“There’s now an Offspring-shaped hole in my Wednesday nights.”

By LUCY ORMONDE

Hold me.

My favourite TV show just finished (possibly for good) and there’s now an Offspring-shaped hole in my Wednesday nights. I know this feeling too well. It’s the same one I felt when Friends finished, when Will and Grace took their kids to college, when Pacey married Joey, and when Carrie chose Big for the last time.

It goes a little something like this:

1. On the day of the last episode, you’re excited. There’s still a whole one-hour episode to look forward to. There’s no thought of the future.

GIFS via Everything Offspring Tumblr

2. Three minutes before the end of the episode, it dawns on you. The end is near.

3. When the final credits roll, it becomes real.  You can’t quite believe it.

4. For the next three days, you’re in a daze. There’s just an emptiness inside you. Things that used to be funny just aren’t anymore. The things that made you happy… suddenly don’t.

5. You try to recreate the magic by trying new TV shows. But nothing is as good. Nothing compares. Nothing can replace what you had.

6.  One week later, your show’s time slot is replaced by something.

7. The depression hits again.

GIFS via Everything Offspring Tumblr

8. You realise that only time can heal the wounds.

This is exactly what I’ve felt in the days before, during and after the Season 5 finale of Offspring was aired on Channel 10 a couple of weeks ago.

It’s nothing to be ashamed about (I hope.) When you invest hours and hours of your time into the storylines and the characters of a story, it would be strange if you didn’t feel something when they suddenly disappear from your life.

Wouldn’t it?

My best friend and I have a tradition of watching Offspring together with a bottle of wine and some Thai take away. She arrives an hour before the show starts. Halfway through the episode we crack open dessert. And at various times throughout the show, she yells at me for talking too much.

And now suddenly, there’s the question of whether our Wednesday night tradition can continue if the

Patrick

Leo fix that holds us together isn’t there anymore.

The good news is that it can.

We’ve decided to start at Season 1, Episode 1 and do it all again….

What do you miss most when your favourite show ends?