The Show ...

You know that show. We've all had one. It's the show over which you'd just perish if you missed an episode. It's the show that had you staying home on Friday night to tape the previews and watch the entertainment shows, just in case they happened to mention that weekend's episode.

And, when it ended, it was the show that broke your heart.

But life goes on, and the years go by. To everything there is a season -- and when fall rolls around, it comes with a plethora of new offerings designed to steal your heart and replace The Show as the love of your TV-viewing life.

Only it doesn't.

So slowly, almost unconsciously, you start thinking about The Show again. Simpler times and all. Still, that was then, and this is now. You're all grown up -- and you don't need The Show to act as your guiding principles on life, love and, oh yeah, your chosen career. But funnily enough, that dream job has you sitting in front of a computer with the Internet at your fingertips. So, one day, you take an oh-so-casual gander to see if anyone out there is still interested in The Show. Not that you are or anything. Nope, not you. You've moved on.

But wait ... what's this ... The Show is coming out on DVD?!? Seriously ... there's a Web site where people write fanfic about it?!? Look ... a message board full of people just as pathetic as you! And ... ohmygodlookathepictures ... they've reunited!?!?

In an instant, the days of missing The Show are over. You're back, baby! And, even better, now you have company in that place somewhere between heaven and your own private purgatory.

And some 14 years after you first fell in love with The Show, you're on a plane to Los Angeles, wondering what the hell you're doing.