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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
The show affords a priceless opportunity to observe families in their natural stressed-out, angry, annoyed states, and therefore I'd have to recommend it as mandatory viewing for the whole family. In particular, kids ages 9 to 14 who think that their families are "totally weird" while everyone else at school is growing up in some shiny, happy "Leave It to Beaver" home can benefit from seeing, firsthand, how irrational and melodramatic and ineffective most families become at the first hint of stress or disagreement. See, Johnny? You don't have to be a hotheaded Italian to have a mother who screams at the top of her lungs, "None of you ever listen to me, ever!"
On the other hand, the Gaghan family, which includes Carissa, 9, and Billy, 12, will make you feel like A) a terrible parent or B) a terrible son or daughter or C) both. They're in good shape, they're relentlessly positive, they support each other, they stay focused under pressure. Sounds scary, right? But the kids do make fun of each other, and the whole family has a good sense of humor. They're basically impossible not to like. Plus, they're the only family left with small kids. There was the sole African-American family, with two young boys, but they were eliminated during the first episode. It's just as well -- their last name was Black, and there was something a little bit disconcerting about watching them chant, "One, two, three -- Black family!" every week.
In addition to the joys of watching families ripped apart at the seams, "The Amazing Race: Family Edition" also highlights the massive differences between different cultures and classes in America. At one point, the Weaver family, a widow and her three teenagers who lost their dad when he was struck by a car at the racetrack where he worked, start to lose their minds on a long bus ride to the next destination. They handle it by complaining loudly about the race to everyone on the bus. Afterward, even the Paolos are in shock, as one of the sons confides to the cameras that the Weavers "broke down, snapped, like, lost it! They just went nuts!"
The Weavers had no apologies for the other families. "This is us. There's nobody perfect out there, and this is us. If you like us, great. If you don't like us, we're not going to change for you."
Despite the countless delights of such family antics, some viewers have said that they find this season boring because the families haven't even left the states yet, and the tasks aren't challenging enough. But what was so easy about driving through that thick mud? Didn't it take the Aiellos 14 tries to do it successfully? And what about the heavy carriage that almost ran over Mommy Weaver?
Of course I agree that it would be nicer to see the Paolos having one of their spitty outbursts on, say, a train through India, but the logistical challenges of following several teams of four abroad are tough to fathom. Just because the "Amazing Race" production team seems to have an unearthly ability to shoot challenging, high-speed scenes without catching any other camera crews in the shot, that doesn't mean that they are actually superhuman. Why don't you cut them some slack?
Ah, right. Of course. Because your mom never cut you any slack, so you don't cut yourself any slack, and therefore won't cut anyone else any slack. Better double up on therapy, buddy, because your children are going to be serious slackers.
Doo-doo head and associates
But I know you, chickens. You're not looking for psychological mumbo jumbo and the same old warped reality-show interpretations of American life. You have a probing intellectual mind, and all this talk of family has you craving an in-depth, factual exploration of the state of the American family today.
Look no further! Fox's "Arrested Development" (9 p.m. Mondays) offers exactly the thoughtful, realistic examination of the psychosocial dynamics of family that you crave. The Bluths, like any average American family, hate each other's guts. They view each other as complete lunatics -- and they're correct in their views. Like most families, every last member of the Bluth family has some diagnosable personality or mood disorder. And, like all families, they don't know how to communicate without shouting, making threats, issuing commands, throwing large objects at each other's heads or jumping around and squawking like chickens. When they're in each other's company, they're either whining, rolling their eyes, or plotting against each other. In other words, "Arrested Development" is easily the most realistic depiction of family life ever to grace the small screen.
Mitch Hurwitz and the manic geniuses behind this show obviously recognize that, when it comes to family, no amount of exaggeration goes too far. They know that you've got to dial the comedy meter up past "amp up the conflict," past "stretch the truth," straight to "total farce" just to get people out there to relate to their creation. If they only dialed it up to "subtle prodding," then they'd have just another sleep-inducing sitcom that might as well take place on Jupiter. Stick with farce, though, and audiences say, "Wow, all that hysteria and reactionary anger and violent acting-out sort of reminds me of my own family. Hey, I should really call Mom..."
