My Guilty Pleasures

OK, here is the disclaimer, the 'this isn't really me' part.

I don't like slapstick humor very much, unless its done really, really well and Wipeout is not really done well at all. I never liked the Three Stooges or anything where people get hurt, could get hurt or humiliated.

And of course, Wipe Out is totally about all those things. And totally gratuitous to boot! The Big Balls is the best and begins every show. People try to run across a series of large red balls about 18 feet high and wide without falling into the water. No one ever makes it. Never. But people keep trying. Now, I would like to be able to say that at least they all fall differently, in funny ways, but they don't. Its just the same thing over and over again. Try, fall by the second or first ball, hit your head, go into the water. I love it!

I must say that by the end of the show I always have someone to root for. The last three who have escaped elimination go through a timed obstacle course. My favorite has never won, but like the contestants, I keep on keeping on.

I have watched All My Children since day one, literally. I was home and waiting for my daughter to arrive. We lived in the woods and I had three TV channels to keep me from going crazy all day. Ya, right, that was my excuse.

AMC takes place in Pine Valley. For years I assumed that it was northern New Jersey as it seemed so close to Montclair, well Upper Montclair, but some time about 10 years ago (of 40) they started claiming Pennsylvania as their state. OK, fine. Well, except that the characters can get to an ocean beach in about 15 minutes. Since PA doesn't have a coast and you have to go through NJ to get to very crowded beaches, let alone the secluded ones in Pine Valley, well that is a neat trick.

Another soap opera staple is that people can die, die and be buried, have a funeral and come back to life years later, sometimes more than once. You never know if a character is really gone, although the burying does limit the odds.

But the characters are great and that is why they come back. They were just too good to loose.

AMC is also famous for the social issues that it tackles. It was the first to deal with abortion after it became legal. The ultra girly Erica Kane has to deal with having a gay daughter. They have even tackled transexuality.

Heck, I don't even know if this can be called a guilty pleasure, well, not really.