Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Parenthood

One of my all-time favorite movies is Parenthood, with Steve Martin. When I heard that there was a new TV series based on the movie, I figured I'd tune in.

I have to admit that the pilot left me feeling a little ambivalent. I mean, yes, there was the whole special needs child thing -- if you haven't seen the show, it's revealed in the pilot that one of the kids might have Asperger's Syndrome -- but it kinda seemed like they were glossing over it. The family patriarch, played by Craig T. Nelson, who will always be Coach to me, wants certain things for his family, his kids and grandkids. And so when the boy's father tells him, "Something's wrong with my kid!" and Craig does a total about-face and becomes Mr. Supporting Grandfather, well, that didn't quite work for me.

But I kept watching, and I gotta tell you, I'm glad I did. I like that show more and more with each episode. As word of the AS diagnosis gets out, people keep telling the family how sorry they are to hear about "the situation," and OF COURSE they all do the head tilt, and if you have a kid with special needs, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, and it made me laugh. And there was this one scene where someone says to the kid's father, "We heard about "the situation." If you need any help with meals or rides to school or..." And the father says, "Thanks. We can still feed and clothe ourselves." That was awesome.

In the next episode, a behavioral therapist comes to work with the kid, and there were so many identifiable moments there... the realization dawning on the mom that her kid has no friends, saying those words aloud, the mom feeling like a failure when she sees the therapist succeed at getting her son to do things, her comment that "No one gets it!" Yeah.

I like this show. I like the other plotlines, too, but this one, of course, really resonates with me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it is a great show, i agree

Alexandra said...

I'll have to watch it. I do get sick of the pitying faces when they ask how my son is.

I want to say, "fine. Just like yours is."