Second Chances Show

Lately I’ve been really into this show called Second Chances. It plays on TV once a week luckily on the only day I have off from work; so my break includes watching a two hour special on people fixing their mistakes. 

A few months ago it was Friday night and I was relaxing while watching the news since I was awake and had nothing to do anyways. As I absently flipped through the channels I thought about just going to bed early and getting rest for the start of my work week. I put the remote down and started to get out of my chair when I hesitated. Maybe a few more minutes of watching TV wouldn’t hurt. I continued scrolling through the channels when a new show caught my eye. “Second Chances” it was called, but didn’t have a description. Shrugging my shoulders I clicked on it anyways.

It opened up with a man going on a date – nothing too special – but about half the way through the date he got a phone call from his mother and he left the hot girl alone at the table to talk to his mom for an hour and by the time he got back she was gone. The scene paused and a game-show host type man walked up and pointed a comically large remote at the screen while it ‘rewound’. After that was done he hit pause again and whispered loudly in the man’s ear “Don’t accept the call from your mom or you’ll lose the girl!” He walked off screen and hit play and the scene started just like it had before, only this time the man looked a little dazed and when the phone rang he jumped in shock. Luckily this time he didn’t take the call and the date went wonderfully. The episode ended with a photo shoot with wedding pictures, baby photos, and then the couple growing old together. It was lovely.

Realistically it seemed ridiculous, there was so much editing and of course there was no way to rewind time so it had to be fake, but it made me feel better about the mistakes I’d made. Every week after that I watched the show completely enthralled with other people’s lives so I could forget the disasters in my own and every week the mistakes got a little more complex.

  Instead of a guy taking the call from his mom it would be a man making several bad business deals and going out of business. Then it was a woman slowly whittling away her inheritance through gambling hoping to win the jackpot but ending up broke with a horrible gambling addiction. The plots went from a hour long mistake to a several yearlong blunder with the end results getting more and more extreme. By the time the season finale grew close they had a woman go to jail for embezzlement, a man get killed over an accidental firing at a drug bust, buildings exploding, houses burning down, whole towns going into ruins. 

Work started to blur together, the days had no meaning though I tried my best to keep track of them. None of the other days of the week mattered since Friday night was Second Chance night. I could see my apartment start to get cluttered; trash piled up on the counter and table while empty food containers began to mold. Dirty dishes filled the sink and spilled a rotten stink into the room. My clothes sat unwashed and the house slowly fell into decay, but none of that mattered so long as the show was still playing. I would clean everything after the season finale – I promised myself – I just needed to see how the series ended. I had to know what the last episode would fix in some poor souls life. How they would simply rewind the disasters and whisper a helpful tip in their ear so they could try again and get it right. 

The season finale arrived and I sat down that night with excitement pouring out of every fiber of my being. But as I turned on the TV I noticed the theme song wasn’t playing, there was nothing but a blank screen. I checked to make sure that I was on the right channel and that the TV and cable was working. Everything seemed to be fine so I decided to wait and see what would happen. A few minutes passed and some text appeared; “For the season finale, we tried to find the most deserving person of a second chance. A person who screwed up so badly that they needed this opportunity from the very beginning. Their life is in shambles, they have nothing to live for… truly a despicable waste of their first chance. They need something to live for, some reason to keep going. After months of searching, we have found them. In just a few minutes you will get to experience the most intense waste of a human life, the very reason for the creation of this show! It will take everything in our power to fix this lifelong mistake. Are you ready for the season finale of the new hit show Second Chances?” 

I couldn’t help but yell excitedly as the text on the screen continued to hype something that I had been eagerly awaiting for months. “Are you sure you’re ready?” I paused again and I jumped to the edge of my seat. It was almost impossible not to leap from my chair with anticipation. My hands shook and sweat poured from my forehead while I waited for the show to start. “Okay, here is the season finale of Second Chances! Thank you for watching and enjoy!” 

The screen went blank and I held my breath waiting for something to happen. Just a moment later I felt a tingle down my spine, I couldn’t move. Nothing was going on and the TV stayed black. Time passed but I wasn’t sure how long as I decided to go to sleep, thoroughly disappointed. I put the remote down and started to get out of my chair when I hesitated. Maybe a few more minutes of watching TV wouldn’t hurt. I continued scrolling through the channels when a new show caught my eye. “Second Chances” it was called, but didn’t have a description. Shrugging my shoulders I clicked on it anyways.

It opened up with a man going on a date – nothing too special…