Kate and Mark – We're Back looking at The Middle and whether or not ALL kids should receive awards for their participation in sports, etc., or just those that truly do something above and beyond the norm. Take our poll and tell us what you think. We also looked at The Good Wife and Castle television shows. Both are highly recommended.

We started off talking about The Middle – have you tried it yet??  The episode we were discussing was about sports teams and winning awards.  Sue, the daughter, won an MVP award, which the audience and her parents don't find out until the award ceremony  – is for being on time.  Everyone on the team got an award.  Is this a good thing for kids?  While it is nice, I really think it should just be a certificate for participation on a team and that one person overall should win the top award.  The son, Axl, had problems with his dad.  The dad had a pet peeve of hating to find Axl's socks everywhere he looked (even though the rest of the house was a mess).  He ended up punishing him and not letting him play in a final basketball game.  He felt so guilty about this, as parents often do, that he tried to give it back to him in a way that would teach Axl something.  It was a pretty funny episode, but somewhat moralistic and setimental, which I don't like too much.  Just give me the comedy please.

I tried to influence Mark in watching two other shows he hadn't seen, Castle and The Good Wife.  I love both of these shows.  Castle is a normal formula type of dramedy about some NYPD cops and a crime writer.  Someone gets killed and they wrap up finding whodunit in an hour.  There is some nice romantic tension between the two main characters, Castle and Beckett.  I actually like this second one better, The Good Wife.  It is one long story that doesn't get solved, although sometimes a case might.  The main character is a woman lawyer that has to deal with a cheating husband and being on display in front of tv cameras all the time and take care of two teenagers.  There is a lot of intrigue here and I suggest you see it from the beginning if you haven't tried it yet.  It is definitely worth watching.  The acting and writing are both excellent.  There are so many layers here, it would be too hard to explain, but it is a mixture of politics. lawyers, some romance and backstabbing.

We'll try to get to 30 Rock next week and more of the shows that Mark watches also.

 

-Kate

Have a great week and take our new poll:
[merlic_poll id="502"]