Life Imitates West Wing and Extras

Twice on Super Bowl Sunday, I found real life mimicking a scene I had seen on a TV show.

Gloria Estefan and West Wing
There is a West Wing episode where a rainstorm forces a presidental speech that was planned to be delivered outside to be relocated indoors.  Toby insists that Sam needs to revise the speech accordingly.  But Sam contends that the President will be able to alter any references to the outdoors on the fly.  The scene ends with the President Bartlet looking out over a closed room of seated audience members and starting his speech with, “As I look out over this magnificent vista…”

Before the Super Bowl, Gloria Estefan introduced the pregame show.  Somewhere out there, there may be a speech writer who made a  assumption similiar to the one Sam Seaborn made.  Estefan used the phrase “Sunny South Florida” as she welcomed everyone…to the very first Super Bowl to be played in the rain.

Token Thief and Extras
In the third episode of this season’s hilarious Extras, Andy (played by Ricky Gervais…obviously) and Maggie are out at a fancy restaurant and a child behind them is playing a handheld video game.  Andy complains to the waitress about the noise, the waitress tells the child’s mother and the mother promptly confronts Andy.  Andy and the mother have an altercation, excerpts below:

Mother: Excuse me, I understand you have a problem with me bringing my son to a restaurant?
Andy: If he’s like that, yes.
Mother: What do you mean, like that?
Andy: Well, why should we be burdened?
…
Mother: Well it isn’t my fault, is it?
Andy: Well it is your fault.  You decided to have him. 
…

Only after Andy’s already aired his complaints, does he discover– the child had Down’s Syndrome.

My encounter with the Token Thief at Chuck E. Cheese could easily have taken a similiar path.  I did not realize at first, the aggressive boy had a disability.  I thought he was just plain rude and greedy.  Had I complained prior to discovering his condition– I would have looked just as judgemental and cruel as Andy Millman appeared.

I also mentioned that I raised my knee to fend off the Token Thief.  In the very same episode of Extras, Andy makes an identical move when being attacked by a dwarf.  Luckily that is as far as our similiarities go.  In my case, the kid was deterred and finally left.  In Andy’s case, he had poor timing and managed to knee his attacker in the head and knock him out, appearing to onlookers like nothing but a bad-hearted bully.

For that, all I can say is, “Phew!”  I certainly didn’t need to solicit the rage of another parent at Chuck E. Cheese.