24. Are you hooked? How'd that happen?

I hadn't watched a TV show in 8 years. Then last year I was over at a friends house with another friend, and the two said they were going to watch this TV show "24" they liked, and I said "fine I'll check email over here" but I kept hearing things on the show that were alternately so absurd and cheesy and other things so captivating that I kept turning around. By the end of the show I was hooked on this fantastic, captivating show. I've now watched all 5 seasons: 4 and 5 when they were airing, and 1-3 on boxed set DVD's.

Yesterday I got into a discussion about TV shows and movies and fear. The discussion reminded me of some of king's comments too. Anybody else out there watch 24? Ask yourself honestly, does it make you fearful? And since you probably realize how impossible it all is, what is it inside you that allows you to be captivated by it anyway?

I'll go first. I work in technology for a living. The absurd is ever before me in terms of people's expections of technology brought about by what tech companies have advertised it is and does. Absurdity is scrawled all over the box it comes in. (This arrogance on the part of tech companies never ceases to blow my mind). So many days I make a living filling in the gap, at great cost, between the affordable utopia advertised by the tech companies and the reality that begins when the thing comes out of the box.

So when I watch 24, I get to see the tech things do all the absurdly impossible things the tech companies advertise they do, and I also get to watch tech people thrive under even more stress and pressure than I have in my own tech job.

I make a living doing other things too ... sometimes people dream of new things on their own and I get to help bring those dreams into reality. I like that part of my job a lot better. But I'm getting off topic. Back to 24. So if you watch 24 ... what's your answer to the above questions?