A (not so) secret vice

I'll admit it. I love stupid TV. I almost said "trash TV," but that seems to imply Jerry Springer and the like, which I still detest. No, I'm talking about bad, hour-long dramas. I blame the Sci-Fi channel for my affliction.

In case you didn't know, SciFi shows a mini-marathon of some sci-fi type of show Monday-Friday. Today it's something called Jake 2.0. It's a pretty lame show about a guy who ... Well let me just quote from the SciFi website:

A freak accident in an NSA lab floods Jake's body with nanobots; microscopic machines that imbue him with superhuman abilities. In effect, he is transformed into the world's first computer-enhanced human being.

He becomes stronger and faster than normal people. His sight and hearing are made more acute and able to perceive a wide range of spectrums and frequencies. He gains the ability to remote-control many kinds of technology with his thoughts.

Any of that sound familiar? Well it should if you ever watched the Six Million Dollar Man, Spider Man, Hulk, or that short-lived show Chuck. It combines elements of all those. Basically the guy is a computer tech for the NSA, but then after he gets "infected" with the nanobots he becomes a field agent with super powers.

The saddest part: I spent 4 hours watching Jake 2.0 episodes a couple of weeks ago. Further, Jake 2.0 is not the only one. Roswell, Kingdom Hospital, Tru Calling, Firefly, Level 9 -- they've all sucked me in at times. I don't know what happens, but I flip over to channel 33 and before I know it 2 or 3 hours have passed.

They say admitting your problem is the first step and now I've done that. On the other hand, "they" also say you have to want to quit and I'm not quite sure I'm ready to "sober up" in this case. I mean, who's it hurting? Nope, I think I'm going to continue to enjoy mindless sci-fi TV programs, but now I won't have to claim I'm spending the day watching British dramas or nature documentaries or lectures by eminent economists. No, I'll proudly stand up for stupid TV.

P.S. Speaking of lectures, ... I did spend two hours this past Sunday listening to a guy who claims to have "completed" Newton's theory of gravity. I understood about half of it -- enough to follow the lecture, but not enough to tell is he's a visionary or if he's full of crap. That experience, though, deserves a (later) post of its own.