Bonding via TV

Television has the presumed power to bond fathers and sons through shared viewing of sports. Could it have even more power to join than that?

Sunday morning will reveal — or at least give hints — to how close and how far away are Bush Presidents 41 and 43. Host Chris Wallace will show tape of his interview with HW and W as they chat like hens in the Fox (TV) house. The question of how far they go into how much the son is a chip off the old block (for bad and often for worse) will be the ratings generator, although the more intriguing story is how history will forever bond them.

Counting on the magic of TV is Bill Wightman, who is now on the airwaves begging for the chance to do his final bonding with his dad. It seems the St. Catherine (Ontario) man bet his wife someone would break into his pickup within 30 days of his putting cameras in position to film the perp. He won the bet, but in the process he lost his father, whose ashes were in an urn destined to accompany Bill on the trip to the Dominican Republic where many of them would be spread.

Television: view it or lose it.