Parenthood

[Civet]

Yet another show with an Asperger's character on it. The show itself is, in my opinion, sappy, overdramatized, and stereotypical. Surprisingly, though, the depiction of AS was pretty good, I think (even if the parental reaction to diagnosis may have been kind of overblown). Someone who works on the show (I do not know if they are a creator, writer, or what) has a child with Asperger's so I guess that may be the reason for the authenticity.

I believe the show is fairly new, I've watched the first three episodes on Hulu. The second one is the one that puts the most focus on the Asperger's storyline though it is addressed in all of the episodes I've watched thus far.

[goddessoflubbock]

Someone from Twitter asked what I thought of the show, so I watched the most recent two episodes.

Like you, I think much of the show is sappy and overblown. I also tend to have a hard time keeping track of too many characters making this show a nightmare... I thought the blonde lady who was a swimmer was divorced from the kid's dad LOL

I do think they did a decent job with Max. The whole fishtank thing was very reminiscent of issues DS had.

I thought spending every last dime to get him in to this special school which was made out to be a panacea was a bit much.

A kid like Max would be better served, IMHO, in a regular mainstream setting with a solid IEP.

He's a very rules oriented kid - I just hope they don't bog him down with every possible symptom/behavior as other shows have done.

I believe the writer's son has AS.

I don't think I'll watch again tho, it's far too confusing for me.

[Civet]

I'm not great with faces so I also tend to get confused with shows with a lot of characters, too, haha. I just put this on "in the background" while I was doing some work yesterday as a friend had mentioned it to me as a new show I could check out. So honestly I didn't pay that much attention to the other story lines as I found them to be kind of boring .

I agree on the special school part. Honestly Max hardly seemed to be having problems at all to me other than some sensory problems and his anger outbursts that obviously caused significant issue. I think he probably would benefit better from learning how to deal with those situations (with perhaps some accommodations made), though, than completely avoiding them, as he seems to function perfectly well otherwise.

I think they did a decent job with Max's character, especially considering all the other overblown and exaggerated characters on the show , and I get the impression that they are not going to bog him down with every symptom under the sun because it seemed to me more like they handled AS as part of his personality rather than the dominating factor. One scene that did give me some worry, though, was when he was at the school and he doesn't say "hi" and is totally oblivious to the kid who came up to him and said "hello." I feel like that was a forced moment of "revelation" for the father, because it seemed from his behavior in all the other scenes that he would have at least acknowledged the other child even if he didn't say anything to them.

[Kaylis-Americanis]

I also started watching because I heard of a character with AS and I like to check out a show or movie just to see how they did portraying AS. I think they did an okay job, but of course it would be hard for a young actor to play a deep role like that. Some parts are so right on they made me laugh out loud (at the risk of sounding like a movie critic) and other parts (like the classmate greeting mentioned above) are kind of awkwardly fit in but I get that they are trying to show different aspects. The fishtank thing also was a bit forced, since they didn't explain what happened to make it become destrpyed (did it make him angry? was it just distracting? did he want to reach inside it and knock it over?) I also like how the sister is a more important part than just devoting herself to taking care of him, and having her own opinions on how to deal with this situation.

As to being rule oriented, I loved the part where the dad ate straight form the PB jar and Max asked if that means he can. That's probably how I would have reacted myself.

The other storylines are one of the main reasons I like the show, because they are a big family who all have different realtionships and seem nice I wouldn't say its THE BEST SHOW EVER, but I watch it weekly, which means something since I only am concerned about watching about 4 shows faithfully.

I would recommend watching an episode or two, if not just to see how the portrayal of AS is evolving in the media. I say that because it is a huge improvement over the aspie cardio-surgeon that appeared for a few opisodes in Grey's Anantomy. (Digression: If they want an AS diagnosis for anyone in that show, it should be Christina, she's so AS sometimes its hilarious that they got a new character specifically to be AS).

[Kaylis-Americanis]

Speaking of autism in the media, I just watched Whats Eating Gilbert Grape for the first time, on hulu.com (I watched it because I never really knew what it was about and then saw that it had an autistic character, coincidentally after writing on this thread. Very very good movie, and the best portrayal of autism I've ever seen in a movie.

