Thursday, January 21, 2010

Guilty Pleasures


Romance authors know a lot about guilty pleasures - sumptious food, a fabulous wine, warm bubbly soaks (preferably with a fabulous wine). So as I was driving along the other day I got to thinking about my guity pleasures - and I came up with an unusual one.

Television.

As a kid I grew up in a minimal TV family - we had one, but we kids didn't get to watch very often. Mum loved Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis, so we saw all their movies, but not much else. I can honestly say I never saw an episode of Friends or Seinfeld the first time they aired, or even the first ten times they were repeated, which made me very boring in the eyes of my friends. "How could you not watch?" they would wail in the lunchroom at work.

I watch a bit more TV now, but not a lot. So everytime I sit down to watch TV now, I feel a little bit guilty for "wasting my time" as Mum used to say. My guilty pleasures are my "must watch" TV shows and I've decided I'm not giving them up for anything.

"Inspector Rex" and "Rex in Rome" are two very cheesy cop shows with a German Shepherd as the star and some nice looking actors wandering around as policeman accessories for the well-trained Rex. The plots are a little thin but with a dog as the star its not surprising. Even so, I can't stop watching. I've even bought a series on DVD.

Even more surpising is my absolute fascination for "Big Love", an American drama that follows the life of a polygamist and his three wives as they try to survive living in the suburbs. The characters in this show are fabulous and more than make up for the controversial subject matter. The writers portray the characters' absolute conviction that their way of life is the only way. And I am hooked.

Well, those are my television obsessions. What are your "guilty pleasure" TV shows?

3 comments:

Eleni Konstantine said...

Wow - that is an unusual one. I've always loved TV ever since a kid. Watched cartoons galore on the weekends & then there were the midday movies (yep, I remember Elvis Presley & Jerry Lewis films too).

I watch TV in spurts. I find it to hard to remember programs times & then the channels change times/cancel/swap etc. So now, I tend to watch series more on DVD. Thank goodness for libraries because otherwise I would have spent a fortune.

I never feel guilty about watching TV because to me it broadens my experience & gives me another form of story-telling (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it *grin*)

Have to check out these Rex programs.

AJ Blythe said...

Fi, I love Inspector Rex :)

The one TV show I try never to miss is Spicks 'n' Specks on the ABC. Like Eleni, I'm sick and tired of TV stations changing times/starting late/mixing repeats and new epsiodes etc, so I either don't bother, or watch on DVD.

Fiona G said...

Anita and Eleni,

What's not to love with Inspector Rex. Although nearly killing him as a season cliffhanger was very poor form from the Rex in Rome writers.

I've just started buying TV on DVDs. So much better than the TV station programming. I think I'll have to get down to JB HiFi a bit more often...

Fi

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