My Guilty Pleasure -- No. 2

I started a series of "guilty pleasures" a long time ago and only made one post on it. I guess the series aspect of it never panned out, so I thought I would try again and admit to another guilty pleasure that I have and indulge in on a weekly basis.

Desperate Housewives.

I know, I know. Pure trash airing on a Sunday night, but I can't help myself. The first season hooked me with it's plot about a character's suicide, the torrid affair between an unhappily married wife and a gardener, a mother struggling to juggle her duties as wife/mother/professional career woman... There were so many interesting stories in season one.

The show probably hit it's stride around season three and has slowly but steadily slipped since then. The characters have become shrewish and it is difficult to empathize with them. The fact that the actresses themselves are obviously ageing but not being allowed to do so with dignity is a little off-putting. The plot lines, which were always a bit stretched, are now past the line of being absurd.

Yet I keep watching because I have this obsession with shows that I've begun...I have to watch them from beginning to end and I've only broken that rule once--with Gossip Girl. Enough said, I've purged that show from my memory anyway.

More on topic--in the most recent episode of DH one of the husbands gives his wife an ultimatum--choose to side with your friend (whose teenage son had run over his grandmother) or stand by me. He seems extremely serious and pan the camera to the pleading eyes of his wife.

Since watching that episode, I've given quite a bit of thought to ultimatums. When are they right or fair to make? If you truly love someone, will you ever give them an ultimatum? When does making forcing an ultimatum simply become manipulation?

I don't have the answers to any of those questions and I would guess that all the answers would be situational anyway. There is no black-and-white, right-and-wrong rule to using ultimatums. I would hope that in my relationships I will never have to, but who knows? People are unpredictable and human/flawed.

Cue next scene: pleading housewife knocks on said friend's door and enters with her two children trailing behind her.

Sometimes it feels wrong giving into ultimatums. The whole relationship changes when you allow yourself to be controlled or manipulated by someone who says that they love you.

And this is why I love Desperate Housewives. It leads me to these interesting thoughts.

My Guilty Pleasure -- No.1

This marks the first of a series of guilty pleasures that I have had, or am currently having a love affair with. I'm going to kick off this series with a guilty pleasure that I just indulged in -- The Vampire Diaries.

I haven't jumped on the crazy vampire train. I don't own any t-shirts that say "I Wish I Was In Forks" or "My Boyfriend Sparkles". Although I did admittedly see Twilight and New Moon in theatre, and have both of the soundtracks (what can I say? the tracks are ballin'.), I still don't consider myself a huge vampire fan. One of the reasons is because of how much the mythology has been romanticized. Good vampires? Vampires with the sincere desire to make right life choices? When will a fad of "good Nazis" take over?

Anyway, the point is, the whole inevitable storyline of "brooding vampire boy tries to make good, meets soul mate human girl, eventually will turn her" gets old very quickly, which is why I was so skeptical of The Vampire Diaries, a teen drama/fantasy that can induce eye rolls, but also is gripping.

At some points in this first season, the dialogue loses lustre and actors/actresses sound as though they are reading their lines from cue cards behind the camera; it even gets a bit predictable with the "human damsel in distress" situations, but let me just say, the two reasons why I tune in with after week (with some excitement, I'll admit) are these:

Need I say any more? Hot, young, hot, smart, fast, hot, dangerous!, edgy, HOT, males!

Even the leading lady is (in my opinion) an attractive human being/easy on the eyes/smokin'. Proof:

There you have it. The plot line might get a bit wearisome and predictable at times, but the good looking cast is enough to keep me (and millions of others) coming back for more. I'm ashamed to admit it...The Vampire Diaries has dragged me under.