The TV is busted. Okay, it's still working, but we might be better off if it were busted. The stuff that's on it is busted. Well, that's closer to the truth. The brains of the people writing stuff to put on it are busted. Ah, the truth at last.

Smallville's season premiere had a surprise. No, not a clever twist in the plot, but a disappointing slump in the quality of writing. The story was plenty entertaining. The problem is that a show that has done just fine without joining the rank ranks of the pushing-the-envelope wannabes had an entirely unnecessary and oddly uncharacteristic sequence of suggestive shots of Kristin Kreuk--apparently naked in bed with just a sheet over her, in silhouette in the shower, etc.

Why? Did it add anything to the story? No. Is it the kind of content that brought watchers to the show in past seasons? No. Are the writers' or producers' brains so busted that think Smallville needs to become another one of those shows that couldn't have been shown on broadcast TV when I was a kid in order to be popular? I sure hope not. I guess we'll have to see where things go later in the season. I just hope that those scenes were an abberation--the director wanting to do something "artistic", and being allowed to do so in a moment of insanity. Please guys, you've got a great show. Don't sully it.