All Smallvilled Out

I finally came to terms with the fact that I am addicted to entertainment. A few weeks ago, I was writing and listening to music. Jenny said, "You don't like the quiet, do you?"

I started paying closer attention to my daily routine and realized, that no, I don't like quiet. Not only do I prefer audio distraction, I seem to cling to it. Today, I noticed that I listened to music in the gym, an audiobook in the car, a different audiobook on the walk through the parking lot to the office, and replaced it with a TV show the moment I got to my desk. Why is that?

I seem to go through phases: audiobooks, music, TV shows. No matter which, I always have something going while I am hammering the keys at my desk. A while back, I decided it was time to try out a new TV show. With dwindling respect for corporate time management, I have discovered dozens of websites devoted to pirated full episodes of nearly every TV show in existence. I figured any show with at least five seasons behind it would have something to offer. I also remembered quite a few people mentioning how much they loved Smallville. I decided to give it a shot.

Don't get me wrong, Smallville is not a bad show. I like the CW simplicity of it because I can mostly keep it minimized on my computer it and follow the story sans visuals. I got into the story quite a bit around season 3 or 4. I am now into season 7 and realize that I have probably "watched" over 110 hours of the teenage Superman and the antics of his cohorts.

I respect the writers for managing to draw out such a story, but I started keeping track of a go-to moves and I think they let themselves get lazy. At this point in the series, the count is something like:

Kent Family pickup totalled - 19 times

Clark left pinned on the floor by kryptonite - 96 times

Someone suffered a "minor concussion" - 31 times

A main character has died and been brought back to life - 11 times

Lex Luthor hurls a glass of scotch into the fire - 8 times

I don't feel like a complete tool for having watched this much of the show (I was getting paid for it.) But, I do feel like a tool knowing that I will watch the rest of the series. I don't even want to. It's like eating a terrible foot-long sub; you get through 8 inches of it; full, disgusted, and feeling pathetic because you know you're going to finish it on principle.