Best Of 2008: 5 Guilty Pleasures (You Know You Watch Them)

By Sara A. Bibel
Fancast.com

There are television shows you’re proud to admit you love: Mad Men, House, 30 Rock. Then there are the shows that are a dirty little secret between you and your Tivo. They might be low brow, but are highly entertaining. Here are Fancast’s picks for the Top 5 guilty pleasures of 2008.

1. The Girls Next Door

For straight men, it’s a chance to stare at pixellated fake boobs and day dream about having a harem. For women, The Girls Next Door is an opportunity to feel smugly superior. This E! “documentary” about the lives of Hugh Hefner’s three “girlfriends” purports to show what life is like in the Playboy mansion. The girls, Holly, Bridget, and Kendra have a lot in common. All have bleached blonde hair, big boobs and dubious motives. The producers stage various “comedic” events to form each episode. But it’s the inadvertent truthful moments of dysfunction that make the show. Whether it’s one of the girlfriends confessing that she dreamed of being a centerfold since elementary school when she discovered her Dad’s stash of Playboy, or the shots that reveal how shabby the mansion actually is, The Girls Next Door is bound to make you feel better about your life.

2. Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is

You’ve got to give Keyshia Cole credit for letting it all hang out. In the BET reality series that chronicles her life, Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, Cole shows off a lot more than the glamor of her life as an R&B star. She documents her extraordinarily troubled family: There’s her drug addicted mother Frankie, who gave Keyshia up for adoption. She made her debut on the series from jail. Then there’s her alcoholic sister Neffe. Watching their family therapy sessions is the height of voyeurism. It’s either brave or shameless that they have all agreed to broadcast their dirty laundry. Whatever their motives, it’s compelling television.

3. The Secret Life of The American Teenager

All hail Brenda Hampton, creator of the so-bad-you-can’t-stop-watching Seventh Heaven. Her new masterpiece is even worse… or better–The Secret Life of the American Teenager. This time she’s made her strange obsession with teenage pregnancy and sex (the subject of 75% of the episodes of 7H) the focus of the show. The central drama concerns a fifteen year-old who got pregnant the “first time” she did it. And to top it off, the baby daddy is the school Casanova – who only has sex because he was molested as a child. That’s the beauty of this show. Every character thinks of nothing but sex, and nobody enjoys it. Sex is a pathology that leads only to pregnancy, misery and disease. It’s the bizarro Gossip Girl. The other characters include a baton twirling Latina bad girl, a purity ring wearing good girl and Molly Ringwald, longing for the subtlety of For Keeps as the protagonist’s mother. The craziest thing is that this show is the biggest hit ABC Family has ever had. Its season finale went head to head with 90210 and attracted ten times as many teen viewers. Admit it. You were one of them.

4. Rock of Love

It’s hard to classify the show that added the phrase “circus clown tits” to our lexicon as a guilty pleasure. Surely Rock of Love With Bret Michaels is educational television. Putting trashy women together in a house to compete for the prize of Poison singer Bret Michaels affections is a fascinating anthropological experiment. The women get drunk enough to convince themselves they’re actually all competing for the same man. Brett drinks enough to convince himself that he really is interested in some of these women. Kudos to the producers for coming up with wild competitions including phone sex, and “a tour bus challenge.” The casting is also stellar, with eccentric age-inappropriate Rodeo a particular stand out. After two seasons, Bret still hasn’t found true love. Maybe every rose really does have its thorn.

5. The Real Housewives Of Atlanta

The Real Housewives of Atlanta broke down the reality show glass ceiling by proving that rich African American women can be every bit as superficial and materialistic as their Caucasian Orange County counterparts. When Anderson Cooper confessed to being a NeNe fan, it was a sign that this show had become an important part of our pop culture. Tone deaf Kim’s attempts to become a country singer were hilarious. So were her claims that she was 29 and that she wore a cheap wig because she mistakenly thought she had cancer. One thing’s for sure: We’ll all be watching season two.