I Inherited My Squee. It's Genetic!
So, the other night my dad called to ask me if I watch Castle. This is not a new thing for him. One time he spent five minutes telling me everything that happened in an episode of Castle he had just watched. He really likes that show. A friend of his from the hospital turned him onto it and he’s been catching the reruns on TNT. I told him what I always tell him about Castle, that I watched the first season and occasionally catch reruns but it’s not one of my regular shows. “Well”, he says, “do you know who the guy is who plays the writer dude?” See, my dad is a huge Firefly fan. When he first discovered it, it was all we talked about for weeks. It didn’t surprise me - growing up I remember my dad’s two favorite things as Star Trek and John Wayne westerns, so Firefly is right up his alley. Anyways, he’d suddenly realized Castle is Mal and was sure that my sister and I needed to know this information immediately. It was actually kind of adorable and sweet. And it’s always fun when he finds a new thing to fanboy over, even though he doesn’t know what a ‘fanboy’ is and would probably balk if he thought someone was putting the ‘geek’ label on him.
Normally, when I think about where I get my fannish tendencies, I always think of my mom. She legit serious fangirls over Gilmore Girls, The Unusuals, Northern Exposure, Magnum PI, Quantum Leap, etc. She also gets fixated on one particular actor in a heavy way - she revisited her Ricky Nelson love when I was about ten. I have seen Rio Bravo so many fucking times because of that - a John Wayne western costarring Ricky Nelson who sings a song with Dean Martin during the movie - my parents weren’t letting that one slip by. But anyways, then I think of my dad’s mom and remember that at least some of these tendencies I get from her - (you should hear the pervy things she used to say about George Clooney). In her younger days, she was all about Frank Sinatra. So my dad’s side of the family certainly has some of those things going on as well, it’s just not something that was ever encouraged growing up in the hicks on a farm.
But my dad was big into Star Trek: TNG and no one was allowed to talk while he was watching an episode. Also, he was the one who got us into The A-Team and I think he came there through Battlestar Galactica. My dad certainly wasn’t crushing on Dirk Benedict, but I think when The A-Team premiered it was a, “Look it’s Starbuck, let’s watch this!” moment. Granted, he was never as big of an A-Team fan as me, but it was appointment TV for him. He was also into Buck Rogers, Star Wars and Quantum Leap…that was both my parents. We’d all sit down to watch Quantum Leap, along with any friends or family that wanted to join us. New QL episodes were a big deal around our house. He also fanboys over monster movies, Mel Brooks movies and he went through big Marx Brothers and Smother Brothers phase.
My parents don’t engage in what I typically think of as fan hobbies, but their fannish traits are hard to ignore, especially when my dad is reciting an entire Castle episode to me that veers off into random Firefly quotes, and my mom has to pause the DVD and call me every time Adam Goldberg does something hysterical in The Unusuals (which is all the time, cuz he’s really fucking funny). I was just thinking about it after that phone call with my dad and it’s nice once in awhile, to forget all the other bullshit with them and enjoy the things we have in common. I got some bad traits from them, I’m sure, but the fangirl thing I totally own and celebrate!
Normally, when I think about where I get my fannish tendencies, I always think of my mom. She legit serious fangirls over Gilmore Girls, The Unusuals, Northern Exposure, Magnum PI, Quantum Leap, etc. She also gets fixated on one particular actor in a heavy way - she revisited her Ricky Nelson love when I was about ten. I have seen Rio Bravo so many fucking times because of that - a John Wayne western costarring Ricky Nelson who sings a song with Dean Martin during the movie - my parents weren’t letting that one slip by. But anyways, then I think of my dad’s mom and remember that at least some of these tendencies I get from her - (you should hear the pervy things she used to say about George Clooney). In her younger days, she was all about Frank Sinatra. So my dad’s side of the family certainly has some of those things going on as well, it’s just not something that was ever encouraged growing up in the hicks on a farm.
But my dad was big into Star Trek: TNG and no one was allowed to talk while he was watching an episode. Also, he was the one who got us into The A-Team and I think he came there through Battlestar Galactica. My dad certainly wasn’t crushing on Dirk Benedict, but I think when The A-Team premiered it was a, “Look it’s Starbuck, let’s watch this!” moment. Granted, he was never as big of an A-Team fan as me, but it was appointment TV for him. He was also into Buck Rogers, Star Wars and Quantum Leap…that was both my parents. We’d all sit down to watch Quantum Leap, along with any friends or family that wanted to join us. New QL episodes were a big deal around our house. He also fanboys over monster movies, Mel Brooks movies and he went through big Marx Brothers and Smother Brothers phase.
My parents don’t engage in what I typically think of as fan hobbies, but their fannish traits are hard to ignore, especially when my dad is reciting an entire Castle episode to me that veers off into random Firefly quotes, and my mom has to pause the DVD and call me every time Adam Goldberg does something hysterical in The Unusuals (which is all the time, cuz he’s really fucking funny). I was just thinking about it after that phone call with my dad and it’s nice once in awhile, to forget all the other bullshit with them and enjoy the things we have in common. I got some bad traits from them, I’m sure, but the fangirl thing I totally own and celebrate!