Yasmin was gonna get married. And then not enough people cared to watch, so she didn't.

 There is some television that is so abhorrent – so terrible – it should never be watched. At least that’s what your friends say. To you, it’s adorable/compelling/enjoyable – and oh so comfortable.

These horribly wonderful shows are usually hidden deep in the bowels of the wider program, aptly buried from sight. But you know where it is. You hunt it out each week, track it’s movements in the TV guide like a cougar chasing a young buck. You need to see it every time it’s on or else that unicorn you’ve got tied up in the garage gets it. You have to hunt for it because it’s never usually in the same timeslot one week to the next. Those bastard programmers really make you work hard for this secret love. 

I’ve already admitted to one now-not-so-secret pleasures – Beauty & the Geek Australia. I’ve been comforted by messages of support since then, helping me work through my shame. So many others like it too. I am validated. I have a community. But not all of us are so lucky. Not all of us will garner support when we come out & mention our secret TV pleasures, mention our unmentionables. Some of us may be pilloried for our choices or, worse, pointed and laughed at in public by toothless hags who watch Oprah & Ellen.

The TV Guide is littered with such secret pleasures, secret shames. Shows like:

  • Yasmin’s Getting Married
  • Big Brother
  • The Event
  • X Factor AU
  • How Clean Is Your House
  • Cops LAC
  • Embarrassing Bodies
  • Inspector Rex
  • Love Thy Neighbour
  • Rush
  • Offspring
  • ‘Til Death

…and so many, many more. What’s your secret TV pleasure? Have I got it all wrong? Leave a comment, lie back on the couch, & let’s talk about it and your mother… 

  

Image Source: The Age