Bret, Haven't You Been Paying Attention to the Cup Roster?

Let's face it, decent television shows come and go, but it's not often that a truly funny, laugh-out-loud television show comes along. In fact, I'd say we've had an 11-year drought.

Call me a pessimist, but I tend to watch new shows carefully because I often fear that it will only be a matter of time before a decent show starts to suck. I have learned that expectation can be very powerful that way. And, so, that is why I have done my best NOT to get my hopes up too high for the second season of Flight of the Conchords. However, after only 2 episodes, there's no use in continuing to watch this show carefully. This is THE funniest television show since Seinfeld (how's that for expectation?). Take 2 not-so-bright struggling musicians from New Zealand + 1 idiot manager + 1 crazy female fan and hilarity most definitely ensues. If you do not have HBO, you must call your cable provider immediately.

Last Sunday’s episode, called "The Teacup," is my favorite episode to date. In the opening 60-second scene, Bret and Jemaine say the word "cup" 13 times proving that something as basic as repetition can be hilarious. The two argue about the fact that Bret, without telling Jemaine, went out and purchased a second teacup for "two dollars and seventy-nine" so that they would no longer be forced to share 1 teacup and adhere to the “cup roster.”

A cup roster? This is exactly why I love this show. Just like Seinfeld, FOTC gets me thinking about random life occurrences that I wouldn't normally put any thought into. I laughed about the cup roster for days and began thinking about my own unwritten, unspoken life “rosters.” Sadly, I only came up with a few, one of them being the shower roster because we only have 1 shower. I should be happy, I guess, that there's little need for sharing in our house, but it's sad in a way because our society has grown so accustomed to having multiples of everything. One of anything just ain't enough, is it?

So, yes, I kind of struck out with rosters, but thinking about rosters led me to also consider the random “lineups” in our lives. Whether we know it or not, we all have our own favorite things - a favorite teacup (or coffee mug in my case), a favorite t-shirt, a favorite pair of jeans, or a favorite pair of underwear. Our favorites are always the most easily accessible whether they are at the top of the drawer, the front of the cabinet or the front of the closet. This also means they get used the most. Sure a mug is easy to rinse out and reuse day after day, but clothes become dirty and stinky, so once you begin running out of your favorites, you have 2 options: you can either A.) do a load of laundry or B.) begin wearing your second-rate backups. Depending upon how often you do laundry or dishes or what have you, backups can go unused, collecting dusts for weeks, maybe even months. A backup may have been a favorite at one point, but, as newer, better things come along to replace them, the backups get downgraded to the back of the cabinet or closet and therefore move further down the lineup.

Eventually the backups become pointless, yet they remain our backups. For some strange reason we have a hard time letting them go.

The backup coffee mugs are typically the ones that are mismatched or maybe they are chipped or cracked or too small to support your ever-growing caffeine addiction. Or maybe you just feel bad getting rid of one because a colleague bought it for you 6 Christmases ago. Your backup t-shirts are likely discolored, stretched out or have crusty, yellow armpits stains. Your backup jeans may have shrunk a bit in the wash or maybe they are "so last season" making you a tad embarrassed to sport them, but reluctant to get rid of them because you shelled out over $200 for them. Your backup underwear is all the way at the back of the drawer, probably has holes in it or maybe the elastic is a bit too tight or maybe they're brand new, but you either think they're too sexy for everyday wear or you don't feel confident enough to wear them. And you wonder why you keep them because you do a load of laundry often enough to wash and wear your 5 favorite pairs over and over again.

So why do we have backups at all? Why don't we just throw these things away? Or better yet, when we find our favorite things, why don't we get enough to make an entire lineup of our favorites?

I guess that would be like having a lineup that consists of 9 Mannys and we all know no one can afford that.