Where the hell have I been? I guess enjoying the summer, because as I was settled down last night watching my Red Sox and their American League cohorts beat up on the National League, I saw an ad for what might be (at least from my perspective) the worst show ever - "Meet Mister Mom" on NBC. Then I look it up on the Internet, and I find Dad bloggers already talking about it, so I'm sorry I'm late to the party. Zero Boss Jay wrote about it in Blogging Baby (which is the first result if you search "Meet Mister Mom" in Google I'm happy to say) and he pointed me to Rebel Dad, who wrote some pretty succinct reasons why it's a bad idea. I can't link to his article directly, so I'm just going to re-"print" them here:
I Could Write All Day about what a dumb idea Meet Mr. Mom is, but let me try to break down the dangerous/wrong assumptions that that show seems to make (in 100 words or less):
- It assumes that raising kids is a terrible job. But most of the working dads I know would see a week alone with their children as a good (if exhausting) opportunity.
- It assumes that men suck at caregiving. Because if dads are just as good as moms, where's the humor.
- It assumes that parenting can be judged.
- It assumes that mothers enjoy seeing their husbands flounder with the kids.
- It assumes Americans will watch super stereotypical dreck. (Actually, this is probably the only correct assumption. What was it that Mencken said about the intelligence of the American people ...)
Rebel Dad. Friday June 17, 2005.
For me I think it's going to suck the most because for the time the show is on, when I tell people I'm a stay-at-home-dad I'm going to have to hear - "Just like that show huh?" or "What do you think of that show?" or "I saw that Mister Mom show last night and it was hilarious. Is that what your life's like?". All I can hope for is that it's a colossal flop. Either way I'm going to have to watch at least the first episode so I can bash it. Goddamn it.