Saying Goodbye to Your TV Family

by

Bobbie L. Washington

Well, the time has come for this crop of TV shows to have their season finales or is some cases, their series finale. There is a chow called Community that originally aired on NBC for a few years before they were canceled by them not because it wasn't a good show but because of lower viewership. But fate stepped in and Community found a new home with Yahoo. And with that new venture came with it a new found invigoration to expand the comedy by using more expressive language in small increments. They ran 13 episodes and if you were a fan of the show, you at least had the chance to catch all 13 episodes in you were lucky and some if you were fortunate. And the best thing about it was that you could watch off of them through the process of binge watching. And as I watched the last show, I didn't know if I was watching the season finale or a series finale?

So as I invoke the spoiler alert for those who may not have watched it but still are planning to watch it, one of the key people is moving on with her life. It becomes the lynch pin for the other characters to absorb especially for Jeff Winger. And as Annie takes that next journey into an undiscovered life, you get that sense of ambivalence, you just start having this sense of longing and foreboding and loss. But why are you feeling this way and why is it that we tend to have a visceral connection to our favorite shows?

Well, we let them in our viewing home for, in some cases, many years. They become an extension as to who we are. We live vicariously through their one dimensional lives. We escape with them through whatever travails they may experience. We cry for them, we're happy for them, we get angry for them, we even talk back to them, we go on an adventure with them.

When David Letterman ended his 33 year run on his Late Show with David Letterman, you had to resign yourself that it was probably time for him to say goodbye. Perhaps what many did not know is that once his last show aired, that was it. There was no reruns of the show anymore. There was no slow tapering off form the David Letterman shtick. What we got was nothing for the withdrawal pains. It was cold turkey. David Letterman owns his show unlike what he had gone through while at NBC. And because he owns his show, we are subjected to reruns of the Mentalist, oh, the horror, the horror. You at least thought you would see Dave through the summer until Stephen Colbert took over the slot but since that didn't happen, we sorely missed David.

This may be a new phenomenon in this age where social media has become the new normal and television shows generates a lot of media hits. When The Wonder Years had its run back in the 80's and 90's, it ended with a a bit of nostalgia and melancholia. If that was your generation, you perhaps related to the coming of age with Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper. As Kevin narrated his life story, it reached a point where becoming an adult would end his childhood landscape. And when that final show aired, Kevin told of his rites of passage where his brother would run the family business after the death of his father. He would say that his mother would have discovered her own calling by becoming a businesswoman and that his sister had become a new mom and that he and Winnie didn't turn out being together anymore. And even though it had to come to an end, it was bittersweet and perhaps a bit real in that happy ever afters are left to fairy tales.

The same can be said about the TV show Cheers. When it ended its 11 year run, it to was bittersweet. Once again, people move on with new chapters to their lives and we are there to make witness to that. And although you wish you could write some of those final scenes, Sam was left at the bar by himself with his last line being, “Sorry, we're closed.” Why couldn't Diane secretly had his love child and be surprised that it was a girl? We want them to be okay, to not wind up no being left alone to their own devices. Sorry, but a bar will not comfort you or hold your hand or place an arm around you when you need it.

But there have been many shows, fine shows that we let in and treat them as family. We tune in each week to get the latest and see where they have progressed in terms of character development. We saw the teenager Buffy The Vampire Slayer become a young woman who watched as her town implode under a hell hole filled with demons. We saw chemistry teacher Walter White turn into a mild-mannered man into a methodical killer whom you sympathized with and champion as well. We watched as Jack Shepherd from Lost stare up to a clear blue sky as he slowly dies and dream of things gone by and where he wished he would be, among his friends and father in a church as that beautiful lofting music played in the background and the dog laid next to Jack wagging his tail with content. And Seinfeld, well, as Julia Louis-Dreyfuss said on her last appearance on Letterman, “... a hugely disappointing series finale”. 

 What was Jerry thinking? A show touted as being about nothing, ended on nothing but a bunch of misanthropes who would take a selfie at a Texas execution and be mad if it wasn't about them.

So, what does this say about us as individuals and as a group? Well, we want a connection and a sense of belonging and purpose. TV shows aren't real but they bridge the real with the surreal from time to time. If we, with purpose, buy the bit and buy the premise, we become the latest of investors of a show, singing its praises and accolades. Derek Shepherd meets his demise of Grey's Anatomy and half the women feel betrayed by these turn of events. How could they do this? Maybe it should have been a dream?

We have become a media savvy generation where we get to stream any content on any platform and at any time. I have watched old episodes of The X-Files in anticipation of the return of the show with new episodes. I watched them online with a sense of longing for the show and questioning why they should have ended it after Season 8 but continued with Season 9. I can't wait to see the new episodes though because I want to see if they will find Scully and Mulder's son, William?

William should be 14 years old by now. They had left that story line open ended. Surely you didn't think their son would be exempt from the darkness did you? So, you see, in my scenario William was given up for adoption to some couple who were mysteriously killed when he was still an infant. He winds up in foster care being passed around from foster parent to foster parent. At some point in his life, he realize that he's different from his peer group. There is a longing in him and he has this pull for him to find out who his parents were. At the same time Scully is having vivid memories of William. She does not pass this information on to Mulder because as much as she has seen, she still does not trust her instincts. William has decided to find his parents and oddly enough, winds up in the Native American tribe of Albert Hosteen. With the tribes guidance, William is set on a new path along with an American wolf that has befriended him. At the same time, young William is being watched by a mysterious figure who does not do anything to intervene. William makes it to the FBI headquarters where he finds Scully's name on the computer file.

Did I mention that the kid is a computer genius? So, Skinner catches him in the act and William tells him who he is because somehow the boy knows who Skinner is. Skinner takes him to the home of Mulder and Scully. Mulder is a successful novelist who write fiction about the cases that he has turned into stories. It has made him very rich in the process. Skinner knocks on their door and Mulder answers it. He is surprised by the visit from Skinner until Skinner reveals that he has brought along an additional visitor. Mulder sees the boy and calls for Scully. Scully comes to the door and sees William and she knows who he is. She calls out his name but William stops her with telekinetic powers. Mulder stops him because there is a connection with Mulder that William seems to understand. After tensions have settled down, Mulder and Scully final get some of the answers that was left open. The wolf comes up to the mysterious figure and shape shifts into a naked woman. He covers her with a coat as the woman says that “They have reunited once again.” He replies, “Good, they will be able to train him for the next crusade.”

So why do I know I care so much about this? Because it's The X-Files and I'm a shipper and a the theory of Trust No 1 is true or maybe I just invested way too much time in watching this show.