Back in freshman year of high school, my best friend and I were the only "24" addicts that we knew of. This was back in the good ol' days, when Teri Bauer was still alive and Jack was trying to stop the first assassination attempt on President Palmer.
Since then, a lot has changed. Nowadays, it seems that everyone is in love with the show. All of my friends (and enemies) are talking about it on Tuesdays and I constantly hear mentions of it when I eavesdrop around campus.
On one hand, I know I should be happy. Since ninth grade, I've been pushing and needling anyone who would listen to watch Jack race the clock. Now, everywhere I turn I can find someone to talk to about it.
On the other hand, I am a terrible elitist (as I'm sure you have gathered from reading my column). Part of me gets a little twinge of pain from watching something that is just too popular. There is a little piece of my soul that feels like every time I listen to someone else talking about last night's episode, it's like Kiefer is cheating on me. And then of course, there is my fear that eventually "24" will become like "Family Guy."
No, I don't mean that Jack Bauer will eventually be facing off against a giant chicken to save the world. Allow me to explain myself. Back in eighth grade, I was grieving as the final nail was put into the Griffin coffin. In 10th grade, I rejoiced when I heard about the DVD release. By the middle of junior year, I cringed whenever someone would quote Stewie. I would wish every day that "Family Guy" would vanish from my sight, forever returning to the beautiful shrine of nostalgia my memory had built for it.
And now, I'm scared. Whenever something I like starts getting popular, I fear for its future. Thankfully, "24" is still grand and enjoyable, but every time another person I'm friends with gets hooked on it, the dread grows just a little bit more.
The problem here is that everything then must walk a fine line. If something is too popular, then it faces the problem cited above. But if not enough people like it, then the show (or whatever else it is) faces the same tragic fate as "Arrested Development," "Freaks and Geeks" or "Family Guy" back in its original run. What's a pop culture snob to do?
My dilemma only grows when I start to realize that sometimes I myself may be on the other end of the situation. For example, I recently have gotten into the American version of "The Office." For the first few years, I refused to watch it as it struggled for ratings, saying in my typical elitist fashion that there is no way that it can match up to the British one. But, after much (but not too much) persuasion from friends, I finally caved, watched an episode and realized that, while it's not the British "Office," it's good in its own right.
So, all's well that ends well, right? Wrong! For one Thursday, it suddenly struck me that I was now part of "them." The "them" that latches onto my favorite, under-rated, underground television show and turns it into an overly publicized phenomenon.
What do I do? Do I forsake my own enjoyment to honor my own ideals? Or do I sit back and watch "The Office" week after week and allow myself to become a huge hypocrite? And what happens if it becomes even more popular? Do I have the right to frown down upon the Johnny Come Latelys? I have often wondered if the people who hopped onto "24" in seasons 2 to 4 have that privilege or not. Or do they have it to some extent, but not to the level that people who have been in on it since Day 1?
I feel like with this week's column, I really did not solve anything. In fact, all I did was raise countless conundrums that will forever haunt me and possibly anyone else who reads this column and feels akin to my woe.
With that in mind, I think I'll leave you all with one final assault on your delicate psyche: what the hell does one do if the habit of not liking something because it is too popular becomes popular in and of itself? Once everyone acknowledged that the new episodes of "Family Guy" were not as good as the old ones, did that make them better?
Anyway, my apologies for not wrapping this up in a nice and neat package. Of course, if I did that, that would only serve to make my column more mainstream. And it would be overly "Twilight-Zone"-level ironic if I became too popular.
