Very rarely do I ever get caught up in an hour-long drama. Broadcast television, PBS excluded, typically sucks too much for me to tune in to more than the mindless thirty-minute comedy a couple of nights per week. I readily admit to faithfully watching X-Files and the first two seasons of Desperate Housewives, but aside from those examples, I really can’t name any that I’ve watched with regularity. I can barely name any other examples themselves!

So when a coworker lent the first season of Lost, I initially thought there’d be no way I would ever get through it. Despite the misperception that academics are free all summer, I, like most of my colleagues, am usually too busy catching up with old projects (finishing Gadamer’s Truth and Method, for example) or preparing for future ones (beginning Heidegger’s Being and Time) to realize that summer has already disappeared. But then the miracle of jetlag occurred.

After returning home from the all-too-short trip to Istanbul, there were already so few things to do—particularly mindless things—between 3:00 and 8:00 am, that I actually decided to pop in the first DVD. Although the plot, despite being entirely unbelievable, was mildly interesting, I still can’t find myself concerned at all with any of the characters, even nine episodes into season two. Oh! the hours wasted watching this postmodern Gilligan’s Island that I don’t care about.

Here are the most annoying things so far, in no particular order, because what would this blog be without a list of annoying things?

• The totally artificial and overwrought tension between Jack-qua-man-of-science and John-qua-man-of-faith.
• The tedious pop-culture allusions to things literary and philosophical. I’m waiting for a character—perhaps one of “THE OTHERS”—to be named Immanuel Kant!
• Michael’s baby-mama being the only African American women in the world that does not want the biological father to be a part of their child’s life. Yeah, it could happen, I suppose.
• Claire being willing to fly all the fuck to L.A. to get rid of her baby but being all dramatic when someone finally comes and takes it away from her on the island.
• Sayid being totally willing to sell-out his best friend to get the address of some girl he had the hots for his entire life but after only a few weeks is willing to kick it with the overly sensitive yet excessively shallow Shannon.

Perhaps the best thing about it is the harsh critique of the American (and hence world) economy predicated by the necessity to keep pushing the button to prevent the world from collapsing. Finally, there’s something both Jack-qua-man-of-science and John-qua-man-of-faith can agree on, but that’s probably something I’m reading into the story. I can’t imagine the writers of these lame characters and histrionic plot points to be that perceptive regarding reality. Nor can I imagine myself getting through the entire second season.

Should I continue watching Lost? Please cast your vote in the sidebar poll.

Very rarely do I ever get caught up in an hour-long drama. Broadcast television, PBS excluded, typically sucks too much for me to tune in to more than the mindless thirty-minute comedy a couple of nights per week. I readily admit to faithfully watching X-Files and the first two seasons of Desperate Housewives, but aside from those examples, I really can’t name any that I’ve watched with regularity. I can barely name any other examples themselves!

So when a coworker lent the first season of Lost, I initially thought there’d be no way I would ever get through it. Despite the misperception that academics are free all summer, I, like most of my colleagues, am usually too busy catching up with old projects (finishing Gadamer’s Truth and Method, for example) or preparing for future ones (beginning Heidegger’s Being and Time) to realize that summer has already disappeared. But then the miracle of jetlag occurred.

After returning home from the all-too-short trip to Istanbul, there were already so few things to do—particularly mindless things—between 3:00 and 8:00 am, that I actually decided to pop in the first DVD. Although the plot, despite being entirely unbelievable, was mildly interesting, I still can’t find myself concerned at all with any of the characters, even nine episodes into season two. Oh! the hours wasted watching this postmodern Gilligan’s Island that I don’t care about.

Here are the most annoying things so far, in no particular order, because what would this blog be without a list of annoying things?

• The totally artificial and overwrought tension between Jack-qua-man-of-science and John-qua-man-of-faith.
• The tedious pop-culture allusions to things literary and philosophical. I’m waiting for a character—perhaps one of “THE OTHERS”—to be named Immanuel Kant!
• Michael’s baby-mama being the only African American women in the world that does not want the biological father to be a part of their child’s life. Yeah, it could happen, I suppose.
• Claire being willing to fly all the fuck to L.A. to get rid of her baby but being all dramatic when someone finally comes and takes it away from her on the island.
• Sayid being totally willing to sell-out his best friend to get the address of some girl he had the hots for his entire life but after only a few weeks is willing to kick it with the overly sensitive yet excessively shallow Shannon.

Perhaps the best thing about it is the harsh critique of the American (and hence world) economy predicated by the necessity to keep pushing the button to prevent the world from collapsing. Finally, there’s something both Jack-qua-man-of-science and John-qua-man-of-faith can agree on, but that’s probably something I’m reading into the story. I can’t imagine the writers of these lame characters and histrionic plot points to be that perceptive regarding reality. Nor can I imagine myself getting through the entire second season.

Should I continue watching Lost? Please cast your vote in the sidebar poll.