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
Gotta be “Press Gang” and “Degrassi Junior High”. Neither are on anymore though 🙁
I don’t know if it was a secret pleasure (in that I didn’t keep it a secret) but I loved Big Brother. I didn’t love it for what they showed, apart from the first series, but for what the show could have been. There was the possibility of a truly great television experience in the first series, but after that they tried to manipulate too many outcomes. It felt forced and lost the element of surprise.
When I was in England in 2005/2006, I got hooked on Celebrity Big Brother. The “cast” included politician George Galloway, Dead or Alive front man Pete Burns, glamour model Jodie Marsh, and comedian Michael Barrymore. These were truly awful people, but because of the dynamics of having people from such diverse backgrounds, and people who were actually interesting and, in some cases, intelligent, it made for compelling viewing. Big Brother barely needed to intervene to create drama. The goings on in the house were regularly front page news. It’s a pity our Big Brother could rise to similar heights, but frankly there would be some difficult ethical issues to consider that would be beyond our free to air networks.
(By the way, I did plenty of interesting things in England other than watch TV)
I pretty much outed myself as a “Rock of Love” fan – it started as curiosity and developed into a secret shame (which was, of course, tinged with pleasure). Now I’m a fully signed up member of the “if Bret Michaels is in it, I’m on board” club.
This week, I was horrified to discover that “I’d Do Anything” had managed to pass me by. I caught an episode and am going to have to hunt out the rest of the season, since it had me hooked. I adore Graham Norton, so having him as host is a huge plus for the show. Having Olivers and Nancys battle it out also gives me the chance to sing “Oom pah pah” and “Consider Yourself” to my heart’s content (and my heart has a large capacity for show tunes).
I love a lot of the ‘caught on tape’ style shows that Channel 7 seem to invest so much into. Which are now apparently the domain of 7mate. Well, I’d rather be caught watching 7mate than GEM. Don’t make a special effort to watch them, but when they come on, I’m hooked.
My secret is ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’. It is just too funny. The mothers are all built like trucks. The children are all obnoxious as they are constantly being told how ‘special’ they are. Everyone lives in a trailer park. None of the parents can spell (You DO NOT spell Karen with a silent ph!?!) It is red-neck USA at it’s absolute finest. And frankly, I CANNOT stop watching it
America’s Next Top Model! I think about what some people go through to get on a show like that and I just cringe…then I think a little more about the time they spend on the show and I cringe a little more.
The aspect of the show I find most enjoyable is/are the photo shoots. I find it interesting that a pretty girl can’t just get in front of a camera and look pretty…she needs to position her limbs in the correct way, her eyes need to be just right and her facial expression needs to say everything, without saying alot…
Also, Xena was my favourite show as a kid…I still get a little excited when it comes on cable tv. But that’s a “watch by myself” kind of show.
I should clarify that I watch it by myself cause I know it’s pretty lame and I feel silly watching it with other people.
Three words “Pretty Little Liars”.
Absolute guilty pleasure that is definitely “so abhorrent – so terrible – it should never be watched”, but I just cannot stop myself. The over-done drama, the horrified looks that go on too long, it’s so bad it’s fun. I’m looking forward to its cheesy return, so I can feel guilty watching it once more.
Ladette to Lady
World’s Strictest Parents
Wife Swap
and there are still a bunch of cartoons I’ll go out of my way to watch like Arthur 😛