My 85+ year old dad, who has been staying with me while his apartment gets asbestos remediation, watches a lot of TV. In the nearly three months he’s been here (insurance has been dragging their feet, don’t ask) he’s probably watched more TV and movies than I have in the prior five years I’ve lived here alone.
His tastes tend to run to action thrillers, spies and snipers and bounty hunters and cops and firefighters, although sometimes he branches out to simple comedies or family drama. He absolutely does not like sci-fi, fantasy, or superheroes, though, despite them being action-y spectacles. He’ll watch them if I put one on, but it’s not his favorite.
Because our tastes don’t always align, I don’t often make recommendations for him. Probably my biggest win in that area was putting him on to Hacks, on HBO Max, with Jean Smart. He loved it and is now recommending it to other people, too. If you like old cranky people and young smart-asses, you’ll love it, too. And that’s the biggest reason I thought my dad would love it, which he did.
Tonight, I went downstairs and he was doing the scroll-to-find-something-new and he had stopped on a comedy.
“Are you looking for a comedy to watch, dad?”
“Yeah, I thought I was in the mood for something funny.”
He was on Hulu. I laughed. “What do you think about… vampires?”
“Oh, I don’t like those horror things, blood and guts don’t do anything for me.”
I laughed again, leaned in close, put my hand on his shoulder. “What do you think about… funny vampires?”
He arched his eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Funny, sexy vampires, in fact.” I motioned for the remote, and scrolled through to the search, typed in “what we do…” and clicked the top result. “Oh, and it’s kinda-sorta British humor. Well, New Zealand, which is close.”
“What We Do In The Shadows?” dad asked.
“Yes. Just give it one episode. Watch the pilot, and if it’s not your cup of tea, you can go looking for something else, no strings attached.” I hit Play. “One episode, that’s all I ask.” I watched as Guillermo introduced himself to the camera and chuckled, then went back upstairs.
It is very much not like what dad normally watches. It’s weird. But it’s raunchy, and funny, and it’s one of the most amazing TV shows out there. It’s a Top 10 show for me, clearly.
Upstairs I texted my sister to give her the update. She loves this show, too. Her immediate response: “Keep me in this loop please!”
Just about a half hour later, i went back downstairs. On screen, Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja were floating in the air outside a window, where inside some cosplayers were arguing. Guillermo said something, and Nandor hissed at him. “Please, Guillermo, you’ll frighten the virgins!”
Dad chuckled.
“Well you made it to episode two!” I said.
“Yeah, it’s OK,” dad said.
He was hooked. Nothing could have made me happier.