You and your friends may be tuned into the same thing, but there's a good chance you're not seeing the same things. Think of this as the evil clone of the potato salad theory: as it turns out, we're bringing different things to the picnic after all.
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We all watch what we like (or what we can't look away from because trainwrecks are messy but interesting). Some of us like blue women. Some of us like explosions. Some of us like boysecks and some like girlkisses. Some like chicks with guns. As it happens, these preferences not only inform what we choose to watch in the first place, but also what we see when we get there. As when we sit in English class and interpret poetry, we each have our own particular take on the canon that's unique to our backgrounds and histories.
And that's okay.
We don't need to be watching the same show. Sure, it makes chatting about it afterwards kinda hard, but as long as no one comes to blows or flamewars over which personal show is better, there's really nothing at all wrong with focusing on a completely different character or plotline than your best friend does. Just make sure you're both willing to indulge the other's interests from time to time. (If you're not, find another subject to talk about. Fast. Is it really worth ending a friendship just because your friend doesn't understand that Dan and Casey are soulmates no matter how much you explain it to her?) Sometimes it means you'll drift away from parts of your circle of friends, especially if your favorite storyline or character goes one way and theirs goes another. That's tough, and it's tougher when you are the kind of person to see this coming the minute your friend tells you Boomer is her favorite character and she's 'shipping Six/Eight. But it's true in all fannish circles: friends don't always overlap in fandoms or favorites, and still they stay friends. You can, too.
