Stressful Shows

Only in the past few years have I experienced stress - knowingly, at least - while watching a television series. There's different types, of course. You could be stressed out because of the awkwardness of what you're watching. Shows falling under that category could be Curb Your Enthusiasm, Peep Show and perhaps It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The awkwardness of shows like The Office could be considered (as you watch Scott fumble around), but are pretty light in comparison to the others. In these shows, the characters are getting into trouble, or acting in such a horrible way you cringe, or in some cases, walk out of the room and wait for it to be over. True story. Peep Show is notorious for doing this to me. I can't comprehend how they keep digging themselves deeper into their own graves, but they do, and it's horrible. Yet great at the same time.

The other type of stress - for me, at least - revolves around legal and financial issues, it seems. I first experienced this when trying to get into Weeds. Hey, everyone was telling me what a great show it was (and still is, maybe?) so I gave it a shot. The mechanics of the show dictate that you worry about the protagonist constantly. She's dealing drugs, and is always looking over her shoulder. But the legalities are not what's stressing me out, it's the constant financial problems she's having. I have enough money problems on my own, especially when I first started watching the show years ago, and didn't need to come home and live through her problems too. It seemed like every episode was just her and her family struggling. I could see it branching out a bit, but I was losing interest quickly. Suffice to say I don't watch the show now, but I'm not entirely against trying it again.

One issue with my Weeds hate is that I love Breaking Bad; they're very similar shows and the only conclusion that I can come to (aside that Breaking Bad really is infinitely better) is that Walt and Jesse just don't have money problems. They're making meth, and raking in huge cash. I think Walt has millions of dollars at one point, but it doesn't matter, because it's not the focus of the show. It's partially why he gets into it the trade: to build up a little nest egg for his family when he passes on. They have so many larger, more interesting problems to tackle the financial thing rarely pops up. Of course, there is a bit of stress involved while watching as you wonder who is going to get "taken care of" but it's really just par for the course. I find when you start worrying like that, you have to let go and just trust in the writers. This is notably true when you love the show and in general, the show is loved by everybody (i.e. the show is a raging success).

The reason I bring this up is Game of Thrones. What a phenomenal show. But I visited my parents house the other night and they had a few weeks worth of Entertainment Weekly. I flipped one open and in the news section is a half page image of the show, detailing the ninth episode. In the screen shot is a SPOILER ALERT bubble over somebody's face, as they are about to be executed. Of course, other - related - characters are in the shot and it's quite clear what is going on. They tried the spoiler alert, and even warned me not to read the article, but it's too late. So I was a bit sad, of course, but I got over it because I have trust in the source material and writers/producers of the show. They know what's going on. Plus all my friends say it's fantastic, so it's no problem. But Game of Thrones is another type of "stress" wherein you worry about the well being of the characters you love. It's clear who the good guys are, and the bad guys (so far) and knowing that anybody can just get the ax (literally) at any moment is kind of worrying. Earlier on in the season there was an attempted assassination on a child; you never thought it would really happen but now I'm not so certain. It's stressful, but intriguing and awesome at the same time.