# What are your low(est) brow entertainment pleasures? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358 "2006-05-04T06:50:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/41 "2006-05-04T15:50:15Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > So yeah, I have a weakness for crap disaster movies. I have _Dante’s Peak_ and _Volcano_ on VHS. Pure comedy. I have a tendency to desperately _want_ to watch all those bad Sci-Fi channel movies, but I never get around to it. I Tivo’d _SS Doomtrooper_, and am greatly looking forward to the day I manage to catch _Mammoth_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/42 "2006-05-04T16:04:16Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > I have a tendency to desperately _want_ to watch all those bad Sci-Fi channel movies, but I never get around to it. I Tivo’d _SS Doomtrooper_, and am greatly looking forward to the day I manage to catch _Mammoth_. 🙂 Those SciFi channel movies are great. If you like the cheesy ones, you’ll love the Carnisaur trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/43 "2006-05-04T16:04:47Z")
I’ll cop to loving disaster movies. To my eternal shame, I choke up whenever I watch _Volcano_\*. I’m also a sucker for the novels of Dave Weber, Steve White, and the other “Tom Clancy in Space” type authors. \*I have, thankfully, broken my habit of spelling it _Volcanoe_. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/44 "2006-05-04T16:13:56Z")
I just love Iron Chef and Iron Chef America. Too bad the Japanese version is only on late at night, I’m usually in bed before 10:00. Edgar Rice Burroughs, anyone? Gonna jump on my thoat and travel over the ochre moss covered dead sea bottoms of Barsoom. Of course, I’m not bragging when I say I’m the best swordsman on two worlds. I detest bragging. I’m just stating a fact. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/45 "2006-05-04T16:15:48Z")
I haven’t watched in awhile, but wrestling and _Married…with Children_. I want to grow up to be Al Bundy. My children are afraid. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/46 "2006-05-04T16:24:26Z")
> [@Hogwash](#): > > Didn’t Beverly Hills Cop II show the superglue fingerprinting trick first? 🙂 And I was bluffing about ‘subdural haematoma’, because ‘Law and Order’ did that first (and maybe a hospital show before that). > [@Hogwash](#): > > Ok, perhaps it’s a bit harsh to call CSI ‘lowbrow’ but for some reason I’d hesitate to tell people that I own the first three series on DVD and plan to get more. Being a computer scientist it does pain me for them to ‘enhance’ grainy, black and white CCTV image into Hi-Def quality footage with their ‘special algorithms’ but I can put up with that for a handful of shows per season. I can appreciate the writers speeding up things like trace analysis and DNA tests for time constraints, but sometimes the science gets too ridiculous. Spot on. I have the first 5 series, but do agree the DNA / CCTV enhancement is wildly inaccurate. > [@Hogwash](#): > > Still, I do love the show, if not for the crimes themselves then for the characters and their chemistry (the interaction kind, not the test-tube kind). I love it when the writers get into non-occupational issues (Warrick’s gambling, Grissom’s hearing, Sara’s lack of a life etc.) although IMO they could do this more often. And anything that isn’t reality TV and gets people interested in science is definitely A Good Thing ™. > > That said, my inner snob still classifies my CSI viewing as a ‘guilty pleasure’ 😉 How about when Sara is unprofessionally over-upset about a wife-beater murder suspect who has an alibi for the apparent time of death, and Grissom spends all night checking if wrapping the body changes the decay time … and Sara brings him a thermos and sits with him? I had tears in my eyes. I take great pride in watching a scientist patiently working on prime-time TV, with a great music track in the background. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/47 "2006-05-04T16:28:14Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > … Of course, I’m not bragging when I say I’m the best swordsman on two worlds. I detest bragging. I’m just stating a fact. Better than Inigo Montoya? I think not! And nobody can match Wesley… ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/48 "2006-05-04T16:30:16Z")
