Guilty Pleasures

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by Hela, May 25, 2015.

  1. Hela

    Hela Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Somewhat inspired by an old list of Lindsay Ellis's:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_qHCpTiA5w

    What would people consider their 'guilty pleasures of shame'? Why do you love them so?

    By 'guilty pleasures' I don't don't movies/books/shows that are watched 'ironically' because they're bad. More the stuff you love in spite of knowing how bad they are?

    Mine would include:

    -The initial three Underworld movies.

    I loved the mythology for this series, and I thought Lucian and Victor were great characters. I think I like it more for the world it created and the potential it offered, more than its actual execution on screen. It says something that I preferred Greg Cox novelisations over the actual movies.

    - The Nightmare on Elm Street sequels

    I liked how they all tried to do something a little different (as opposed to series like Friday the 13th and Halloween), and there seemed to be a fair amount of imagination put into each of them. With the possible exception of 'Freddy's Dead' and the remake, I could at least give you something I found genuinely impressive in each of them. It also never fell into the trap of having entire casts of unlikeable Freddy's Fodder. The charcaters weren't exactly deep, but you never wished they'd just hurry up and die.

    -Planet of the Apes sequels.

    Kind of similar to the above - they each offered something different. I liked how the entire series does feel like a complete and somewhat epic story, even if we know that every sequal was just a spur-of-the-moment attempted cash-grab. It had great actors and some interesting ideas. I haven't seen the movie-field versions of the TV series, so I can't really comment on those.

    -Fantasy Island.

    Ooooh boy. Except for the pilot movie (which I think is genuinely decent for the most part), the best I can offer for this is that it's the television equivilant of comfort food. I watched it mostly for the back-and-forth between Roarke and Tattoo...and for when Roddy McDowell did his few appearances as fucking Satan - complete with red skin, pointy ears, stop-motion flower rotting powers, and little horns.

    Apologies if this is meant to be in another forum.
     
  2. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    Anyone who sees my activity in the Survivor thread knows my answer to this question.
     
  3. cardinal biggles

    cardinal biggles A GODDAMN DELIGHT Moderator

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    I'm past caring what people think about my tastes in film, television, books, and music. If they don't like it, they're welcome to fuck off. :)
     
  4. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    Hee, I remember when Roarke and Satan were bargaining for whats-'er-name's soul (the new girl character). Roarke offered a compromise where he'd get it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and Satan could have it Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. She'd get Sunday off. Or something like that - 3 days each, anyway. And Satan, in perfect Roddy McDowall form, frowned, then said, "But... that's absurd."

    Actually, it was the Love Boat I never missed. I still remember some of those episodes.

    Another candidate for a guilty pleasure involving Roddy McDowall is The Fantastic Journey. It was a short-lived series in the '70s, that also starred Jared Martin, Ike Eisenmann, and Carl Franklin, and they were trying to find the way home from an island in the Bermuda Triangle. The island was divided into "zones" where they'd find remnants of past civilizations, aliens, futuristic civilizations, and even Atlantis.

    It's available online, but the quality isn't very good (technically, I mean; I recently binge-watched it and found that I still enjoy it).

    Just think... one of those second-chance people has already been voted off. :p
     
  5. Mach5

    Mach5 Admiral Admiral

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    I used to watch Gossip Girl. I guess I had a crush on Blake Lively. Then I kinda grew out of it.
     
  6. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    I don't see the designation of 'Guilty pleasure' as being a measure of how other people might judge you. I see it as more of the 'Junk food' of television. A short, intense burst of flavor that doesn't last very long and has no substance behind it.
     
  7. sidious618

    sidious618 Admiral Admiral

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    Probably Family Guy especially when you consider how bad it's gotten.
     
  8. Beagleman

    Beagleman Commodore Commodore

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    Oh yes, it was terrible cheese in every way. I watched every episode.

    Right now I'm watching Salem, that one is so bad it hurts (Brannon Braga is one of the show runners:p).
     
  9. Shurik

    Shurik Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    2012. No disaster porn movie will ever reach the levels of this movie. It's absolutely ridiculous, over the top, disregards any science rules that even 7 year olds know, yet strangely so fun to watch for all these reasons.
     
  10. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    Also @Midnight. Almost the definition of 'Comfort food TV'. A stream of dumb, dirty jokes about stuff someone found on the internet.
     
  11. Savage Dragon

    Savage Dragon Not really all that savage Moderator

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    I love watching Ancient Aliens. Not that I buy into their theories, I just get a kick out them.
     
  12. Beagleman

    Beagleman Commodore Commodore

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    It makes fun of and profits from things on the net that are idiotic, it is a perfect mirror for society today. In short: I don't feel guilty for liking it.:D
     
  13. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    God help me, I used to watch AbFab. I honestly don't remember why. Probably Bubble.
     
  14. Showdown

    Showdown Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The Total Drama animated series. This is the type of show I usually hate, but I enjoy it, especially seasons 1 & 3.
     
  15. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    That's one of my few old timey, childhood memories of the show as well.

    I was looking at the IMDB credits for no reason a couple days ago and "Whats-'er-name" is actually Wendy Schaal. Sure she's the wife from American Dad which doesn't equate to much because cartoons don't count, but Wendy was also the EMH from Voyager's Holographic wife from that story where he gets sad beause one of his kids died.

    ...

    On my mp3 player, I have the complete works of the Spice Girls, and I was listening to some of it on my walk to the shops earlier today.
     
  16. HIjol

    HIjol Vice Admiral Admiral

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    One of mine, also, and I even have it on a Memory Stick for those unexpected delay times. What IS it about that movie! :lol:

    Tell us what you bought, what you really really bought?... :guffaw:
    :


    My Guilty Pleasures would have to inclued:

    Love Boat
    Partridge Family
    The Brady Bunch
    ...and, yes...

    The "Donnie and Marie" Specials

    <...is there "exit" paperwork I gotta sign now, or does my password just get scrambled?...>.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 27, 2015
  17. Spot's Meow

    Spot's Meow Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Pretty Little Liars - This one borders on guilty pleasure and legitimate television, I think. The plot is way convoluted and it can have lots of silly teen moments (though really they all act like they are in their mid 20s), but it also has some funny writing and good acting (not everyone in the cast...Toby is just awful). Supposedly there is just one season left.

    Big Brother - I only include this because others would see it as a guilty pleasure. I actually think it is a good show and I appreciate the psychological experiment aspects of it. However you mostly get this from watching the live feeds rather than the televised episodes.

    Once upon a time I was really into America's Next Top Model. I gave up on it a few years ago, when Tyra really started to go off the deep end and after that whole Angelea winning-but-not-winning scandal.
     
  18. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I found a couple days ago, something that shook me to my core.

    [yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7yYCepJmZM[/yt]
     
  19. Gary Mitchell

    Gary Mitchell Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    ^Thank goodness that was only one episode.

    Correction: 16 episodes. Yuck
     
  20. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Toby is not a bad actor, he's just extremely unattractive.

    Although he's taken his shirt off a couple times and if you're into guys, suddenly his ugly face is completely irrelevant.

    There was an aspersion made last year that actually got me excited. That A is one of the main four girls. That one of them has been playing her friends and Alison the whole time.

    Pretty little Liars is not a Guilty pleasure for me, it's a pulsating cyst that will not die.

    Aria has made so many bad choices with men, that she deserves a state mandated, gps monitored chastity belt to save her poor cooch from her tiny, awkward brain.

    Hasn't Mike grown up to be so big and strong?