Tiramisu and other guilty pleasures

This is an old piece, about George Michael and favourite TV show The Nanny. It was written in 2006 when George Michael was still in a relationship with Kenny Goss. I really miss Kenny, he and George made such a beautiful couple. I was a hardcore George and Kenny 'shipper and googling for news or pics of them certainly was a guilty pleasure of mine.

Last night Maria and I were rewatching George Michael: A different story. It’s a great documentary by the way. [The Guardian got it right, it is a warts'n'all hagiography.] George discusses at length the highs and lows of his life and there are lots of both.
There is also quite a bit of Kenny Goss, George’s gorgeous partner. George tells us that he wasn’t sure that Kenny was gay before he asked him out and that he still wasn’t sure on the first dinnerdate. He then all but winks at the camera and reveals that "the second night I became very sure that [Kenny] was gay". Heh.

Guilty pleasure: Charmed

Well, I finally gave in and bought the first two seasons of Charmed on DVD. Yeah, I know! I'm a bit ashamed of myself, but in my defence they were on sale.

Charmed is a true guilty pleasure. Just like Private Practice it boasts unbelievably silly scripts and actors that are far too to good to be in a show like that. The best actress in Charmed is Holly Marie Combs and even she buckled under the weight of the ever more absurd storylines.

Even so, the first three season with Shannen Doherty were rather good fun. After Shannon left, or was pushed, the quality went downhill very fast. Although the last few seasons are worth watching if only to see Comb's boredom with it all grow with each new episode. She takes phoning it in to a whole new level, and who could blame her.

If you want to feel smarter than a bunch of fictional characters, then Charmed is just the series for you. Try it, it’s fun.

Guilty Pleasure: Private Practice

This is one guilty pleasure that I'm actually ashamed of. This badly written soap about a group practice filled with unbelievably shallow doctors and therapists masquerades as a serious medical drama. It's really, really bad, but I still can't resist watching it every week.

The writers of this show are very conservative. Consequently, almost every story to do with sex ends badly. And if it's about teenagers having sex, watch out: death of one or both teenagers is imminent. Because sex is bad for you, people who are pro-choice are evil and the only people considering  euthanasia are would-be murderers.

It's as if this series takes place in a different world than the one you and I live in, sort of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer had the Buffyverse. The kind of world where a judge in  Family Court tells a woman whose kid was taken into care: "Sorry, but you can't have your child back, because your friends think you're not quite ready to be a mom again". What? I mean, really? No assessment by a social worker or anything?   Well no, as apparently they don't exist in the world of Private Practice. Neither do less than beautiful people, so it seems. Or people without too white, perfect teeth.

I feel quite sorry for Amy Brenneman, playing psychiatrist Violet. Quite a comedown for her after starring in the excellent Judging Amy. Amy's Violet is a sorry excuse for a psychiatrist. I don't think I've seen a therapist as bad as Violet, ever! She's vain, consistently does the wrong thing for the wrong reason, shares the intimate details of her patients lives with  anyone who'll listen and is self-absorbed beyond words. In other words, she fits right in with all the other completely unprofessional doctors and therapists of Private Practice.

So what exactly is the appeal of a show this bad? Well, it's very nice feeling sooo much smarter than the people you're watching on screen. In a way Private Practice fills the void in my life that Charmed left. Everyone should feel this good about themselves at least once a week! It's not so much a guilty pleasure as feel-good medication.

And of course, as they say, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Even Private Practice had some great episodes. The episode where Charlotte King was raped was surprisingly good, I admit I even shed a tear or two. KaDee Strickland is a fine actress, she and Amy Brenneman really deserve a much better show.