Watching shows your SO doesn’t like

[Anonymous]

How do you handle watching shows that your SO doesn’t? My husband thinks that watching something he doesn’t like is rude and should only be done when I’m at home alone. Problem is I’m hardly ever alone and am able to watch an episode a month or wait until he goes to bed. At night after the kids are asleep, he would much rather zone out on Chopped or reruns of The Office. All I want to do is finish season 2 of Handmaid’s tale! He’s the same way about me reading and I usually wait for him to go to bed before opening a book. This is weird, right?

[Anonymous]

Put earbuds in and watch on a phone or iPad.

[Anonymous]

Objecting to the reading in particular sounds pretty controlling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Objecting to the reading in particular sounds pretty controlling.

Yeah.

[Anonymous]

If you don’t like any of the same shows you need to take turns. My DH and I have some shows we both like that we watch together. We each also have shows that the other person absolutely will not watch - Real Housewives for me and superhero shows for him - we watch those when the other person is asleep or not home. Works for us.

[Anonymous]

We have no shows in common, other than the blacklist and amazing race, he likes sci fi and nature and I like anything but.

I watch in the family room and he watches downstairs or I watch on my iPad with earbuds in the same room. Happily married

[Anonymous]

I have the same issue and I end up putting earbuds in and watching on my laptop. Why does it seem like only the wives do this and the husbands get to watch what they want to on the TV? Is anyone’s husband the one who gets the second rate watching experience?

[Anonymous]

Your house only has one TV???

[Anonymous]

DH and I watch too many shows together, so if one of us wants to watch a show the other doesn’t like, it has to be when the other is out of the house or in bed. Consequently, we’re both really behind on our individual shows.

[Anonymous]

Get another T.V. set & watch your shows separately.

It makes zero sense to spend any quality, leisure time watching a show you do not particularly enjoy.
Sounds like a waste of precious time.

You can both watch the nightly news together.

[Anonymous]

He is very controlling. I'd do what I want if I were you !

[Anonymous]

I generally agree with the above PPs. Also, TV together isn't the highest quality quality time together. That said, if you aren't doing anything else together (no idea if this is the case for OP), you should at least watch some shows together.

[Anonymous]

if DH had an issue with me reading in front of him, we wouldn’t have lasted six months. I’m a bookworm. And that’s bizarre.

Does he read/browse on his phone in front of you?

[Anonymous]

So it’s okay for him to watch something you’re not interested in (Chopped/the Offce), but not okay for you to watch what you want?

Mmm... okay. Double standard alert.

As has already been suggested, what’s wrong with curling up with your iPad beside him and watching th Handmaids Tale, or reading a book? Why can’t you read quietly on the couch beside him while he watches TV?

[Anonymous]

We are currently watching The Tudors together and we watch our own shows separately. We rarely watch TV in bed given we either both fall asleep mid show or we have more fun things to do.