The joy of a guilty pleasure

Have you ever liked a song, book, movie or TV show that you might have been a little (or maybe more than a little!) embarrassed to admit to others was a favorite of yours? That's a guilty pleasure. There is a large spectrum in guilty pleasures, of course--some pleasures are just barely guilty and shared by many others (though your friends and family may not be among them) and some are deliciously guilty (i.e., you rarely tell others that you're into them).

One of my favorite guilty pleasures is reality TV. Oh sure, reality TV is HUGE (especially in the summer, when there is nothing else to watch) and some of the hottest shows on television are reality shows. But here, too, there is a spectrum. You have your mainstream reality shows like American Idol, which has many millions of fans from little kids up to grandmas. Then you have gems like Living with the Lohans, Celebrity Fit Club, and some of those rock and rap star ones that I don't even know the names of (competing for Flav-a-Flav? yikes). My favorite night of reality TV right now is Wednesday night.

I start Wednesday evenings with Greatest American Dog which, when you get right down to it, isn't that great a show--but, hey, it has cute dogs doing tricks (go Bill & Star!)!

Next is one of my favorites, Project Runway on Bravo. Every season, I get the bug to sew when the PR hits the air. You get a sewing class, a fashion show and the drama of a bunch of creative and slightly crazy people pushed to their limit all on one show. Fab! I adore Tim Gunn, who is sort of a designer den daddy. He has the unenviable job of telling a designer when they are going down the wrong path with one of their outfits. As a designer, you never want to hear Tim Gunn say the words "I'm concerned." Especially when you have 2 hours before the deadline when a model will parade your fashion down a runway in front of some of the most critical judges on television (Elle editor Nina Garcia is straightforward with her painful remarks, while designer Michael Kors is often more hurtful by the jokes he makes about your outfit).

To close out the night, there is Shear Genius--Project Runway for hairdressers. Talk about embarrassment. How about cockily walking around the first few days of the show telling your fellow contestants that you've won an Emmy for hairstyling--and then being the first voted off? Ouch. This show borders on embarrassment more than most of the reality TV I watch. Some of these people are truly talented, no doubt about it, but some of them? Lord have mercy.

Reality show producers are really talented at casting people who will hate each other or at casting big personalities that the audience will love to hate. That's what makes the drama, which often makes for the best ratings. However, my tolerance for bitching and screaming only goes so far. This season of Big Brother, for example, has gone too far on a few occasions--descending into a finger-pointing, in-your-face, screaming throwdown. That is not why watch reality TV.

So why DO I watch reality TV? I love to watch total strangers (usually) of disparate lifestyles and personalities learn how to cope with one another and with the pressure of competition. Many contestants leave reality shows saying that it's been one of the best experiences of their lives--and I think that, in part, is because it often forces them see themselves from a different perspective and challenges them to step outside their comfort zone.