Telecrack

At my annual conference last year, I stayed in my hotel bed late one morning trying desperately to recover from the new town, new bars jaunt of the previous night. Replacing my Lifetime mindless television ritual on days like this one was a “24” marathon on TBS. I watched episode after episode until I eventually crawled to the bathroom to clean up before our afternoon session. Six episodes into it I realized this show is great!

I came home with a new love for Jack Bauer and his Jack Ryanesque abilities. I NEEDED to see the whole season. I NEEDED to know what happened before and after those six hangover soaked episodes so my father gave me the season one box set. Home from work one day with all the motivation of a sloth I popped in disk one. Eight hours later when Carrie got home I was on disk four with no end in sight. How could I stop now in the middle of the season? What would happen to Senator Palmer? What would happen to Jack’s family in particular his stupid daughter Kim who has an incredible knack for making the worst decision in any situation?

It didn’t take long before Carrie became just as hooked. Our normal lights out, in bed at 9:30, her snoring beside me as I increase the volume on the television routine turned into a stay up until 10:30 so we can squeeze in one more episode of our “24” marathon. We started watching it religiously and when that season was over we immediately started talking about our next fix. Should we watch season six which was just beginning on Fox? Should we go in order? Would it matter? For the love of God what happens next!

Yesterday we went and bought season two and three with the intention of watching them while Carrie recuperates from her surgery this weekend. Any gamblers want to make a bet on how long those precious boxes were in our house before we popped that baby in the DVD? We were like crack addicts that had just been handed a twenty dollar bill. Four disks later it was lights out at 11:00 (a new record on a school night). If you haven’t watched “24” but need a new vice let us know. I’m pretty sure by the end of the weekend we’ll be ready for season four and five. Like a pusher on the school yard, I say “Try it. You’ll like it. Trust me”.