[Sophist]

I agree, Leonardo Dicaprio's portrayal of Arnie was incredible, and especially for being so young an actor at the time. Although iirc, Arnie wasn't written to be autistic but just some nondescript developmental condition, some kind of mental retardation. I think Dicaprio played him up more autistic though.

[goddessoflubbock]

Aside from Dr. Reid on Criminal Minds, my favorite "AS" character on TV is Temperance Brennan, a/k/a Bones. I say "AS" in quotes bc it is not ever mentioned, but this season she had Dr. Sweets helping her understand how other people think, why people work off emotion, etc.

[Civet]

Yeah I actually read an article some time ago where they stated that Dr. Brennan was "on the borderline for Asperger's" or something along those lines. I've always liked her character, too, probably *because* they don't actually bog her down with any particular label on the show. I almost wished Sweets would mention AS when he was going over emotions with her, but then I wouldn't want the show to become about that, either.

Her old assistant, Zack Addey, also likely had Asperger's, though sadly they wrote him off the show.

There is also a Rainman joke in one of the episodes, Booth is driving the rental car, and Brennan keeps insisting she should drive because it's a nice car and she wants a chance to drive it. She says several times "I'm an excellent driver." And finally Booth says to her "Ok, Rainman!" Of course Brennan replies with her usual phrase "I don't know what that means"

[goddessoflubbock]

Yes, I saw the rental car episode, thought that was cute!

I miss Zach too, he was great in that character, I was sorry they made him the bad guy :/

Bones actually almost makes Booth look like a "typical NT" if there is such a thing - more than he shows her sort of aspie-ness.

We were watching a show tonight (we being DS and I) about people who basically hoard lizards and dangerous snakes. An expert from a zoo came on and said that he loves the species, that he is normally shy and reserved but when talking about the reptiles he's gregarious and could go on all day.

DS said "that, my friend, is called Asperger's". I burst out laughing as did DS

[Sophist]

[Kaylis-Americanis]

Yes, I saw the rental car episode, thought that was cute!

I miss Zach too, he was great in that character, I was sorry they made him the bad guy :/

Bones actually almost makes Booth look like a "typical NT" if there is such a thing - more than he shows her sort of aspie-ness.

We were watching a show tonight (we being DS and I) about people who basically hoard lizards and dangerous snakes. An expert from a zoo came on and said that he loves the species, that he is normally shy and reserved but when talking about the reptiles he's gregarious and could go on all day.

DS said "that, my friend, is called Asperger's". I burst out laughing as did DS

I saw that same show, and thought that same thing!

[Civet]

Yes, I saw the rental car episode, thought that was cute!

I miss Zach too, he was great in that character, I was sorry they made him the bad guy :/

Bones actually almost makes Booth look like a "typical NT" if there is such a thing - more than he shows her sort of aspie-ness.

It was . There was also an episode with an autistic child who was obsessed with playing a particular video game. I was a little disappointed that they missed the opportunity to address AS with Brennan in that episode the same way they addressed it with House (though I don't really think Greg House has Asperger's. As Cuddy said, "the diagnosis is simple, he's a jerk" )

Zach was my favorite character so I was also upset that they made him a bad guy and then took him off the show : / . It seems like Bones was one of the shows that suffered a lot with the TV writer's strike that season as I also heard they had a longer and more developed storyline for Zach leading up to that that they were not able to explore.

Haha I think the Booth thing may be because everyone around him is a geek, so he is the only "normal" one in the room. Aspies are at home in the Jeffersonian, it seems.



I found this article that was pretty interesting, it talks about several different Asperger's-type characters in TV, including Max from Parenthood, Brennan from Bones, and Sheldon from Big Bang Theory (which I haven't watched).

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/inde ... e_not.html

One thing I found interesting is that Brennan is apparently partially based on a friend the creator has with AS, and there is apparently some consideration going into a storyline where Brennan explores the possibility that she may have Aspergers.

[Kaylis-Americanis]

I also watched The Big Bang Theory with my roommates the other day, and had read that Sheldon is the epitome of Asperger's, which is totally true, although a bit over-the-top. That's kind of okay though, since it is a sitcom.