Shame Watch Confessional: The Shows Our Friends Love to Hate On Us For
Everybody has that show (or five) that they would never turn on at a party, but that they could never give up, no matter how bad it got. The world at large may never understand the love between you and your show, but it doesn't have to. No one has to. Who cares what the world thinks of you and your love for Teen Mom, or the fact that you have boxsets of America's Next Top Model, or your shrine to the guys of Pawn Stars? You just do you, and that includes loving whatever shows you want to love. Here, we've decided to confess. Our friends and family may mock us for our taste in TV, but these are the shows we love anyway, and the shows that will love us back, forever and always.
Be sure to head to the comments below to confess your own shameful shows. We're all friends here. We're in the nest.
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Teen Wolf (MTV)
Typically, once people realize I'm not actually talking about the 80's movie starring Michael J. Fox, they start to question literally everything about me. Why would a grown woman be so into a show that's mostly about shirtless teenage werewolf boys running in forests to hip music? First of all, I'm only grown-ish, and those shirtless teenage werewolf boys are (mostly) not actually teenaged, and are really good actors. The women are also phenomenal (and generally phenomenally written), and if you're looking for realistic teenage relationships, both romantic and friendly, look no further. Even the parents are well-written, well-rounded characters. Also, Dylan O'Brien. I've said enough.—Lauren Piester
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Reign (CW)
It's Gossip Girl meets Game of Thrones, so utterly ridiculous (someone actually gets boned out of a window by a king!) yet addicting.—Tierney Bricker
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Snapped (Oxygen)
Don't ask me how many episodes of Snapped I've watched in one sitting. Just don't. I just love true-crime stories, especially when family and friends, as well as the lawyers, police offers and detectives involved weigh in. And when it's a themed Snapped special, like "Killer Couples"? Cancel all of my plans and warn my couch that I'm about to make a major dent in it.—Tierney Bricker
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The Challenge (MTV)
I am not a fan of reality TV, but there's something about MTV's The Challenge franchise that has become something completely different from what you'd expect from a competition series. Maybe it's the fact that returning players from The Real World and previous Challenge seasons keep coming back year after year, and have cultivated personas on the show for over a decade now. Maybe it's the fact that all the relationships between the returning players have gotten so messy and interconnected that no matter who drunkenly hooks up with who, someone else is going to get mad or jealous. Or maybe it's the increasingly ridiculous, hilarious, and downright impressive physical challenges the players have to endure to make it the finals. Or maybe it's just when the hot, outspoken and free-spirited players get drunk and play stupid pranks on each other to blow off the steam of competing. Whatever it is, I can't get enough of it!—Sydney Bucksbaum
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Say Yes to the Dress (TLC)
Yes, I'm a girl who loves wedding shows, but this is not just any wedding show. This is a show that somehow manages to turn finding a $3,000 dress to wear one time into the most dramatic moment of a person's life. The wedding doesn't even matter anymore. The groom (or other bride) doesn't matter. If those consultants can't get the bride in the dress that's going to make her cry like a baby while her judgmental family also cries like babies, including her mom with cancer or her dad who's paying for the dress or her aunt who's been like a mom since her mom passed away and can't be here with her for her special day, they might as well just drop dead because there is no greater failure. And don't even talk to me about Say Yes to the Dress: Bridesmaids. If finding a dress that looks good on one woman is hard, try finding one dress for her four best friends and her younger sister and also her weird cousin she doesn't really like that much. Everyone cries! It's amazing. – Lauren Piester
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Degrassi (Teen Nick)
Go on, keep laughing. Just know the Canadian teen drama, which has tackled subject matter American shows run scared s—tless from, has aired over 300 episodes over the course of 14 years. It will outlive you. And your Degrassi-obsessed children.—Tierney Bricker
The Real Housewives of Atlanta
There may or may not have been a few nights where a quality show like The Good Wife was put on pause so I could catch up on the latest banana-shenanigans with Kenya, Porsha, Nene and the gang. Not proud here, people. Just honest! Not only does this show make me feel better about every single solid friendship in my life (shocking, but I've never been violently attacked or called a whore with a bullhorn by any of my pals), but it's all just such ridiculous good fun, and so overtly trashy, you cannot turn your eyes away. Those other (REAL) Sunday night shows? The Good Wife, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Galavant, Revenge? They all make for the most excellent palate cleansers! And maybe even add a shred of integrity back? Just maybe? Yeah, probably not. I'll just hang my head in shame now….—Kristin Dos Santos
Like my enjoyment of Mob Wives, getting caught up in The Real Housewives shows is easy and enjoyable. It's a nice break from reality to travel to a world of Rosé, plastic surgery and fights over absolutely nothing. – Chris Harnick
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Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
More embarrassing than admitting I watch each and every week, getting emotionally invested in these "celebs"' journeys, despite knowing how freakin' ridiculous that sounds? Admitting my mother and I text each other back and forth during and after the show with in-depth critiques. And admitting I know each and every professional's name. Imagine if I applied that kind of brain power to, like, curing the common cold or something. Oh well, I never said I was a role model. —Tierney Bricker
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Beauty and the Beast (CW)
This is not a good show by any means. The characters constantly change on a basic level, and not in natural ways. The dialogue does not flow realistically. The plot gets overly complicated without ever needing to be. But somehow, for some reason, I can't stop watching this show. Maybe it's the Smallville fan in me who just wants to see any alum from that show on TV. Maybe it's the fact that the "Beast" is actually a super buff Aussie. Or maybe it's the epic VinCat love that just won't give up, no matter what obstacles may stand in its way. I don't know, but as long as the CW keeps airing this show, I will keep watching it.
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The Bachelor/Bachelorette (ABC)
Monday nights make me genuinely gleeful in a way that is hard to put into words. It's pretty clear that most Bachelors and Bachelorettes are generally just fame-hungry fools who will do anything to be on TV, but I find that for two hours every week, it's easy to forget that. They become real to me. Their search for love becomes real. Their collective obsession with one lucky man or woman each season becomes both real and sympathetic to me, somehow, despite all of my better judgment. Plus, they're all crazy as hell and it's super entertaining. Who will Chris choose?! Why do I care so much?!?!—Lauren Piester
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Glee (Fox)
In its final season, Glee is a hot mess. But it's a glorious, insane one, completely making fun of itself and winking at the audience with seemingly every single line uttered on the show. And I won't lie, I still download a lot of the songs and listen to them. In my car. Alone. With the windows rolled up.—Tierney Bricker
Tierney already said it all, but I just wanted to add that for some strange reason, for the first time in many seasons, each episode ends and I find myself wanting more. I can't explain it, but I'm just gonna let myself enjoy it while it lasts, because no matter how many shows brand themselves as being "the next Glee," there will never ever be another show like this one.—Lauren Piester
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Mob Wives (VH1)
Say what you will about these ladies of Staten Island, they are entertaining. Sure, it's trashy and they fight at the drop of a hat and I'm not entirely convinced portions aren't staged, but Mob Wives is mindless entertainment at its best.—Chris Harnick
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The Vampire Diaries (CW)
This may be one of the CW's biggest hit shows, but at its core, it's about a vampire love triangle, with some witches and werewolves thrown in for good measure. It's a supernatural teen show. My friends make fun of me for watching it. I know this. But the characters, their relationships and the mythology are brilliantly and intricately written, and each OMG cliffhanger moment makes my pulse race and leaves me screaming at my TV, desperate for the next seven days to fly by so I can find out what happens next. It's an addiction, and I don't ever want to give it up!—Sydney Bucksbaum