Guilty TV Pleasure

Books, comics, TV, music
21

Law & Order - I liked watching just the second half of the episode. I discovered this worked really well. Just tune in at the half-way point and skip the cops section. You still find out exactly what happened and how it happened. The first half of the show is completely unnecessary in enjoying the second half.

Colombo - Again, skip the beginning of every Colombo episode. They show you how the crime was committed, and then Colombo comes in and finds out how it was done. Well, if you skip the actual crime, you’re missing nothing, and you’re finding out the details along with Colombo, so just like Law & Order, I liked this way of viewing better than watching the whole thing.

Iron Chef - God, I loved watching this series. This got me hooked on Food TV back in 2000. Sports commentator style viewing of a cooking show was in equal parts amusing and featured food that I wished I could eat.

Top Gear - I started liking racing games in 1999, and a few years later I started watching this show, and it just got better and better. It became less about the cars as it went on, and more about just having fun, and I liked it more that way despite being a racing game fan.

80s sci-fi shows: God, I loved watching Airwolf, Knight Rider, Automan, Misfits of Science, Probe (Sherlock Holmes styled show).

C.S.I. - This was a show set in Las Vegas. What set it apart was that someone always died in a unique way. After watching about 10 episode, me and my roommate said they can’t possibly always keep showing people dying in a unique way. But they did! I think for the first two or three seasons, they kept it going. Eventually we got tired of watching the show, but man, that was impressive.

Rich Man Poor Man - This was a show in the 70s. I watched it in the 80s. My dad used to say when he visited the U.S. in the 70s, when Rich Man Poor Man was on, the streets were deserted because everyone was at home watching this show. I binged this show in the mid-80s when my local TV station started showing one episode every day. Nick Nolte was the “Poor Man” brother, and Peter… someone, Strauss or something was the “Rich Man” brother, and just watching their lives unfold on TV was fascinating.

22

This is absolutely true, I see you fall under my girlfriend’s Law and Order rules of watching. She talks to me for the first half of the show and as I give her annoying glances, she eventually follows the conversation with, “what, you aren’t even missing anything until they get to the courtroom.” But I’d miss so much of the cop characters: Lenny’s one-liners, Ed talking about his Rolex watches, etc. I’d also miss what John Mulaney calls, “the recurring characters,” of Law and Order.

This reminded me of a spin-off of that I continue to watch, Beat Bobby Flay. I tune in when I can find it on and repeatedly pull for anyone Bobby is playing against, then repeatedly talk back to the TV about the faults they have and why they aren’t going to beat him. “DUDE, why would you EVEN pick that as your signature dish to battle Bobby with!!!” “That’s not NEARLY enough flavor, step it up!” “Are you kidding me? You aren’t even going to sear it!!!”

23

Hogan’s Heroes and DS9 as “guilty pleasures”? What next? Someone claiming M*A*S*H and Monty Python as “guilty pleasures”?

24

I was wondering that myself. I wouldn’t consider DS9 a guilty pleasure at all, as it’s one of my favorite shows. Some might consider Supernatural, my other favorite show, a guilty pleasure I guess.

25

I, uh, well I watched Charmed back when it was big. That was certainly a guilty pleasure.

26

I love Homicide Hunter, especially season 1, wherethey hadn’t budgeted much for reenactments and it was just Joe Kenda talking about a case for 20 minutes.