Seriously? This is a situation comedy about incest?

I wonder if Woody and Woodie was the original title?

I'm through 7 eps at the moment so I can comment more in depth. To me, it is about testing artificial boundaries, and I'd compare their situation to something which is more common, and that is a taboo relationship between a psychotherapist and a patient. They are the same in that there is no biological constraint against a union (ie, swimming in a shallow gene pool), but in B&B there are social barriers to it taking place while with the therapist and client it is a legal and ethical issue. In my alcohol and drug work, we had a rule of "once a client, always a client." It was just a line that was not crossed so as to avoid the endless rationalization and justification, which is what B&B are going through. Once a non-blood related step sibling, ALWAYS a non-blood related step sibling. In B&B, it could also have taken place on different levels, such as them carrying on as underage teens in the house when the parents first married vs being out of the house, out of college, and living in different apartments.* In fact, I'd even call the show "boundaries," since that seems to be the subject matter at hand. I would wager that the story we are watching was related verbatim at an AA meeting at some point in time since absence of boundaries is at the crux of the show. (Hey mom, learn to knock!) If you took B&B back a step, to say where they were next door neighbors growing up, no one would bat an eye. When I grew up in the 70's, it was still common for guys to marry their best friend's sisters, which in a way is like B&B in that one is involved with a person who, while not biologically, is almost socially a family member. I suspect that happens because one is able to meet and get to know someone while not under the defensive constraints of a dating relationship. Seriously, who is ever "themselves" while on a first or second date? I am, but it explains why I don't have many third dates. ;-) In a dating guide I once read, it was stated that arranged marriages work out well because the parents get together and compare cultural expectations to ensure compatability. So in B&B, we have this taken to the extreme, because in essence we know each participant fully understands the culture and expectations of the other.

But it does bring to mind a classic joke from the past. If a man and woman get divorced in West Virginia, are they still brother and sister?


* To me, the most unbelievable part of this show is them each living alone in nice NYC partments, though she mentioned crossing a bridge so she might not be in Manhattan, still.

I think my percentage of Chimp DNA is higher than others. Cleaver Greene