On The Wagon

No, not what you think. I've made a decision. For May sweeps, I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm giving up SPOILERS.

For as long as I've watched television and been connected to the interwebs, I've been a spoiler whore. (thankfully, that's the kind of whore rep you can magically shake). I can't tell you how many things I found out ahead of time. Buffy would die saving Dawn. Wes would die and Angel would fight a dragon. Darla would return from the dead. President Palmer would be shot. Michael would kill Ana-Lucia and Libby. The Ice Truck Killer would be Dexter's brother. Rose would leave The Doctor. President Petrelli in the future would really be Sylar. Johnny Gavin would get shot. Boomer would shoot Adama. Starbuck would return.

It's virtually impossible to keep spoilers off the net. How The Sopranos does it is simply amazing. (And how tense was that scene on the boat with Tony and Paulie, not knowing what would happen?) I've always told myself that even if I know what's coming, it doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the story because I still get to see HOW the surprise unfolds. And many times, I have a good idea of what's coming anyway, just because I've watched so much television and rarely are writers subtle about foreshadowing their "surprises." (in fact, one of the last times I can remember being truly, truly surprised was when Nina Myers killed Terri Bauer at the end of Season 1 of 24).

But I'm going to conduct an experiment for the last month of the 2007 TV season and go completely spoiler free. The only advance notice I'll expose myself to on upcoming shows will be the blurbs in the daily paper and the episode descriptions on the "to do list" for Tivo.

Occasionally, if I have a theory, I'll post it under the "speculation" tag, but I'm going to go cold turkey and see if the producers of some of my favorite shows can surprise me. This should be particularly interesting, given that Heroes and Lost, among other shows, seem primed to deliver some major shockers before the month is out.