Jericho is a guilty TV pleasure

I'm not a television snob. How could I be? I have watched entire seasons of Big Brother. That is not something that should be admitted in polite society.

But I wouldn't describe Big Brother as a guilty pleasure -- because it's missing a crucial ingredient. There is precious little "pleasure" in that series. My only explanation for watching it is that I was, for awhile, a reality TV addict.

For me, it was a backlash against overly drawn out dramatic television. I had begun to feel angry at the producers of shows like Alias and ER and Lost. I told myself that they were, perhaps, doing the best they could. But at some point, you just have to suspect that they never had any plan for, say, the bird that calls out "Hurley." They're just messing with your mind.

I began to wonder if Dr. Green was ever going to die. Did he? I finally gave up.

Reality TV, by contrast, gives you regular opportunities to leave. If Survivor jumps the shark, you can say: "Okay, I'll see if Twyla wins this year. And then I'm done." Every 13 weeks or so, you get to decide whether to re-up. And if you don't, you leave with no dangling story arcs.

But Jericho, despite being so cheesy you could grill it and call it a sandwich, is actually restoring my faith in dramatic television.

It's insultingly optimistic about what a post nuclear war scenario would be like. The dialogue is, frankly, laughable in places. Timeline issues? They've got them. (My husband started yelling at the TV when someone appeared to be watching football on a weekday.) But each week, so far, it's getting a little better.

And most importantly, it is laying out a story -- albeit a ridiculous one -- in a logical fashion. It's got a mysterious character who is, apparently, partly good and partly bad. He is complex and interesting. And -- here's looking at you Lost -- you know more about him now than you did when the season started. We are finding out things, which means the mysteries are more satisfying.

Plus, Skeet Ulrich?

Kind of fun to watch. (Blush.)