HOW TV SAVED MY LIFE

All you hear is how TV is bad for you. Well, I’ll admit to a bit of hyperbole, but after last night, I have yet another reason to declare American Dreams one of the best shows on TV.

See, I had bought these Greek Lamb Burger patties at Whole Foods, and before rushing off to Movable Hype last night, I thought I’d broil one up for myself. So it’s cooking in the broiler, no problem. And then the smoke alarm goes off. I actually didn’t think much of it: there’s not really any ventilation in the kitchen so often, depending on what I’m cooking, the smoke alarm will start beeping. A few minutes later though, I opened the broiler to check the burger and what do you know? Flames. Actual fire. Apparently, the grease on the broiler pan had popped up and caught fire and basically there was a fire raging inside my oven. First, I thought it might be smart to turn off the broiler, but the fire still didn’t go away. The smoke from the broiler had chared the front of our classy (read: cheap) white oven.

I knew not to use water. But I was nervous to throw a towel or something on it for fear of the towel catching fire before putting it out, and suddenly there goes the whole kitchen. So what did I do? I grabbed my big container of salt and threw it on the fire. The fire went out. Kitchen and apartment saved. And you know why? Because on Sunday’s episode of American Dreams, when young son Will starts a fire on the stove, the mother Helen Pryor played by Gail O’Grady comes racing in and tosses salt (at least I think it was salt; it could have been baking soda or powder or something; but I’m sticking with salt) in the pan, killing the flames.

So see? American Dreams may be a great show (it is, no matter how many people chuckled at me tonight for even admitting to watching it), but it’s also educational. Sure, it can help teach you about ’60s America, maybe a little about race relations and civil rights, about families experiences in the early days of the Vietnam war, about pop music and culture of the period; but you never know what other wisdom you may receive, like how to put out fires the “Good Housekeeping” way.