Mom’s Show

As kids growing up we knew better than to disturb Mom when she was in the middle of one of her shows. Daytime TV was made up of soap operas and everyone had their favorite. General Hospital, All My Children, As the World Turns. I can still recall the opening jingle for The Guiding Light. As a kid, I thought all the stories seemed the same as far as melodrama. Someone was having an affair, someone was getting divorced, some young person was finding out their father/mother wasn’t who they thought. A character was usually being rushed to the hospital.

My favorite was Dark Shadows and later All My Children, which came on after I got home from school.

The point being: there was no Internet, no streaming, no binge-watching, you had to catch them at a certain time or you missed an important plot point. You might never learn WHY Janie needed an operation or WHY Margo was acting so cool to Don lately. Someone could need an appendectomy in one episode and by the next have bounced back. Sometimes even the scripts couldn’t keep up and there were glaring continuity errors. No matter—it would be explained away in the next episode. We never expected things to make sense or be logical—thus, the multitude of flashbacks.

I was reminded of Mom’s shows watching my daughter walk around with headphones. You see, she’s subscribed to a couple of podcasts.

I’m struck by the number of successful podcasts and how easy it is to become addicted to them. At any random moment in my extended family we can reference in conversation a podcast we’re listening to. “Well I heard . . .”

This a.m. I tried to have a conversation with my daughter and she kept having to pull the headphones away from her ears. She listens while getting ready in the morning. I’d repeat myself, but then gave up. Sometimes I get podcast recommendations and listen, thinking this is great, only to grow indifferent to it after a few days. Thus, I’m always looking for the next great podcast. We’re all a little in need these days of distraction.