Reciting t.v. programs

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My son will recite t.v. programs, scene-by-scene. He doesn't do the whole dialogue, but he will do parts of it. He really wants me to listen to every word. It's difficult because he talks non-stop until he's gone through the whole storyline. I've told him that people only want the highlights and he shouldn't expect people to listen to the whole thing.

Recently, he started to recite a program to me and I asked him if I could tell him one. I was going to see how much he would like it if he had to listen to me talk nonstop, scene-by-scene, reciting a sitcom episode of a favorite show of mine. I got through the first scene of the episode (which I had just seen recently) and I realized I couldn't recite more than that. I remember the plot, but I couldn't put it all in sequence the way he does.

I learned 2 things:
1.) He has an amazing memory.
2.) He would have wanted to hear me recite the episode (if I could have done it).

I do this as well, I can recite entire episodes of Boston Legal, Law & Order:Criminal Intent and The Practice. My mother is and everybody else I know wishes there was a way to shut me up, but when I start reciting an episode I don't stop for anyone. I can never just tell someone the highlights, I have to tell the entire story.
However if someone were to recite an episode of a show to me I wouldn't want to listen to them.

I used to do this as a kid, I learned how to speak English that way.

(I'm from Mexico)

I still repeat some words from time to time.

I'm 33 now.

I'm reading My Inventions - The autobiography of Nikola Tesla and noticed he could do the same. He was probably one of the best the world has ever had in that regard. He could memorize books of poetry, etc and recite them, think up inventions in his head and work out the problems before putting them to paper and they always came out working in 20 years of doing this. He gave us AC power among other things.

My point being perhaps you should find something useful for your son to use his gift on. Open his mind to new ideas only a good book can bring. I wasted a lot of my life watching TV when I should have applied myself to something greater if only I had the proper parental guidance and disciplined structure needed at an early age to shape the mind.

daughter does this all the time. she'll recite lines at all different times, too- not just when she's watching the program. daughter also likes to watch the same episodes over and over and over and over and over

I do the same thing!

Could be worse, I used to recite commercials. I was a walking talking advertisement for everything from Dr. Scholls to Oscar Meyer.

WOW, I could just see you singing "OOOH I WISH I WERE AN OSCAR MEYER WIENER...." Or "B.O.L.O.G.N.A"! Hey, get a few others to follow you, and look like the animated commercial!

My son does this too. I believe it is a common form of echolalia (sp).

I did this as a child as well. As a teen I was trying to convince a friend to watch a standup comedy movie that I had seen. When we rented it he complained that I had recited every joke to him and ruined the video.

I learned to try minimize it after that.

I now do it mostly when I am in the car alone...