8:00 PM Saturday evening came around and I was complaining, again, that there was nothing on television to watch. Most of the channels play old shows on Saturday. That’s when I noticed that there was a new show on NBC called Parenthood. Apparently, it’s been on for a little while and I never noticed.
Keep in mind, I have only watched the one episode. I still don’t have all the character names down or who all the actors are. The two that I recognized immediately were Craig T. Nelson and Lauren Graham. The show is basically about families. You have Craig T. Nelson as the father/grandfather, his grown up children and their families.
What hit close to home with me was the introduction of a child that was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome in that episode. The father was in denial. The mom was struggling with what she could do to help her child. They had dinner with a family that had a teenage boy with Asperger and the couple was totally out over the top with their approach to treatment. They recommended doing everything at once to help their son. I was like, yeah,
I felt the confusion of the parents. I felt the frustration of the young boy that was not understood. The parents pulled some strings and got in to see a behavior specialist. This specialist confirmed that their child did have Asperger Syndrome. The first thing the father wanted to know was how to cure it. I understand this. My first instinct when my son was diagnosed, was to fix the situation. It was a blow to realize that I couldn’t and I could relate to the father when he realized that he couldn’t
They ended the episode with the father accepting his son and entering his world. It was a nice moment to watch. I look forward to watching more episodes and seeing how these characters develop and the storylines progress. It’s nice to see a show with a child on the spectrum.
