Of American Soaps and Sitcoms

And just as Sheldon and Penny have invaded our living rooms with a Big Bang not so long ago it was the umpteen cups of coffee with the hugely popular Joey and Chandler and the rest of their ‘friends’! American soaps and sitcoms have been an integral part of our lives and living rooms.

We have grown up with heated discussion about the flirtatious ways of Ridge and Brooke and the intricate yet frivolous life styles of the Forresters and ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’, a family drama, which kept us amused for years together, while in our personal lives we went from finishing college, to getting married, having a family, moving cities and house. While I seldom wonder who Brooke ended up with, we have moved on to watching more appropriate and kid friendly shows, and have grown to love Tim and Jill and their three boys from ‘Home Improvement’ and more recently, it has been Ray Romano of ‘Everybody loves Raymond’ who continues to keep us entertained.

A particularly interesting episode of ‘Everybody loves Raymond’ was when Robert and Amy get married. This has all the makings of a perfect wedding, a quaint location, beautiful Chapel, a tall and handsome groom, a blushing bride, some impeccably dressed ladies, pretty frocked girls, merry drunk men, a Reverend who had to hitch hike, almost perfect…or perhaps just short.

Customary as it is, at all weddings, for the priest to inquire if there is anyone present who objects to the wedding and the ceremony continues as a matter of course because there are no impediments. However at Robert and Amy’s wedding, this is the point when the drama begins, when Marie, Robert’s mother decides to speak up and break all peace as she rudely interrupts the wedding much to everyone’s shock and horror. Marie proclaims that she feels the need to say something because she loves Robert and that she is doing so in his best interests. She advises Robert to marry only for love.

The scene at the reception again, is not very different, the newly weds are shell shocked and speechless and who could blame them. Debra, Raymond’s wife, tries in vain to lighten the mood and cheer Robert and Amy. Frank, Robert’s father is not happy with the cash only bar and there is an exchange of words between him and Amy’s father, Mr McDougal; Marie, is critical about the buffet and Mrs McDougal accuses Marie of being a narcissist and asks Marie to leave. In other words, this is one big family circus!

And then, there is Raymond, who is the Robert’s best man and responsible for making the ‘toast’ at the wedding. Raymond has not prepared his speech and ironically enough, Raymond is a Sports writer for Newsday. Clueless, of where to start and what to say, Raymond’s speech is the saving grace at the wedding reception as he puts a great spin to the turn of events at the Robert and Amy’s wedding.

As a writer Raymond appreciates the importance of ‘editing’ and goes to say that all the unpleasant events must be edited, hence when Robert and Amy’s wedding is remembered, one doesn’t have to remember Marie interrupting the beautiful ceremony, that part should be edited and only the good things about the wedding, remembered. The key word here being, ‘editing’. He adds that when Robert and he were kids, this was the technique they would use, they just remembered the good stuff, the good food and blocked out all unpleasant memories.

That there, dear friends, is a lesson learnt for life from an American Sitcom, an absolutely lovely message and something that I like to use in my everyday life, to block out any unpleasant experience, to delete the pictures that are not in focus, to edit the bad memories and “ just keep the good ones”.

Attached is a hyperlink to Raymond’s speech from ‘Everybody loves Raymond’ should you wish to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVPcklJ8M0w