Guilty Pleasures

I am only slightly embarrassed to admit that I am a bit of a TV junkie. If I had to point fingers, I would say that my crafting is somewhat to blame for this ~ most of my creative outlets for the past 5+ years have been knit~ or crochet~related, and let’s face it, unless you’re working on a really difficult pattern, knitting and crocheting only uses maybe 1/3 of your brain power. So, to keep the other 2/3 of my brain occupied, I’ve relied on what my family affectionately refers to as the “boob tube.” Needless to say, I have watched a lot of television shows and movies over the years. That being said, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that during my brief time as an invalid over the past two weeks, I spent a lot of time in front of the TV. Unfortunately because of my painkiller-induced fog (my tooth really hurt!), I was in no fit state to work on garters or the yellow baby blanket that is my back-up project. I quickly worked my way through all of my favorite shows on On Demand, and ventured out into the land of never~before~seen television. In doing so, I discovered two fabulous shows that I am now completely addicted to ~ Bridezillas and Wife Swap.

Bridezillas is wonderful and horrid all at the same time ~ it’s fun to watch the ways in which different brides plan their special days, but their behavior and attitudes, especially towards their helpful family members and friends and their loving fiancés, is more often than not truly horrifying. More than once, I found myself wanting to scream at the naïve fiancé to “Run! Run far, far away as fast as you can! You don’t know the horrible witch you are committing to spending the rest of your life with!” I don’t think I will ever forget cringing as one bride shouted at her future husband to push himself harder at the personal training session she signed him up for four days before the wedding, proclaiming as she stuffed no less than three doughnuts in her mouth that their pictures had to look nice and he needed to lose his double chin, or as she berated him for his poor table manners at their rehearsal dinner in front of all their guests. Nevertheless, I have a hard time tearing myself away from the screen whenever the show is on. It’s definitely a cautionary tale of how NOT to act for all future brides.

Wife Swap is equally enjoyable, but for completely different reasons. I generally actually like the people who are featured on the show, and it’s rewarding to see how they all change after the experience of either living with a new family or having a new “wife” in the house for two weeks. I especially love watching how the new “wives” adapt to their new surroundings and bring new rules and traditions into the mix, and how they utterly and completely fall in love with their new “children.” I can watch episode after episode of this show, and fortunately for me, Dear Boyfriend likes it too.

I couldn’t say exactly why I like these shows so much ~ maybe because I dream of one day being a bride (albeit a well-behaved one), and then a wife and a mother. Whatever the reason, I sure do love my new~found guilty pleasures!