\*\*CSI:Caruso \*\* is the funniest show on tv. They don’t even try to make it plausible anymore. “Hey why should we bother with pseudoscience when we can just show multiple close-ups of unbelievably gorgeous, tanned lab workers with furrowed brows?!?!” Never miss it. \*\*Dirty Jobs \*\* on the Discovery Channel - Makes my worst day better to hear “Hi I’m Mike Rowe and this is my job.” **The Nanny**. Please don’t point as you laugh at me. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/49 "2006-05-04T16:37:19Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Edgar Rice Burroughs, anyone? Gonna jump on my thoat and travel over the ochre moss covered dead sea bottoms of Barsoom. Of course, I’m not bragging when I say I’m the best swordsman on two worlds. I detest bragging. I’m just stating a fact. Add Conan the Barbarian, the original stuff by Robert E. Howard and not the dozens of pastiches that followed in the last quarter century. For that matter, I love pulp magazine fiction in general. Doc Savage, the Avenger (I just finished re-reading \* The Frosted Death \* for the 7th or 8th time) the Shadow, the Phantom Detective, the Spider, Fu Manchu\*, Operator 5, Secret Agent X, G-8 and his Battle Aces … seems to me I read or re-read two or three of these things a month. I don’t care about the hackneyed stories, the absurd plot devices or the racial and ethnic stereotypes so crude as to make a Klansman blush. I don’t even care if the story makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, as very often happens with the Spider. I can’t get enough of this stuff. Wanna keep me occupied and outta yer hair? Gimme a stack of Doc Savage paperbacks or some Spider reprints. Same goes for old time radio shows like \* Suspense, Inner Sanctum, Escape, \*and \* Lights Out. \* Don’t bother telling me to grow up. It’s much, much too late for that … \*Okay, Fu Manchu’s not technically pulp fiction, but it’s close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/50 "2006-05-04T16:58:15Z")
> [@DeVena](#): > > **The Nanny**. I love that show, but I thought everyone did. I love it when Niles teases CC. Babcock. How about Will and Grace? ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/51 "2006-05-04T17:24:43Z")
My favorite low-brow guilty pleasures, TV division: _Celebrity Deathmatch_ _She Spies_ _Married With Children_ _Home Improvement_ _Half & Half_ (I’m a middle aged white guy who worships Rachel True. So sue me.) ---
**Author:** ![Sine\_Nomine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sine_nomine/32/513_2.png) [@Sine\_Nomine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sine_Nomine)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/52 "2006-05-04T17:36:44Z")
_America’s Next Top Model_: I haven’t been able to watch this season, so I’m following along by reading the Television Without Pity recaps. Sad, I know. I was really addicted to one season of _The Apprentice_ – I think it was the second. I watched part a good portion of _Hell’s Kitchen_, too. The one I’m most embarrassed about – _Keeping Up Appearances_. Every episode has _exactly the same plot_. It’s not a brilliant plot, either. And yet… ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/53 "2006-05-04T17:37:22Z")
Tv ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/54 "2006-05-04T17:40:03Z")
I’m pretty much the poster child for low brow. I drink Old Style tap if available. My favorite afternoon involves drinking beer and watching hour after hour of Bonanza. I don’t miss a cooking competition show (Top Chef, Iron Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, etc.) I love Kraft Mac and Cheese. I love cheeseball and crackers. My most favorite movie is “Big Trouble in Little China”. Husband and I watch court shows all afternoon long. Lesse - Judge Marilyn (we record it), record Bonanza while we watch 2 hours of Judge Judy, then an hour of Judge Marilyn again. Then we watch the Bonanza we recorded. I am taking a vacation day tomorrow because Arlington is opening. Told ya - poster child. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/55 "2006-05-04T18:49:02Z")
I with **Sampiro** on _Sordid Lives_. I love that movie. Ummm… Pro wrestling (it’s almost like gay porn!) _Dog The Bounty Hunter_ (hangs head in shame) _American Chopper_ _Married… With Children_ _The Nanny_ _Grounded, For Life_ _Reba_ _Wife Swap_ (Is anything trashier!) Several of those Lifetime movies (oh the utter shame!) ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/56 "2006-05-04T19:12:53Z")
