TV shows unite finicky audiences

I never expected my mother to betray me.

But there it was on the front page of the local newspaper’s arts and entertainment section. My mom had revealed to a reporter that I was a television control freak.

I will admit to having a few quirks when it comes to watching my favorite TV shows. I can’t stand to miss a word spoken or a joke told. Then again, I think we all have a particular way of watching TV.

Most people’s quirks just aren’t published so publicly.

We had been interviewed for an article about mothers and daughters who watched “Gilmore Girls” together in anticipation of the series finale. Apparently, the hour diatribe I gave the reporter on the declining quality of the television series was not as compelling as my petulant teenage angst.

“If you run your mouth, you get the evil eye,” said my mom in the opening of the original article. This was a loving interpretation of my hushing her during those final episodes of “Gilmore Girls.”

But like I said, I’m not alone in my quirks. I’m surrounded by people with different television viewing habits.

I have a friend who will be completely obsessed with a show but will wait until the perfect moment to sit down and watch. Her self-control both astounds and frustrates me. She once waited for more than a year and a half to watch a new season of “Doctor Who” with me because she wasn’t ready to watch the show without David Tennant, the actor who used to play The Doctor.

Meanwhile there are others I know who inhale episodes like junkies. They will hole up for a weekend, and next thing you know, they are triumphantly announcing that they have caught up on “Community,” finished “How I Met Your Mother” and started “Dexter.” The fact that this is temporally impossible doesn’t faze them, and friends whom they watch these shows with are left in the dust.

Last week, this issue cropped up on NBC’s “Up All Night.” Married couple Reagan and Chris got in a fight when Chris watched “Friday Night Lights” with a fellow stay-at-home parent instead of waiting for Reagan.

There are others whose relationship to television is healthier. They are okay missing some dialogue to share a quick story. Sometimes they’ll miss a whole scene to grab a snack. It’s moments like these that make my eye twitch and my heart palpitate as I lunge for the pause button.

Don’t they know that their chances of missing a huge plot twist increases exponentially when they stop paying attention for even a second? That’s what the neurotic voice in my head tells me.

And yet we continue to all watch together on the same couch and on the same TV. Despite our differences in how we watch our shows, we put up with each other’s quirks and even amend our own.

Over the years I’ve learned to reign in the evil eye and to calmly press pause. DVR has helped a lot in my personal growth.

My friend told me that, even if she gets ahead of her sister on AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” she will still rewatch the episode with her because it has become “their show.”

And despite the fact that my mom found my need for absolute silence during “Gilmore Girls” so insane that it should be shared with a reporter, she still watched with me until the final closing credits.

Sometimes there’s more to a show than the show itself. Even if I have to press pause a few times in the process.

If you have a not-so-secret TV quirk, email Suchland at [email protected].