When TV Meets Real Life

I must say, I've been really pleasantly surprised by TV this season. Gossip Girl remains mostly fabulous, 90210 is scads better than last season, Melrose Place actually does some justice to the original, The Good Wife appears to be a better vehicle for Julianna Marguiles than she's had in years, The Vampire Diaries continues to be exponentially better than I want it to be, and I am counting down the minutes until Jim and Pam get married on The Office tomorrow night. In fact, I'm finding so much enjoyable TV this season that my DVR is operating at full capacity and I'm still two weeks behind on Mad Men. (Thanks, Yuntif!)

My favorite part of the new season though? Actually finding new half-hour comedies to enjoy. Yeah, I missed the boat on How I Met Your Mother and I've watched some episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and laughed my ass off, but I'm behind on that one, too. Maybe in the summer I'll catch up on DVD, but for now, I'm finding that Community, Parks & Recreation, and Cougar Town are suiting me just fine.

"Did you just say Cougar Town, you loser?"

Why yes, yes I did. And do you know why? Because I actually think it's good. Yeah, Modern Family got great reviews, but I've only managed to watch the Pilot so far (so much to catch up on!) and you know what? Not so impressed. But Cougar Town actually makes me laugh out loud and appreciate that I'm not just watching Monica Geller but a totally different character, and one who I thoroughly enjoy.

Oh, and then there's the fact that she totally helps me understand my mom.

"Does your mom sleep with twenty-year-olds?" you may be asking. Well no, of course not--she's married to my dad, and he hasn't been in his twenties since before I was born. But she did have my brother at 21, which means she missed out on a whole lot of stuff--something I'm not really sure I've appreciated until I watched someone on TV whine about the very same thing.

I've given my mom a hard time about dancing, something I imagine every reader of this blog knows she picked up some time ago and still does on a daily basis. (Seriously, come to my apartment--I have a fantastic picture of her from her latest competition on my fridge.) But I've done a fair amount of dancing in my twenties, and drinking, and partying, and traveling, and other assorted things I would never have done had I had a baby when I was 21, and which I'm pretty damn sure she didn't do either. And that sucks, to feel you missed out on such an awesome part of your youth that you can't get back. But Jules (Courteney Cox) is doing her best to make up for it now, and so, I imagine, is my mom, and I really just can't begrudge either one.

I got asked this past weekend in Shul whether or not I had any kids, and I said "not yet" almost apologetically, as if at 25 I was way behind schedule. I immediately hated myself for it. No, I don't have kids now, and you know what? I really don't want any now. I love my niece and nephews, but if there's anything I've learned from watching the sibs go through parenting, it's that I'm so. Not. There. Yet. And I'm glad for that, because my twenties are starting to wind down, and as you can see from my list, I still have way, way too much to do.

Oh, and I'll be having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch today. Also, I had one yesterday, and the day before that. And if Yoni and I remember to buy bread tonight, that's what I'll be having for the next two days as well. And all of next week. I think you get where I'm going with this.