The passage of time will forever be such a mystery to me. It’s funny how when you want things to slow down so you can enjoy them, time seems to speed up. Yet when you are going through something terrible or uncomfortable, time moves at a glacial pace, which thrills absolutely no one. (If you know, you know.)
I thought life really sped up when I graduated from school, but then I got married and had kids, and suddenly it feels like everything is moving even faster. I’m at the age with my oldest son where I am learning to loosen my grip a little and allow him to experience some independence. The other day I was at some football games supporting my nephews and friends with their kids. My son asked if he could walk around with one of his friends. Normally, I never let him out of my sight, especially in crowds like that, but this time I said yes.
I have never felt an ache quite like it.
Watching him make friends and move through the world a little more freely on his own was awkward, funny, painful, emotional, and necessary all at the same time. I always thought I would be a much more chill parent than I actually am, but this world has not exactly made raising kids any easier. I am learning. My son is learning. Life is happening. And time truly is such a vapor.
Ironically, after I got home from those games, I finished the season of Rooster with Steve Carell on MAX, started watching Shrinking with Jason Segel and Harrison Ford on Apple TV+, and also jumped back into Welcome to Wrexham on Hulu. I am deep in the middle of trying to catch up on all the shows everyone has been talking about. As I sat thinking about all three of these shows, I realized they each highlight different aspects of parenthood that I deeply connect with right now.
Rooster might be my favorite new show on television. I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I do. Steve Carell plays an awkward writer who ends up taking a job as a professor at the same university where his daughter teaches, mainly to help her keep her position as she navigates the humiliation and heartbreak of her husband cheating on her with one of his students. At its core, the show is really about parenthood, it is about learning when to let go of the reins, when to stop trying to steer your children’s lives, and allowing them the freedom to make their own decisions and mistakes.
Steve Carell somehow still remains Emmy-less, which honestly feels criminal at this point. This might be his best performance in years! He is hilarious, painfully awkward, and quietly heartbreaking all at once. It is weird to say this after saying that, but something about this show is so comforting, anyone else feel that? The supporting cast is fantastic too, filled with wonderfully chaotic personalities played by Danielle Deadwyler, Charly Clive, Phil Dunster, John C. McGinley, and several others. I highly recommend it.
Shrinking completely baffles me because I cannot believe I waited this long to watch it. I’m only on season one, so I cannot speak to the current season yet, but once again we are dealing with another father in the thick of parenting, but from a different point of view. Segel’s character is struggling through grief after losing his wife while trying to repair the relationship with his grieving daughter. At the same time, he is trying to help his patients work through their own pain as a therapist.
I have always believed Jason Segel had the potential to be a really great actor if he ever found the right role, and this is absolutely the role. Much like Carell in Rooster, Segel portrays a father desperately trying to help his daughter navigate her struggles while barely holding himself together emotionally. Harrison Ford is equally fantastic here, and I feel this may be some of the best acting he has done in decades. I cannot wait to catch up with everyone else watching this show. If you have not started it yet, absolutely do so.
Welcome to Wrexham is probably not a show everyone will connect with, but it has genuinely impacted my life in a very real way. Last season’s finale absolutely wrecked me emotionally. Watching these men chase their dreams of becoming successful “soccer” stars while I sat there realizing I had not really pursued my own dreams hit me harder than I expected. That realization is honestly part of what pushed me to start writing here at AD. I remember thinking, “How can I tell my sons to go after their dreams if I have never fully gone after mine?”
That finale might have been some of the best television I had seen in a very long time. Then somehow this current season opened with an even more emotional story involving parents grieving the loss of their son and another man receiving a life-saving transplant because of him. Once again, I found myself sitting there in tears. I love this show so much.
All three of these shows touch on the universal experiences of parenthood. The ups and downs. The grief. The fear. The process of letting go. The challenge of giving children space to grow no matter how old they are.
There have been so many moments in parenthood where I have felt like an island, completely alone in what I was feeling. Thankfully, I have my amazing wife beside me and a village of people supporting us. I honestly do not know how I would get through all of this without them.
After the football game the other day, I told my dad, “My heart hurts a little watching him walk away and seeing him from a distance.” My dad looked at me and said, “You’ve been trying to hold on so hard, Jay. It’s time to loosen the reins a little.” I guess I just never realized how difficult this part of parenting would actually be.
I love that Rooster, Shrinking, Welcome to Wrexham, and so many other great shows shine a light on this stage of life that I currently find myself walking through. In some strange way, they remind me that I am normal. That I am not alone. That there are other people struggling through these same emotions, and there are people who have already gone through them who have little nuggets of wisdom to pass down to parents like me. Somehow, we convince ourselves that our struggles are unique until someone holds up a mirror and reminds us they really are not. I will forever be grateful for television that reminds me of that.
As far as awards go, Rooster and Shrinking deserve all the love possible. Nothing would make me happier than seeing Steve Carell, Jason Segel, or Harrison Ford finally win Emmy Awards. They would all be incredibly worthy winners.
Let me know your thoughts on these shows, and also drop any recommendations for shows I need to jump into next.
As usual, be kind, be respectful, and of course… Let’s Talk Television!
