New TV Show: Growing Up Fisher

Have you heard of the new TV show that will be debuting right after the Olympics? It's called Growing Up Fisher and it debuts on February 23. It's the real life story of a family who has a father with a vision impairment. Of course I am interested for several reasons. One, will this reflect any of my own personal experiences? Two, how will this portray blindness? I hope the humor brings light to our community. The thing that I really do like is that is based on someone's actual life. Hopefully that aspect will bring some realness. I read a press release about it and a couple of things stuck out to me that I felt were worth sharing.

I liked this quote (from the article): "Some viewers may "see the first thing about Mel is that he's blind. My dad being blind is like the 17th thing wrong with him. He's stubborn. He hugs too much. He's a lawyer. There's a lot of craziness going on over there," he said. "I don't want this to be every visually impaired person's story. ... We're trying to tell Henry's perspective of what that was like and how it informs who he is as a father today."  I love the part where he is says "my dad being blind is like the 17th thing wrong with him....". I love it because it shows that blindness doesn't have to be the number one defining identity trait. He's obviously much more than his blindness.

It also states how his dad "hid his blindness to pretty much everyone". That's a sad fact. I am curious to see if there are any 'blindness stigmas' playing in the show. I personally love the humor that I have seen so far. The other disclaimer of the show is that it doesn't aim to represent every person with a vision impairment. This is about this guy's real life. Interesting.


Here's the article that I read: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2014/01/19/growing-up-fisher-nbc-blindness-jk-simmons-jason-bateman/4648413/


You can also see the trailer to Growing Up Fisher: http://tvline.com/2014/01/19/nbc-midseason-video-about-a-boy-believe/.


Let me know your thoughts. I'll be watching too!