I Should Know Better Than To Be Surprised

'Smallville' has never been deathless art. It is not television I watch for the betterment of my mind and soul, nor for its artistic value. At its best, it was the visual equivalent of microwave popcorn - instant fluffy filler. But it had some vaguely good scenes, and a few of the characters actually worked well together.

After mumblemany years, though, I have finally become fed up with it. I can't really say that it has jumped the shark; this is more a situation of having moved into the hammerhead tank and taught them all to play Double-Dutch. The only thing that could possibly make this more egregious would be tuning in next week to see Emmanuel Lewis guest-starring as the vat-reared Kryptonite freak baby of Lex Luthor and Lana Lang.

Of course, I can't stop myself from watching each week, just to see how bad it gets. Which, I suppose, is exactly what the writers and producers want. But I *think* I'm at least more ashamed of them than of myself.....