So, a couple of years ago, I published an article on [a tv show that you all probably are watching right now because it is “appointment television,” or because the actor who plays the lead character has a giant schlong, if tabloid photos and stories are in any way true]. This article evolved out of a conference paper that I wrote, admittedly, because it meant that I could go to a conference in [Awesome City] to present on a panel with BFF and FBA with some funding, if I wrote that paper. This conference occurred just about this weekend 4 years ago, only a few weeks after my dad had died. Needless to say, what with the whole dad-death and the grieving, I threw that conference paper together. But then I got an email requesting the article-length version of the paper for an edited collection, and of course I said yes, and so then I wrote the article in the following couple of months (still reeling from the dad-death, so who knows how I even accomplished that).
But so now I feel obligated to watch this television show, even though I don’t really want to, as, frankly, I don’t think that it’s been as good since the first couple of seasons. But here I am, a person who ended up writing an article about a thing when she was all grief-stricken and shit, mainly because she just really wanted to see her friends in an awesome city, and now I am forced to see that thing through to the bitter end, as I am a person who had Theoretical Things to Say about that thing, even though I care about it not at all any more, and even though those initial things I had to say were totally automatic pilot sorts of things because I was a mess when I thought them.
Oh, fuck it. We all should just go Mad Men Ourselves and be done with it 🙂
Reassigned Time 2.0 
Your excuse is better than mine – I loved a show and propose an article to a thematic collection. However, by the time the article was wrapping up, the show was, too, and in a train-wrecky manner. Harshed my buzz, as my students would say.
Oh the responsibilities inherent in saying Theoretical Things about popular culture!
@J Liedl: Fandom is so so so dangerous to mix into any kind of criticism.
Why do you feel obligated to continue down this particular path of scholarly inquiry if you consider it to no longer be fruitful (or even ever have been)? One of the most important strategic scholarly skills I try to inculcate in my trainees is that of deciding when to shut down a line of inquiry. There is only so much time, effort, and resources available, and so any line of inquiry you do continue down represents another line of inquiry you leave unexplored. For this reason, deciding to stop pursuing something is just as important (or even more important, because of the fallacy of sunk costs) as to start.
CPP–she’s not pursuing the teevee show because she feels obligated to write more articles on it. She’s just frustrated that she still feels that she has to *watch* the teevee show! (But you make a great point about plug-pulling before the costs escalate.)
I’d say don’t stress out about it. Just enjoy it if you enjoy it (and it’s good to have something on while you’re knitting), or don’t watch it. You’re right: it’s much less interesting than it was a few years ago.
BTW, *love* your new portrait above! You look great!
Oh, yeah! New portrait is very cool! Especially the dramatic eyeshadow!