What About Brian?

I really hate this show.

Look don't get me wrong, it's nothing personal against ABC or the actors. But really...am I supposed to sympathize with Couple #1, who are about to get married only because the guy, planning to break up with his girlfriend, instead freaks out and proposes? And is now having second doubts?

Or...am I supposed to feel for Couple #1, the married couple in the friendship with 3 kids, who don't get to have sex and whose wife is now going through her own midlife crisis, regretting everything she didn't get to do - so now wants an open marriage, and has just cheated on her husband?

Maybe I should feel more for Couple #3. The woman is older than the others, married a much younger guy, and has put off the whole family thing for years - and now wants to have kids, but is finding out she's in that miniscule 5% chance of success bracket.

Yeah, I'm not feeling shit for these folks. Maybe that makes me cruel, but hell - all I want to do is tell these people to get over themselves, welcome to the real world.

I do, however, feel a little something for the title character. Brian.

Not because I think he's a sympathetic figure, no; he's the only single one in this friendship of 7, the one they all try to hook up, the one all the guys are living vicariously through.

He's also the one who's madly in love with the girl in Couple #1, the finance of his best friend.

Yeah. Thats gotta suck.

But I feel for him, because I can understand the feeling. A whole lot more than I care to admit.

I watch the show, and I ask myself...why? It isn't really that interesting, the acting is bland, the stories aren't all that gripping, and there's a severe lack of deep insight into these peoples minds. So why am I watching it?

I think because I'm rooting for Brian. I want him to get the girl of his dreams, I want to see his feelings come out on top. I want vindication for him, because...well, I don't think I'll ever get the satisfaction that I'm hoping to see him get.

Ironically, like his friends, I'm living vicariously through Brian - because I've been there. Hell, I *am* there, and I don't want to be there. I understand how this person might feel, I understand all the reasons why he might have kept quiet all these years.

You wish the feelings were gone, that you could just blink and they'd disappear so you can move on with your life. You ignore them, and you DO move on with your life. You love, you live, you don't think about what could have been.

But then some little thing happens, something small and random - and you think about that person, and you smile even while you feel as if everything inside of you is about to explode. It's frightening, that feeling; often I find myself looking for someone or something to mask that emotion, because I can't do it myself.

So yeah. You go get yours, Brian. Because maybe then there's hope for the rest of us.