Put Your Marriage in Jeopardy!

It’s polar vortex season which means it’s a nice time or year to stay inside. The idea of a few days bundled up indoors used to be daunting or carry the risk of boredom, but thanks to streaming video I now have access to just about every movie or TV show that’s ever been made. The hours can go by surprisingly quickly.  Shows these days are so engrossing it’s easy to zone out.  My wife and I turned on Netflix’s RUSSIAN DOLL and I think the only thing we said to each other during the entire four-hour run of the first season was when I turned to her after episode one and said, “So we’re staying up late to finish this?” and she replied, “Duh.”    We’ve watched a lot lately.  RUSSIAN DOLL (Netflix, A+++), FOREVER (Amazon, C), I’M SORRY (TruTV/ Netflix, B+) THE GODFATHER (HBO, fell asleep), OCEAN’S EIGHT (HBO, fell asleep), 20^TH CENTURY WOMEN (Amazon, A++++). It’s easy to snuggle, mesmerized, engrossed, sitting in silence and slowly drifting apart. 

            Enter JEOPARDY!, the phrase your answer in the form of a question quiz show which dates back to the sixties but debuted in its current form, with its current host, in 1984. When I first saw it was available on streaming, I scoffed. What kind of nerd is gonna watch reruns of Jeopardy when there’s a new TRUE DETECTIVE?  Then I came home one day and saw my wife watching it.  So, I sat and watched with her.  It wasn’t long before we were blurting out answers.  The questions were fun.  We learned things and tt was nice to have my memory of things affirmed without looking them up on my phone. In fact, I realized, I was almost never looking at my phone.  We had a blast making fun of contestants and dunking on Alex Trebek for being a douche.  Suddenly we weren’t just staring at a screen, engaging with a constructed reality telling a fictional story which took weeks to produce, we were actually interacting with each other.  We were laughing hysterically, the kind of deep in your gut, can’t breathe laughs you don’t get from entertainment, no matter how high of a grade it gets. It was like game night without the hassle of scheduling and hosting an event. If you’ve fallen into the wintertime rut of silently sitting next to your loved ones while you all stare at a screen, maybe it’s time to put your marriage in JEOPARDY!