Temperature's Rising'...

When does a "cool" pop culture item lose its coolness? Comic books, popular literature, music, films, television shows... sooner or later, every cool show ceases being cool. So when does it "warm up," so to speak--and why? That's not a rhetorical question; I really wish I knew a formula for calculating the half-life of cool...

Remember a long, long time ago when Twin Peaks was cool and everyone talked about every episode the next day? Remember when X-Files was cool? Remember when Ally MacBeal was cool? James Bond movies? Vin Diesel? Bruce Willis? Lawrence Sanders? Britney Spears? Los Bros Hernandez? Pinky & the Brain?...

The current cool show is Lost. There's buzz after every episode airs; avid fans scan every minute of the episode looking for hidden clues, for "Easter eggs" that reveal hidden details of the show. Aficionados scatter the numbers 4-8-15-16-23-42 in their writings, in their art; it's a badge of coolness. But the "lead time" for pop culture is such that by the time some of these references appear, they're not cool any more; they're cool-wannabee, like the "hip" Bob Haney dialogue in a 1960's issue of Teen Titans. And the more the cool-wannabees push the edge of coolness with their sycophantic attitude, the quicker they raise the ambient pop-culture temperature of their current fave out of the cool range.

How long will it be before Lost allusions are as uncool as a dancing baby references? I'm guessing not very long at all, judging by the nova-like intensity this show has risen to pop-culture phenomenon status. I know that I'm getting tired of the allusions already, and I enjoy Lost...