Staff picks: Guilty pleasures

Some of this weeks staff picks are pretty scary.

Promo photo

Some of this week’s staff picks are pretty scary.

Lots of entertainment is easy to love – after all, why else would we consume so much of it? But then you have your TLC shows, your B-horror movies, your 80s one-hit-wonder bands, all the entertainment that elicits a simultaneous smile and cringe. Here are some of our favorite guilty pleasures.

My freshman year I happened upon a show on Nickelodeon called Supah Ninjas, which is about a 15-year-old boy named Mike Fukanaga who discovers his destiny to be a ninja with his two best friends Owen and Amanda after finding a secret dojo under his house where a hologram version of his grandfather (played by George Takei) lives. As you can imagine, the writing was corny and the show only lasted two seasons; however, it did have a decent number of cool action scenes. Supah Ninjas was a good escape for me at the time, but I was sad that I never had anyone to fangirl over the show with because I was too embarrassed to admit that I liked it and because everyone else hated it. [Litza Craig]

The only TV show that I am even slightly embarrassed about is Finding Bigfoot, which, in my opinion, is a pretty solid show. It’s kind of funny watching these guys travel the country looking for something that doesn’t exist. They use all of these dumb tactics and they never find anything. Sometimes they find “tracks”, but we all know that those are fake. Fantastic show. Definitely a fantastic show. [Graham Benefiel]

Ghost Adventures has to be my guilty pleasure TV show, because while I don’t feel guilty about laughing at its many absurdities and at the sometimes extreme zeal that the show’s host, Zak Bagans, has for the paranormal, I do feel guilty for sometimes being legitimately frightened by the evidence they collect. So I embarrassedly admit that I don’t just enjoy laughing at Ghost Adventures; Zak, Nick, and Aaron have actually made me scared to go up to my room in the dark. I’m ashamed. [Kelsey Kinzer]

The Cheetah Girls is a classic movie and no one can deny it. It doesn’t hurt to go back and watch it every now and then, does it? It’s especially great because it has such a good message about friendship and family, along with some rockin’ music. The Cheetah Girls 2 is also on Netflix, so girls’ nights can be double the fun. [Annie Smith]

I watch Toddlers in Tiaras with my mom all the time. I mean, what’s not to love about a bunch of privileged, bratty kids screaming at their parents? It makes my mom feel really good about her parenting skills, and I personally enjoy watching the weak bend over backwards for their screaming toddlers. I’m only kind of embarrassed to admit that I enjoy this show. [Cameron Scott]

Ever since fourth grade when High School Musical first came out, I have been ashamed by how much I enjoy it. Every now and then, I catch it on TV, and it becomes the highlight of my day. It’s just so good it’s bad with its catchy songs and poorly written Disney Channel script. Speaking for myself and almost all other girls my age, High School Musical is the definition of a guilty pleasure. [Hannah McElroy]

As someone who watches an inhuman amount of television, I find it surprising that there is only one I have ever felt deep shame in enjoying, and that show is Glee. Glee is a musical comedy where major plot holes, weak writing, invisible character development, pointless dramatics, and unwarranted song numbers (just to name a few) are far more expected than anything of quality. That does not stop me, however, from tuning in every Tuesday for a dose of terrible story telling.  I am unsure why I love the show so much. Maybe I love to hate it or perhaps I am holding on to a hope that they will do something worthwhile. No matter the reason, Glee will always be my deepest, guiltiest pleasure. [Tori Lafon]

For some reason, I love Fashion Police on E! I really have no idea why I like it, because I absolutely hate Joan Rivers. She doesn’t add anything to the show. She just sits there making stupid jokes with her eyebrows perpetually raised. The hosts are so shallow and I rarely agree with their opinions, but I continue to watch the show avidly. Maybe it’s because I love looking at celebrities and their outfits. Maybe I just like making fun of Joan Rivers. Whatever the reason, Fashion Police is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. [Caroline Rogers]

I feel pretty binary when it comes to entertainment – I mostly don’t feel guilty about the things that I like, and when something starts to make me cringe more than momentarily, I usually lose pleasure in it. That said, I do have a soft spot for catchy pop music that lots of people hate (or wouldn’t expect me to like, at least): I’ll admit I enjoy stuff like Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” and a good chunk of Taylor Swift’s last album, Red, in addition to the pop music that’s become critically successful and socially acceptable in the last year or two (Lorde, Justin Timberlake, etc.). [Jack H. Evans]