Books: Romance novels - and not just any romance novels (some of which can be quite good) but mini-series romance novels. They published cheap - one a month for a year, all about a family or a workplace or a city or whatever, by different authors. In each one, a couple falls in love (really big families). They’re no more than $150 pages. And they are not, not literary works of art. I don’t do them all the time…but yes, I have waited for the next to appear so that I can find out what happens next. TV: VH1 reality. Amazing Race is actually a pretty good show. Apprentice has some redeeming value. With Project Runway or Top Chef I can pretend that I’m learning about fashion or cooking or something. There is no excuse for “Celebrity Fit Club” I am ashamed to admit that I know who won “Flavor of Love” because I watched it. (Well, actually I don’t know - because Flavor Flav made up nicknames for the women who were competing for the attentions of _Flavor Flav_😕 ) NCIS is highbrow in comparison. (Plus it has Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly) I’ll also watch SuperNanny at the gym. It makes me thankful that I don’t have children. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/57 "2006-05-04T20:35:08Z")
Porn, old Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre albums, Hee-Haw, and Best Week Ever on VH1. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/58 "2006-05-04T20:37:41Z")
I can’t believe any halfway literate person would watch THE NANNY, that show just redefines low brow and banal, especially the episode where Niles went on vacation and ran into Miss Babcock, that was just predictable and silly. It wasn’t as bad as the one where Robert Vauhgn and Joan Collins came on as Maxwell’s father and stepmother (like anybody would believe they produced his sister Twiggy, c’mon! And then his brother had already seduced Fran) but at least as silly as the episode where Sylvia eats the Oh okay, I may have seen an episode or two. Four. No more than five… seasons worth… and [Carrie’s deranged mother as played by Piper Laurie]I LLIIIIIIIKED IT! GOD FORGIVE ME I LIKED IT!!!{/Carrie’s deranged mother as played by Piper Laurie] Gotta admit it I’ve watched it enough to know within 15 seconds whether or not Yetta is going to be on this one (and if she is of course then I have to see it, regardless of how many times I have). ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/59 "2006-05-04T20:50:05Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Better than Inigo Montoya? I think not! > And nobody can match Wesley… Wes **t** ley _Sordid Lives_ is one of my favorite things ever commited to DVD. I think what makes it so real to me is that the characters are only slight, and I mean slight, exaggerations of people I know. My next DVD purchase will most likely be Vol. 3 of _Invader Zim_ to complete the series. Then I’ll probably buy the box of Zim’s house with Bonus CD. Bravo TV’s _Project Runway_ is one of my strongest TV addictions. In fact, it is the first show since Angel left the air for which I’ve set a timer on my VCR (Yes, I still use one of those instead of DVR). Do drag shows count as low-brow? 'Cause I love those, too. I think _Groo: The Wanderer_ was the greatest comic book ever and _Ambush Bug_ was a close second. Finally, I find the podshows [Gay Pimpin’ with Jonny McGovern](http://www.gaypimp.com/) and [Eat This Hot Show](http://eatthishotshow.com/) to be fabulous. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358/60 "2006-05-04T20:58:00Z")
I have a real and serious weakness for those “World’s Strongest Man” shows. You know, the ones these great big guys (usually from one of the Scandinavian countries. for some reason) where they pull tractor trailer trucks, or boat anchors, or lift heavy rocks or something. Every time I pass one while channel surfing, I stop and watch. I also watch almost every single one of those Discovery channel shows about horrible things that can go wrong with you physically. Like “I am my own twin” or “101 MORE things removed from human bodies.” And world’s wildest car chase scenes. Never get tired of them. Crap, I may now officially be too low-brow to belong to this board anymore. :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-low-est-brow-entertainment-pleasures/355358.md?page=4)