Everyone has that something – that one thing that you’re not supposed to like for one reason or another, but you can’t help it; you do! Whether it’s a shallow TV show for a younger age group or some fan girl obsession you’ll never outgrow, admit it: you have a guilty pleasure.
Ready, break!
Lesley Goldberg: I have mad nerd-worshiping geek love for CBS’ The Big Bang Theory. What started out appealing to my pop culture obsession kicked up a notch with lovable characters – and great guest stars like Sara Gilbert and now Mayim Bialik (Blossom!) – that are insanely lovable. I’d love to share some time on the couch with newly minted Emmy winner Jim Parsons – and I’ll even let him sit in Sheldon’s spot. Watching this show is like falling in love with the underdogs. Bazinga!
Dara Nai: I like to occasionally crank call conservative groups, using their toll free phone numbers. They pay for the call, and I get to mess with them. It’s a pleasure, but I don’t feel the slightest bit guilty about it. This may be a misnomer.
Dorothy Snarker: The Vampire Diaries. Yes, I watch a teenage show about vampires that airs on the CW. Got something to say about it? No other show on TV right now has the same deliciously fast pacing, crazy plot progression and sexy vampire love triangle (whatever, True Blood) as TVD. My heart skipped a beat when Nina Dobrev jumped out of nowhere to join that amazing Emmys opening number. And, yeah, I just ordered the Season One DVD yesterday. Suck on that.
drummerdeeds: Ugh, my guilty pleasure-obsession is Pretty Little Liars. I never thought I’d be addicted to a show on ABC Family, and, quite frankly, I’m really embarrassed to be posting this on the Worldwide Web. However, thanks to PLL, my summer was not in the least bit lonely as I had my TV girlfriend Emily Fields (played by Shay Mitchell) heating up the screen in my cold, dark basement. Sure, she has only one facial expression, but do you know anyone else who could melt the polar ice caps with just a lip pout and furrowed brow? I think not. I’m guilty, but the pleasure is all mine.
Karman Kregloe: Man vs. Wild on Discovery. I have no interest in men and hardly any experience with the wild, but I am hooked on this show! Bear Grylls has taught me how to make a snow cave, how to fashion a hammock from a piece of bamboo and how to self-administer an ocean water enema when lost at sea and dying of thirst. I really hope I am never lost at sea.
Mia Jones: I guess you could really say The Real L Word was my guilty pleasure. I wanted so badly to punch Rose’s face through my television set, to comfort Tor when Whitney did something stupid and to barf violently when Sarah’s name was pronounced or a dildo was sent double-dipping. Still, I DVR’d it and made sure to watch it as soon as I could.
The Linster: I have a collection (I call it a collection, exes have called it “crap,” which is one reason they are exes) of female action figures and a few select statues. Everything from Wonder Woman to Ripley to Katchoo. (My latest addition is one I will not reveal because Heather Hogan would get on a plane and come to my house to steal it.) I am still looking for the Birds of Prey set.
I do avoid the really bad ones – like the one where Princess Leia’s face looks like a shaved Chewbacca. And Barbie Catwoman. WTF?
Alley Hector: Gossip Girl is my quintessential guilty pleasure. Money, power, fashion and girl fights. At least it’s totally open about what it is.
Heather Hogan: When I was a kid – back before I knew Little Women belongs in the freezer with The Shining – I had a full-blown emotional metldown when Beth March died and Jo didn’t end up with Laurie. I was almost (but not quite) as inconsolable as the time when Charlotte died, leaving the little pig Wilbur to fend for himself in the great big world. After many, many days of moping and wailing and shaking my fist at the injustice of it all, I decided there was only one way to fix my broken imagination: I pulled out my Lisa Frank unicorn Trapper Keeper and rewrote Louisa May Alcott’s ending.
I spent years rewriting TV and movies and books the way I wanted them, and then one day – somewhere between Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I discovered that other people did the same thing! And it had a name! And its name was fan fiction! And lo, many fandoms worth of fanfic have been my guilty pleasure ever since that fateful moment when Ron and Hermione kissed in the Shrieking Shack, years before they actually kissed in Deathly Hallows.
Grace Chu: Two words: Jersey. Shore.
With lines like this, who can look away? “Jenni’s tits definitely defy gravity. Albert Einstein should come back and rewrite his law of physics and work it around Jenni’s tits.” – Vinnie (Season 2, Episode 3, “Creepin”)
Plus, if I were disrespected in a club and some skanks were up in my grill threatening me with bodily harm, I would prefer to be hanging out with J-Woww and Snooki rather than the nebbish yuppies and media industry geeks I usually hang out with. With the latter, I would be fending for myself; with J-Woww and Snooki, I know my bitches got my back.
Trish Bendix: Hi, I’m Trish and I’m a Lifetime movies addict. They made the entire Lifetime Movie Network just for people like me: people who can appreciate melodramatic women-led stories that are often based on real people and events. (Sometimes not, though, and those star Susan Lucci.)
The thing is, I’ve seen several of them more than once – probably even more than twice. I can watch the same Lifetime movies over and over, even though I know exactly what is going to happen to Candace Cameron when she breaks up with the violent Fred Savage; or Lisa Rinna finds out she’s dating her best friend’s husband.
OK, your turn. What’s your vice?
