Oh, come one, we all have them: things we do that don’t particularly fit our usual pattern of entertainment or pastimes. I tend to cycle through them. In high school is was romance novels, useful for when I was sick and needed a break from the classics I usually read. As an adult it’s been certain sitcoms and even a brief stint as a fan of WWF (wrestling… I was a HHH fan lol).
Now, it seems, my guilty pleasure is certain reality tv shows. Let me point out that I totally dispise the competition-based shows like Survivor, Amazing Race, etc. The only competition reality show I will watch is America’s Next Top Model and even then I really dislike the way they highlight the snipeyness and hostility of the girls. I occasionally watch Wife Swap, but even then it’s more like a train wreck I cannot look away from if I accidentally happen upon it (it’s the whole pushing conflict thing; yes, most people do come out of the 2 weeks with some appreciation of the other side but the beginnings are just so horrible with the level of intolerance and ignorance displayed). But no, my true guilty pleasure is now The Girls Next Door.
But wait, I haven’t totally lost my mind. For all that it focuses on the lives of Hugh Hefner and his three live-in girlfriends it’s really lacking in the Playboy-esque flavor that I originally thought it must contain. The girls are not snipey at one another, Hef comes across as a pretty good guy, you get to see all the non-porn activities that go around the place and, honestly, it’s one of the best examples of polyamory and co-living that I can think of. And it’s very pink and pretty and cute and even when there are minor disagreements or whatever they aren’t blown out of proportion the way you would expect with a reality show.
So there. That’s my confession. Yay for E! playing back to back episodes several times during the weekend because I can get my ‘fix’ multiple times without having to wait week to week or until March (?) when season three starts.