“Who’s My Baby Daddy!”

As I said in my first blog post, I am currently recovering from surgery.  I’m hating every second of it.  Remember when you were a little kid and you wanted any excuse you had to stay home from school?  Or in college when you wanted anything to avoid taking the bus for twenty minutes to get to work after a long Friday or Saturday?  Maybe that was only me.  Regardless, I hate every one of these wishes I ever had now.  I am about to go insane from having nothing to do.  I will say this again, but as soon as I am done recovering from this surgery I am getting out and doing tons of things.  Tons!

In any case, I’ve had a long time to sit and watch a lot of tv.  I haven’t been watching daytime tv because it is incessantly annoying and the commercials are almost as bad as the shows.  I forget that we have cable.  I got so used to not having cable while growing up that remembering cable is hard sometimes.

In the days of not having cable and not having DVD players, though, there were only a few good shows to watch during the day.  These were The Price Is Right, Million Dollar Pyramid, and Family Feud.  I really like game shows.

But yesterday I was having a conversation with my friend/sorority sister Melissa (she just started law school in Texas) about daytime television.  Well, actually, it started off as a conversation about the commercials during daytime tv.  The ones mentioned in particular were the commercials for associate colleges and law firms.  You know, the ones where injury lawyers have big block letters and smashing fists.  And then all the colleges have catchy theme songs and pressure you to get a degree in criminal justice.  I mean, I always though law school required pursuing a post-graduate degree, but who am I to judge?  Melissa decided that these commercials fill her with joy because she can laugh and feel pride about her bachelor’s degree from an accredited university.  I, on the other hand, feel a half feeling of sadness/annoyance that I am home in the middle of the day to see them.  But as I said, thankfully I’ve been watching DVDs during my surgery recovery.

Annoying commercials aside, there is one other highlight of daytime television…  Maury.  A conversation followed in which I dissected the very pristine purpose of the Maury show: “Who’s My Baby Daddy!”  As a kid, the only time I was home watching daytime television were those aforementioned times I was sick and national holidays.  So on Christmas, New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, etcetera, the very delightful and entertaining episode playing is “Who’s My Baby Daddy!”  As a kid, all I ever really saw of Maury were these episodes.  And I realize that he has other less dramatic and more touching episodes, but there is just something about these episodes that is hilarious and enjoyable.  Whenever the potential/supposed father says the child looks like some kind of weird animal, he’s always the father.  If he ends up not being the father, he does a stupid dance.  There is more swearing in Maury than any other show I can think of, well, except maybe Howard Stern.  You have to wonder what kind of people think being on the Maury show is a good idea.  This is really what I’ve always wondered.  How does going on national television and subjecting yourself to the fifty/fifty chance of a paternity test ever sound like a good idea?

If nothing else, Maury helped spawn the episode of South Park where Butters and Cartman appear on the show.   “Whateva!  I do what I want!”