Parenthood

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So, how many people here watch Parenthood? I hereby move that we should have a discussion thread for it, because I love discussing what happens in each episode. I think Max puts in a great performance as the Aspie kid , and I love all the characters. I have seen the 1st episode of the season but not the 2nd yet. It looks like Haddie and Alex are going to have some problems! I also can't wait to see if Julia asks the coffee shop person to adopt her baby. Who is your favorite character?

Max reminds me of me because of the anxiety. Plus he is argumentative. I don't think he means to be. I can't really tell he has it but I know he does because they said he did. But I have only seen some of the episodes with him in it so I am judging by what I have seen so far.

I don't really have a favorite.

Yeah, I can really relate to his anxiety too. It is very realistic,so realistic. I can see myself in him totally. I love that they are showing AS on TV. They do a good job on balancing which characters to focus on each week, too. He wasn't in the first ep much but hopefully more soon. The bug guy episode was pretty good. I wonder how he will react to having a baby sibling?

I think he is argumentative because he is so literal minded. He needs things to be just so, and fit into his schema. Also he worries a lot and needs to express those worries. I really like how nice Alex was to him during his outburst in the last episode. I can kind of imagine myself saying something like that at his age (the whole no tact thing.) Like, I remember arguing for some gay marriage bill in early high school with my brother and having no idea that it just might not be, well, the kind of thing he wanted to be seen discussing in public with his sister. lol. Not there's anything wrong with gay rights, and he was for them, but there's the whole coolness factor to being 13....

At the risk of sounding repetitive.... I just watched the 2nd episode.

It is the best 45 minutes of TV I have ever seen.

The Asperger's storyline moved me to tears.

It was the most amazing coverage of AS on TV I have seen yet.

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Every storyline was so vivid, so well played out, and so emotional. I got caught up in everyone's stories.

But Max. Oh, Max. When they showed him trying to make friends .... I can't even describe... ptsd here because it brings up so many painful memories of me in the exact same situation.
That scene had so much realism, you just can't even imagine. Then, later on, when they showed him sitting on a table at reccess, reading a book while everyone else played boisterously around him, and he just tuned them out? My entire elementary school experience, condensed in one scene. More flip flops of my heart. I spent every reccess reading a book on the cold, hard concrete by the door in elementary school. That scene could NOT have been any more real.
Fortunately these were only like 30 second scenes so I didn't have time to get too depressed.

But, at the very end,when they show him sitting alone again.And his younger cousin Jabar comes up to him with two or three of his friends,and sit with him. They start peppering him with questions - questions about things he might actually know about. He looks at them for a second, silent. Not saying anything. You're worried for a second he might mess this up, might not respond to them at all. But them he says "Hi, I'm Max Braverman," just as he was taught. And this time, they respond well. And then Max launches into a dialogue about the video game they were asking him about - finally at ease, communicating in his own way.

And then the clencher. Jabar,the younger cousin, says to his friends, "See, I told you, he knows everything! He's like a genius!"

And then my heart swelled up inside of me, and tears came to my eyes. If only. If only everyone with Asperger's could be surrounded by people who sees what they CAN do, and not what they can't. If only they could be surrounded by people who aren't put off by their awkward social skills, but like them for who they are.

I eventually found those people,but it took me a hell of a lot longer than Max, at age 8 or 9 - it took me until the latter half of high school.

And I just think, put together, those were the most moving scenes I have ever seen on TV.
In those three scenes, which probably weren't more than say 4 minutes altogether, they perfectly encapsulated first what Asperger's is, and second, how to interact with someone who has it. What more could you ask for?

Watch the show here
http://www.hulu.com/watch/280290/parent ... s-p1-so-i0

Anyone else see it?

i've seen all the eps. this show is EPIC!! NBC will get a fail if they ever cancel this one.

right now, I've been starting over from season one to watch with Mom...cuz i told her about MAX... being ME on the show...and she agrees now.

I agree Christina! So did you see the 2nd episode on Tues?

I interviewed the cast of that show. We'll be posting the episode soon.

I like the show now, but I can't help but my eyes at the overly concerned mother. She is obsessing over whether or not her baby is a girl or boy. It really doesn't matter. Girls are just more difficult to detect. A socially awkward boy who likes to read and not play sports is more obvious in mainstream culture (especially at that age). But girls' hobbies tend to be more low-key so it's not diagnosed as often. Why do they care so much? If Max seems content in his ways, why is it a problem? I feel like her attitude may actually make him more self-conscious. Maybe I just don't know what it's like to be on the parent side of things, but AS shouldn't be thought of as an epidemic... which it seems it is to these parents. So what, if it were a boy, she'd cry? I think it's rude to treat Max as if his personality is such a problem. That's just my opinion!

I'm having a baby in about 5 months, and Asperger's is likely especially since I possibly have it and my partner's father has a lot of characteristics. That possibility is definitely not at the top of my list of concerns. I actually would be excited if my child had an interest that he/she took to in an academic fashion. My sister is expecting too, and she's convinced (and worried) that because it's due on my birthday month (Feb), it's going to be a "difficult" child. Sigh, neurotypicals.

To the person with the blog, I read your blog. It was good =)

To Alex, YAY! You interviewed the cast of Parenthood! I am so happy. I will look forward to seeing that.

To the person re the book club - yeah! Except they tried that when I was a kid, putting me and one or other 2 kids in a book club. It disbanded after I read the book in 2 days and they hadn't in a month. lol

Thanks for your responses =)

Madoa, I used to go to the library during reccess and sometimes during lunch during elementary school. We had a nice librarian who used to hang out with me =)
I wasn't nearly as bothered about that during elem. school as HS. But HS I was mostly used to it, I guess. Had my Walkman on.