Blue Meth on the Menu

Is blue meth on the menu tonight? Tonight we're watching Breaking Bad with my mom at her house.  My family has had a ritual of Sunday night dinners out for as long as I can remember, but for the next seven weeks, we might be breaking that tradition.

When my father was alive, I would go over to their house up in the hills. After he died, I would meet my mom at a restaurant, halfway between us on a place off Paseo del Norte--either Chinese at Best Lee's or the pizza and pasta bar at Tomato Cafe. Now, that I'm married, the tradition continued, my wife and I would meet her for a Sunday dinner.

I sacrificed the Simpsons for Sunday family dinners. That might be a good thing, the Simpsons  hasn't been good for years. There have been over 500 episodes of the Simpsons, so missing a few didn't really matter. Breaking Bad doesn't run every day, so missing an episode is a big deal.

For it's entire run, Breaking Bad was on at eight, a civilized hour, we could eat at 6:30 at the Tomato Cafe and be done in time to make it home for the start of that ominous music. Now that the show is on at seven, that would be impossible. Why is Breaking Bad starting at seven? Isn't that family hour? Isn't that when families used to watch the Wonderful World of Disney?

My mom is still hip in her seventies, still a culture vulture. She also liked Mad Men on Sunday nights. We will bring the Chinese food or the pizza tonight and settle into watch the sunset and then watch the show. We will save our witty repartee for the commercial breaks.

We like our Breaking Bad the way we like our Italian food served, family style . . .