I Wish It Was Last September

I watched '24' last night, I'll watch 'Scrubs' tonight, and I'll watch two episodes of 'Alias' Wednesday night, as the show returns with it's first new episodes since Jennifer Garner's baby break, which are also the first two of what will be the final eight episodes of the series. What's funny about all of this is that this is exactly what I was doing five years ago (of course five years ago I didn't have this awesome beard - best choice I have ever made, ever). These are the first three shows that I ever obsessed over, that I made it a point to be home for every week, that I bought on DVD so I could suck all of my friends down into the glowing, week to week hell that is my life. I love these shows, and, wow, do I need a social life.

But now one of them is dying, by most accounts, a painful death. The first season of 'Alias' was, is, one of the greatest things to ever go on television, but after the 'Phase One' episode in Season 2, things started to slide off the rail (Evil Francie, Evil Lauren, Good Sloane, APO, Vampire Episodes), something series creator J.J. Abrams admits to. It's made watching this show a really, frustrating experience, seeing a glimpse of it's former greatness every now and then, but losing it the very next moment. It's like a big life lesson, some days will be as thrilling as when Quentin Tarantino tried to take over S-D6, but unfortunately most will be as boring as when Dixon gets all weepy and almost kills himself (we get it, you miss Diane). The greatest lesson 'Alias' has thought me over the last five years is, to quote another television classic, "You take the good, you take the bad, and then you have...". There's hope to be found though, in that the show is supposedly going to out on one of it's higher notes.


It's also weird how as 'Alias' shuffles off, the other two seem to be peaking in popularity. Scrubs is guaranteed to come back next year (which is basically the first time that's ever happened), and Kiefer Sutherland just signed on for three more years of '24', and just announced that preproduction is under way for the '24' movie, to shoot next year. Arguably, the show has hit it's stride, becoming a part of the zeitgeist like it never has, and if you needed more proof at how important '24' has become, look no further than the second card on this weeks Post Secret. Like you don't feel the exact same way.