I keep asking myself why it is that I hate reviewing television and I have come to a conclusion – it’s because I feel like everything that is good, everything that gives me hope, everything that changes me – is cancelled.
And that destroys me.
I didn’t want to watch Council of Dads, but one night, I was sitting at my desk, unable to sleep, when I got an email that NBC had posted a screener and I laid down and started to watch the show.
And before I knew it, I was crying my eyes out and staring at my iPad, waiting for something to make the tears stop. Something to make me hurt less.
Because every second of the show hurt. Every second of the show made me feel like I had lost thee walls that I had perfectly put up around me and kept everything neatly compartmentalized inside of me.
Council of Dads was one of the most special television shows that I have ever seen. It was a diverse show that offered an inside look at grief and growth and how family isn’t defined by DNA, but rather by the people that you love and the people that love you.
Council of Dads wasn’t trying to be This Is Us. It was trying to be itself – something completely unique – where the family that you chose in life is everything to you. They are the people that lift you up, tear you apart, and remind you that the pieces of your soul can always be put back together.
Council of Dads was there to show us that you can move on and forward, without forgetting the past. It was there to show us that you can follow your dreams no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, you can achieve everything that you want to achieve.
Because you just have to believe in yourself.
There will be hard times in life, but those times are there to show you what you are made of.
It was there when I needed it and I am forever thankful that the show helped me with one big thing in my life – that we can all have our secrets and our walls, but regardless of what we say, we all want basically the same major things in life.
To be loved and forgiven.
At least that is what it is for me.
I could relate to all of the characters. I could see the beauty in the indecision, the chaos in the calm, the anger in the grief. I could feel less alone for every time that I smiled after my Mom died and I felt guilty that i was happy.
I could find a piece of myself in every character on thee screen.
And every character was able to teach me a lesson in the way that they conducted their lives, the decisions that they made, and the way that they loved each other through it all.
The show was a gift about family and what defines it. And if you’re asking yourself what does – well, you do. You define what family means to you. You define the boundaries that you set and the way that you let people in. You are in charge of your life and the people that you let into it.
You are in control.
And it’s okay to let people love you and be vulnerable and love them.
Council of Dads reminded me why I love television and entertainment – because it reminds you what it is like to feel and be alive.
It touches you.
It’s been such a long time since I felt such a connection to a show, but I do feel that connection, even knowing that I just watched the last episode. And I am sitting here crying, because I believe that these stories – these characters stories deserve to be told.
I feel bad for whomever made the decision to cancel this show, because they didn’t realize the beauty that was there.
But I did. I am thankful for the ten episodes that I had, but I will always wish I had more.
xo- E
