fast.

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By: alissa

alissa — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:19:21 +0000

Well, as a still-kind-of-newlywed (Sept ‘06), I’m not sure how qualified I am to comment, but it’s my opinion that sometimes married people get boring. We have to make a conscious effort at times to continue to be social and build community outside of our happy little world (no sarcasm). Especially when you marry your best friend, it’s easy to turn entirely insular.

The dynamic changes entirely once you have children, but in my part of the universe, most married couples wait years to have children.

I was wondering if someone was going to bring up “Mad About You”. And there have been other portrayals of happy, fulfilled married life – “The Cosby Show” springs to mind – though there were always secondary love stories going on in the background.

And I’d have to respectfully disagree with the idea that The Office (US) got boring once Jim & Pam got together. The Ryan part of the story is totally cracking me up now. But that’s just my opinion. Maybe I am exactly their target demographic. (It doesn’t help that the season stopped airing halfway through!)

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By: trr

trr — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:31:05 +0000

OK, as long as you didn’t mean it as something with which to flog Christians who prefer not to watch movies, etc., because of their *LCD content.
(*in the math sense)

Please do write that essay.

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