A different type of marathon

Society6

Have you ever crossed the boundary between fiction and reality?  Been so wrapped up in something ‘not real’ that it becomes real to you and you treat it as such?

My marathons have done just that.  Not the type of marathons that you’re thinking of.  Health and training have nothing to do with it, but endurance does.  I’m talking about TV show marathons, particularly on Saturdays and Sundays.  One episode turns into three turns into oh-my-god I’ve spent all afternoon / evening glued to one spot on the couch.  I will be the first to admit, rather guiltily, that I’ve spent more than one Sunday afternoon this way.

I would say after the third or fourth episode, characters and situations start to become a faux reality.  If it’s cold there, it’s cold here.  If a character is evil / handsome / funny, you start to wonder how you would like to become real life enemies / lovers / friends of those actors and actresses.  You feel like you know them.  Like really know them.  And then you get upset when you read said actor's interviews and he / she speaks about the character in the third person.

“No”, you say, “you ARE that person.  Why are you talking about them like they’re another person?”

Such is the reality of my life.  Any good naughty marathons that you're getting yourself wrapped up in lately?


Comments

  1. I love getting into a TV show so much that I can't stop watching it. We love watching entire seasons in one go. Lately, I've been obsessed with Homeland and House of Cards. SO GOOD. Can't wait for my next dose!

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  2. I can't help laughing while reading this. I'm one of those who get too absorbed feeling every emotion the character is feeling while watching something. When we moved to another emirate many years ago, we spent all weekends from morning till night under the quilt completing the entire series during the popularity of Prison Break, OTH, Lost and all other series during that period. We stopped watching TV entirely when we moved again, though we catch a glimpse of Greys Anatomy, Amazing Race and Survivor from time to time.

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  3. ha, I'm really bad when it comes to TV shows. I can easily spend a whole day and a whole night doing nothing else.... :)

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  4. OMG, me too! Thanks to Netflix streaming, I'm a huge marathon watcher. I get really upset when a show ends, especially if it doesn't end the way I want it to. Case in point: Ally McBeal. Great show, horrible last season. I actually went out of my way to read fan fiction to see how other people would have ended the show and I found that I preferred it their way. Also, Freaks and Geeks kind of ended out of nowhere, which I'm stilll upset by. I could probably go on, but I don't want to hijack your comments so...

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  5. Game of Thrones. It's a serious problem. I went through the first two seasons in one week. But it was so so good!

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  6. I have this dilemma when I come out of the movie theatre. I always feel like I'm in the movie. Good times . . .

    You know, I was chatting with this lady who was temporarily living with her son. When he catches her watching TV he says, "Why are you sitting there, watching TV? You should be exercising!" GASP! Oh no you didn't! I'd be like, "No only am I going to sit here, watching my show, I'm going to eat a donut while I do so!"

    Some people do not understand the finer things. Obviously.

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  7. It doesn't happen to me as much with TV shows. That problem occurs with books for me:P I tend to get so wrapped up in them that the characters become real sometimes...eeep!

    PS I did just start watching Walking Dead on Netflix...this marathon problem might start with me soon....

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  8. I try so hard to do this but it generally turns into watch 40 minutes...sleep...watch the rest of the show...sleep...repeat. TV and movies make me so sleepy so I guess my marathons are more of a napping marathon which is also nice. I don't really get as wrapped up in the characters this way as you do though. I hope you have a super fun marathon weekend!

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  9. Most of my marathons were with a niece--I'd be embarrassed to admit what shows we watched. :) But I've also spent time watching old shows and semi-old shows--like Arrested Development.

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  10. :) I love losing myself this way - this post is great, it really brought a smile to my face.

    You've actually reminded me that I need to get back into some fiction. I've been reading so much personal development and spirituality recently and although it's good stuff, I don't get that 'other world' feeling. I need to tuck into a good tale!

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  11. My roommate and I have the habit of staying up late on the weeknights watching Real Housewives! Add a glass of wine, some dinner prepared by Whole Foods, and comfy pajamas ... total marathon nights on our apartment! We usually end the night yelling at the characters and thinking, are people really like that?

    I also have the terrible habit of reading gossip magazines. :(

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  12. Law and Order. Always and forever. Though my dad and I were big into marathoning through British tv shows, too. I'm always up for a Red Dwarf marathon :)

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  13. I hear ya, about getting caught up in tv marathons! I used to do that with SVU. Now, it's Friends around 11pm, which is bad because I'm trying to be in bed by 11!

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  14. I 'run' these kinds of marathons all the time too. The worst has got to be getting sucked in to the reality tv ones.

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  15. I had a Once Upon A Time marathon yesterday after we got back home from Texas. I almost started to believe I could go visit that town in Maine after a while...

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