Saturday, November 08, 2008

Everyone Does It

I was up last night far later than I intended. Hubby wandered off to bed around 11ish and I was all set to follow as soon as “Law and Order” ended. That’s when my bad habits got the better of me – I started channel surfing. Criminal Intent was a repeat from the first season and I already knew who the guilty party was. I pressed buttons, randomly flicking through an array of cable channels as if to prove to myself that among our 100 channel options, at least one had to mine viewing gold.

That’s when I saw it: “Armageddon” was on one of our movie channels. “No!! Turn away,” the sleepy part of my brain called out, desperately trying to make the rest of me switch back to Vincent D'Onofrio. But it was too late and the Law of Crappy Movies had to be obeyed.

For those of you who may be unaware, it is constitutionally required that should you flip through the channels on your television and come across certain movies, even though you may not actually like the movie in question, you must watch them. Movies that fall under this law include “Armageddon,” “Shawshank Redemption,” any romantic comedy with Julia Roberts, and “The Breakfast Club.” There is also no need to own these movies on DVD since it is practically guaranteed to be on television at least once a month thanks to the programmers at TBS and the USA Network.

Obviously, not all of the required movies are terrible. Some bring back happy memories of youth, and watching them usually end in your day being far better than previously anticipated. Most, like “Armageddon,” are dreadful and much like a traffic accident that you can’t tear your eyes away from, you watch for the sheer joy of knowing how crap-tacular it is.

I happen to love watching bad movies and bad television shows. Hubby has been known to mock this predilection of mine mercilessly, all the while ignoring the fact that he’s snuggled next to me on the couch urging Andy Dufresne to dig more quickly and escape the doldrums of the worst prison in movie history.

What are your guilty pleasure movies that you can’t tear yourself away from? I can’t be the only person awake at two o’clock in the morning watching Julia Roberts tell Hugh Grant that she’s “just a girl.” Can I?!

14 comments:

Connie said...

see... this is why we do NOT have tv, only DVD's! :-D Saying that, we still got sucked into an extra episode of House last night and were up later than we planned.

N said...

My guilty pleasure: reality TV. Not all of them of course, but those stupid ones.

I love watching TV and like to discuss them with my husband.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure I could name a few, if I could only remember the names :D
Lately (since a few years) I actually don't watch them on TV no more (or any TV). The commercial breaks just make me sick.
I rather watch DVDs, but I'm so bad at remembering titles :D

Brenda said...

You must have been watching me. . . I do the same thing! Watch bad movies and bad television and then watch a movie just because every one else has seen it. With one exception. I have never seen Titanic and will probably never see it. . . on principle :)

Anonymous said...

LOL! Pre-kids: I used to stay up watching crap TV... (and have to confess that I do own The Shawshank Redemption on DVD - I like this film!)...

With kids who get up at around 5 in the morning, no amount of bad TV can keep me awake past 8.30 pm... In fact, I don't really watch TV anymore - just DVDs (child-friendly ones)...

Poor me! No life - except the guilty pleasures of blogging!

Anonymous said...

At least you get to have the channel switcher! Well, I suppose I do when everyone goes to bed.
What is on now? Sports of course--they are watching soccer.
merthyrmum

Lynda said...

I am cronic channel surfer... bad habit built over years of having a husband that often works late... I find it rude when he is home and I can't flick around.

My 'bad'... Steel Magnolia's Pretty woman (yes, Julie gets me) -

MaricrisG said...

I use to do that when I wasn't working! yikes! I guess working broke that "habit". So, thanks for visiting me back in my blog. I'm intrigued, where you originally from? yeah my interview will me memorable that's for sure! lol!

Hi! I'm Janola. said...

i can't believe i'm just gonna say it, but here it is: i absolutely love murder she wrote. worse, before we left home i would get the dvr to record each episode. some days there would be two episodes for me!!

on this trip i found myself watching grey's anatomy, oprah, dr. phil, not including the various movies that are on.

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, I am so like that. I can stay up til all hours watching crap tv. I'm a reality show junkie, romantic comedies, re-runs of shows like Northern Exposure. Mercy, after a certain point I'll watch infommercials. It's 1am now and I'm watching a SNL repeat.

Sad!

I need to go to bed!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I've got so many that I'm not sure I can list them all: Steel Magnolias (but only if it hasn't passed certain scenes), Men in Black, Stepmom (but only if I know I can use a good cry), Goonies...just to name a few!

Corinne said...

My current bad show of drooling choice is the Tudors. Oh, there are historical inaccuracies all over that show but....
Who cares if they're all preternatrually pretty, young, toned, tanned and well shaved? The smut of it all is irresistable!

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

Mine is Independence Day. I don't know why...but I must watch it. No matter where it is in the movie. I try not to channel surf since it could possibly be on somewhere :-)

Amanda said...

Hahaha. No, sadly you aren't alone. The best thing that happened to me was moving to an apartment that didn't come with a TV - I've been known to stay up watching bad TV in Korean which I can't even understand!