Here are the summer shows I have come to love and laugh at. I do draw the line at certainly summer madness (no matter how many times you show the promo, ABC, I will not be watching The Gates), but in order of increasing ridiculousness:
Not A Guilt Pleasure in any Way, Shape, or Form: MAD MEN
(Season Four Premiere - Sunday, July 25th at 10:00pm on AMC)
Now that Lost has finished its run is spectacular fashion, Mad Men is the greatest show currently on television. If you haven't seen it, but have heard all of the big buzz (it's the only show to ever win the Golden Globe for Best Drama three years in a row), PLEASE check out the DVDs; Season Three was released last month. The Season Three finale was a game-changer for Don Draper, his family, and the fellow Mad Men in his office (men who worked on Madison Avenue at advertising firms in the 1960s). The show could go anywhere from here, and continues to be a dangerous smart hour of television. Beyond just the character drama, the attention to period detail in ever aspect of the show is unreal. Mad Men deserves your attention.
All Pleasure: TRUE BLOOD
Now that Lost has finished its run is spectacular fashion, Mad Men is the greatest show currently on television. If you haven't seen it, but have heard all of the big buzz (it's the only show to ever win the Golden Globe for Best Drama three years in a row), PLEASE check out the DVDs; Season Three was released last month. The Season Three finale was a game-changer for Don Draper, his family, and the fellow Mad Men in his office (men who worked on Madison Avenue at advertising firms in the 1960s). The show could go anywhere from here, and continues to be a dangerous smart hour of television. Beyond just the character drama, the attention to period detail in ever aspect of the show is unreal. Mad Men deserves your attention.
All Pleasure: TRUE BLOOD
(Sundays at 9:00pm on HBO)
I don't think I need to say much about my favorite vamps (check out yesterday's recap post for the Season Three premiere). The nine months of waiting were nearly unbearable, so sit back and enjoy the ride.
"Quality" Reality Shows: TOP CHEF: DC & SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE
I don't think I need to say much about my favorite vamps (check out yesterday's recap post for the Season Three premiere). The nine months of waiting were nearly unbearable, so sit back and enjoy the ride.
"Quality" Reality Shows: TOP CHEF: DC & SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE
(Top Chef premieres Wednesday, June 16th at 9:00pm on Bravo; SYTYCD airs Wednesdays and Thursdays on Fox)
I call these shows "quality" reality shows, and put them in the same category, because they seem to be two reality shows that are more concerned with the quality of the contestant's work (food and dance, duh), and not about casting outrageous characters for a show or to make "good television" (lookin' at you, American Idol). The air times for SYTYCD are still all over the place, as the season has just found its Top 10 (er, 11) new dancers. Top Chef delivers great drama, and a whole bunch of delicious-looking food; SYTYCD brings some incredible dancing and a whole lot of emotion.
Guilty. Pleasure.: THE BACHELORETTE
Guilty. Pleasure.: THE BACHELORETTE
(Mondays at 8:00pm on ABC)
Yep. It's a blast. Just go with it. Remember to laugh. Not gonna lie about it, it's straight-up addictive television. Plus, this year's Bachelorette Ali is gorgeous, hilarious, and utterly charming.
Impossible Not to Love: REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NY
Yep. It's a blast. Just go with it. Remember to laugh. Not gonna lie about it, it's straight-up addictive television. Plus, this year's Bachelorette Ali is gorgeous, hilarious, and utterly charming.
Impossible Not to Love: REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NY
(repeats on Bravo all summer)
These ladies are ridiculous, catty, and mentally unstable... as well as hilarious, loving, and sometimes beautifully genuine. This crew is the most entertaining and "real" of Bravo's Housewives franchise, and it's the only version that's worth watching (we'll see how DC looks with its premiere in August... but stay far, far away from the Jersey ladies). The show has become so popular that the guiltiest of guilty pleasures can actually mentioned in public! Crazy. Enjoy. And remember, money can't buy you class.
Pure, Utter Trash: TRUE BEAUTY
These ladies are ridiculous, catty, and mentally unstable... as well as hilarious, loving, and sometimes beautifully genuine. This crew is the most entertaining and "real" of Bravo's Housewives franchise, and it's the only version that's worth watching (we'll see how DC looks with its premiere in August... but stay far, far away from the Jersey ladies). The show has become so popular that the guiltiest of guilty pleasures can actually mentioned in public! Crazy. Enjoy. And remember, money can't buy you class.
Pure, Utter Trash: TRUE BEAUTY
(Tuesdays at 10:00pm on ABC)
Absolutely heinous television. Cheap production, weird set-up, impossible not to watch after The Bachelorette (because what's better than numbing your bran cells for three hours straight?!!). The concept revolves around a group of alleged beauties, living together in Vegas, and competing to be the "Face of Vegas" (basically a glorified beauty contest). However, secret cameras catch moments that reveal their "inner beauty" as well; the winner has a combination of inner and outer beauty. Whew. It's shlock, but I laugh almost the entire hour. Oh boy.
Either this evening or tomorrow afternoon, I'll be posting television shows now available on DVD that can provide smart, thought-provoking television through the doldrums of summer; if you're not into the mindless guilty pleasures, it will give you something completely guilt-free to indulge in.
Absolutely heinous television. Cheap production, weird set-up, impossible not to watch after The Bachelorette (because what's better than numbing your bran cells for three hours straight?!!). The concept revolves around a group of alleged beauties, living together in Vegas, and competing to be the "Face of Vegas" (basically a glorified beauty contest). However, secret cameras catch moments that reveal their "inner beauty" as well; the winner has a combination of inner and outer beauty. Whew. It's shlock, but I laugh almost the entire hour. Oh boy.
Either this evening or tomorrow afternoon, I'll be posting television shows now available on DVD that can provide smart, thought-provoking television through the doldrums of summer; if you're not into the mindless guilty pleasures, it will give you something completely guilt-free to indulge in.
You would have the Bachlorette and Real Housewives of NY as a guilty pleasure
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