July 14, 2016

                                               What Happened to Happy Endings?

I love happy endings. Which is why I want Olivia to forget about Fitz and run off with Jake to live on the beach. Which is why I wanted Cookie to fall madly in love with the security guy in season one and run off to Las Vegas. Which is why I want Jerrod to marry Maxine and give Loretta Divine and David Alan Grier chubby adorable grandkids.

Somehow, modern television has misplaced the happy ending! The plots are somber and dark and no one rides off into the sunset anymore to live happily ever after. (That is, unless they’re under contract with the Hallmark channel.) Therefore, it was against my better judgment that I recently watched every available episode of Greenleaf with my mom and my sister. Even though my sister had been proclaiming the virtues of the show all afternoon, I was more interested in the bonding time between the three of us than the television show we would watch.

Actually, I had watched part of the first episode of Greenleaf when it first aired. But I had abandoned it about halfway through. The former preacher protagonist was sitting at the dinner table with her Christian, and obviously dysfunctional family (whose family isn’t?). When asked what she believed she explained she believed “everything is trying.” Not one of the Christians disputed it.

“Whoa,” I thought to myself. “This is too deep for me. Not entertainment!” I turned the episode off before I even saw Oprah’s character.

At the time, I relegated Greenleaf to the round file of my mind where I place reality shows and other such things. I abhor reality shows. Where is the alter-reality universe located that these people live in? I admit I had developed a slight penchant for the Mary Mary series. Then, one of the Mary’s husbands had to go and have an affair.  My heart was broken. Not happy. Click, stopped watching.

 I was intrigued by the Braxton’s mom. She was being romanced and was engaged to a dapper gentleman. I was rooting for the couple. Secretly, I wished for a spin-off romantic series focused on 60 somethings – complete with jars of false teeth on the bedside table and packages of Depends under the sink in the bathroom. It didn’t happen. Click, stopped watching!

I tuned in to It’s a Mann’s World from time to time. The family seemed to love and support each other. But, I’ve been told the show has been cancelled. Dag, even that’s a sad ending! And Trés and Vanessa on Married at First Sight were a huge disappointment when it was revealed that six months later they had split. Bummer!

Getting back to Greenleaf. My mom, my sister and I watched all five episodes that were available on-demand. It was interesting. However, I found watching someone sitting on a toilet taking a pregnancy test kind of yucky. Especially when she put her hands on her obviously “sexually challenged” husband’s face before washing or drying them. Now that’s definitely a sad (and smelly) story in the making. 

Actually, I can’t see a happy ending on the horizon for anyone on Greenleaf. Okay, maybe Gigi and Noah. They may be able to re-kindle whatever they had in the past. Might be interesting. I guess I’ll have to tune in to the next episode to find out!