This article’s companion piece was written for the male perspective, but men with even a little bit of sense realize that women can potentially be just as miserable on couple’s TV night. We’ve already discussed neutral territory, but in the interest of fairness, here’s the same continuum for the female perspective — ranging from the mildly agreeable to the swirling eye of unendurable chaos.

Not so bad: Scripted shows geared toward men

There’s a certain brand of action drama shows that men will generally like better than women. “The Wire,” “Deadwood,” “Mad Men,” “Hell on Wheels,” — the list goes on. While your man will be enthusiastically cheering on Omar Little or Don Draper, if you’re the type who prefers “Sex and the City,” you may not be leaping out of your chair. But you still won’t be too upset if you can get past the inadvertent chauvinism.
At least, you won’t be nearly as upset as when you’re watching…

Pretty rough: Cartoons

Women watched cartoons as little girls, of course, but it seems they are more inclined to relegate that phase of their lives to the past. It’s not the same with men. Whether it’s fondly remembered childhood favorites like “Rocko’s Modern Life” and “Ren and Stimpy” or new classics like “Adventure Time” and “Regular Show,” men of all stripes love their cartoons. Of course, the more adult the cartoons are the better, and males will be as happy as clams with the likes of “Futurama” and “The Boondocks.” The reality show-watching woman, however, seems to find cartoons too far from realism to enjoy.

But be prepared to put up with it if you want to avoid…

The pulsing center of darkness: Nature shows

Dudes love nature shows. It must take us back to hunting on the African plains those many eons ago. Men can’t get enough of lions fighting hyenas, polar bears fighting walruses or ants fighting termites — or whatever fighting anything. Better yet, throw in some computer generated images, have dinosaurs slaughtering each other and give us some hard science about why they were so awesome, while you’re at it. It doesn’t make much sense as to why women seem to hate nature shows so much. After all, the awful dark truth is that, but for a few millennia of creatively improvising with our thumbs and brains, this is reality in its purest form.

But if it’s on you to keep the peace on TV night, ladies, after you make your man watch the teen pregnancy epidemic in motion, let him watch a droll British man explain the science of talons while an owl snatches a mouse out of a snow bank in glorious slow motion. It’s in the interest of fairness, after all.

Read “The Four Levels of Watching TV with your Girlfriend” here.

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