Guilty Pleasures

Guilty Pleasures…

Seems I had a lot of them this week, which is no different than any other week really. The difference is this week I’m brave enough to write them down.

1. The American Idol Finale

I love David Cook. He is incredibly talented and can sing a song like no one else can. I’m admittedly NOT the reality show type. I end up tuning in every week from curiosity or because of the show’s clever use of the music superstar mentors they have every week to “coach” the contestants.
I found David Cook by accident. After watching Dolly Parton on the show and after hearing his rearranged version of Lionel Richie’s Hello, I was a goner. You could say he had me at hello. [Yes, incredible bad pun intended] I heard that there were over 97 million votes, 20 of which were mine. Me…who never vote and never really cared, voted 20 times. I hope they helped make a difference.
Good luck to him. I wish him well. I think he can be one of the few idols winners to go on to have big success like Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.

2. Dancing With The Stars

Damn you Cameron Matheson! I watched reluctantly every week in support of my favorite show “All My Children”. I had hoped that his appearance would give the soap some great promotion and much needed ratings boost after a disastrous tumble creatively after a shift in head writers. Boy was I wrong on both accounts. The soap seemed to only get worse and lost viewers who were tired of watching only one depressing story. And perhaps worst of all, Cameron couldn’t dance. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t vote for him. Lucky for me, the show will be improving now that they’re getting a new writing team late summer and Cameron hung up his dancing shoes for good. I didn’t stop watching the show because of the dancers. I loved Max, Edyta, Tony, Cheryl, Kym…they all kept me watching. So now, I continue to watch, even when I don’t want to. It’s all Cam’s fault.

3. Entertainment Weekly Magazine

I skim through the pages every week looking for the latest news on music, television and film. It’s not quite Premiere or Biography Magazines, which I loved and missed so dearly, but is, does quietly nicely on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

4. Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210

SOAPnet has been showing reruns of both shows on their channel. These shows were staples for me on Mondays and Wednesdays. I always look on Saturday mornings and wonder why women would put up with Michael’s BS or why to see which misunderstood bad girl Dylan would be with the episode, Brenda, Valerie or Gina on 90210.

5. Romance Novels

I haven’t read these regularly since high school. What? With the recent writer’s strike, I took them up again. Some of the recent best authors are Shannon Hollis, Cherry Adair and Linda Howard. Check these talented ladies out.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/linda-howard/

http://www.shannonhollis.com/

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/cherry-adair/

6. Nightline

The writer’s strike proved critical again to watch I watched. Not into watching reruns of the tonight show, I started watching again. From the election coverage to their recent “list” series where artists such as Pras and Wyclef discuss their favorite music, this show is finding it’s own again since losing Ted Koppel.

7. I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, Sex And The City, Fraiser

I don ‘t know why I feel guilty when watching Lucy sometimes. Surely everyone has seen and can probably quote every line from the “Vitamita Vegamine” episode, me included. The guilt comes from flipping through channels wishing Lucy were on. Television is so not what it used to be for me. I’d gladly sit through a mediocre sitcom if that meant that I could watch a fantastic one in syndication later. Finding the “I Love Lucy’s , “The Honeymooners”, “The Sex And The City” and the “Frasiers” is getting harder and harder when they are lost in between the reality shows and entertainment news programs. But they’re out there. If you’ve never seen any of the sitcoms mentioned, you don’t know what you are missing. Look for them and watch. You’ll be glad you did.