# What Bad TV Programs Are Your Secret Thang? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376 "2012-07-16T03:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/21 "2012-07-16T13:31:06Z")
Two weeks ago, when I was sick at home with bronchitis, I was watching reruns of Little House on the Prairie. I made sure I was alone at home, but you could have seen me sobbing when the Ingalls family is struck by fate or screaming at the TV screen in anger when Nellie Oleson is mean to Laura. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/22 "2012-07-16T13:46:35Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > TruTV’s “America’s Dumbest…” series, the one with a bunch of old child stars, comedians, etc., making smart-ass comments about wacky videos. I don’t know why I watch this, but I do - not regularly, but if I happen to surf by it, I have to stop. I think it’s the smart-assery that appeals to me so much. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/23 "2012-07-16T13:58:58Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Same reason I watch _Kid in a Candy Store_, _Meat & Potatoes_ and _Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives_, I guess - those are hardly the best cooking shows , basically just food porn, but a fascinating insight into the real American cuisine. I like watching _Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives_ too. I hate myself for it, because Holy Hell, Guy Fierri (sp?) is the most annoying guy on the planet, but I like shows that highlight good, local restaurants. A few times when I’ve traveled, I’ve gone to a place because it was on _Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives_, or _Man vs Food_, or something similar. It must be a weird love/hate thing for the owners of these places. Yeah, it’s great to get that publicity, but you have to spend the better part of the day filming with that insufferable douche, listening to forty takes of him saying something is “money,” sticking his hands in the food while you’re prepping, and cramming his gaping maw with a burger directly over the food prep area (I guess it’s a good thing they probably don’t actually serve food to customers when he films the kitchen segments, because can you say health code violation?) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/24 "2012-07-16T16:11:00Z")
All of 'em. My secret pleasure is to be stuck in a hotel room somewhere flipping through cable channels for hours on end (I don’t have cable at home). This weekend I drove 10 hours round trip to go to a friend-of-a-friend’s wedding by myself, but really the fun was in the 2 nights in an Econo Lodge with fantastic TV service. I watched American Pickers, some house flipping show, Four Houses, Suze Orman, Prince$$ (on CNBC), Jwoww & Snooki, Behind the Music (T.I.), Big Ang, Restaurant Impossible, Hardcore Pawn, Storage Wars…and I think a few others. Awesome weekend 🙂 And a reassurance as to why I should not have cable at my house. I’d be the most unproductive blob in the universe! ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/25 "2012-07-16T16:23:03Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Two weeks ago, when I was sick at home with bronchitis, I was watching reruns of Little House on the Prairie. > > I made sure I was alone at home, but you could have seen me sobbing when the Ingalls family is struck by fate or screaming at the TV screen in anger when Nellie Oleson is mean to Laura. Dad? You didn’t tell me you’d been sick! (It’s kind of funny how often I’ve “caught” my stepfather - former sailor and trucker and cabbie and all-around badass - watching LHOP. He always pretends he was just channel surfing.) ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/26 "2012-07-16T16:45:50Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > TruTV’s “America’s Dumbest…” series, the one with a bunch of old child stars, comedians, etc., making smart-ass comments about wacky videos. Yep…can’t get enough of this one for some reason. My favorite episodes are the ones where they watch infomercials, then make comments while playing with the infomercial products. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/27 "2012-07-16T17:00:45Z")
Maury TMZ Cops You know, you’d get a much shorter answer if you asked me what halfway DECENT TV shows I watch. There’s like maybe one or two of those. ---
**Author:** ![jehan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@jehan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jehan)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/28 "2012-07-16T17:03:57Z")
Court TV shows (well some of them). Judge Judy. Judge Pirro. God help me, but they’re addictive. ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/29 "2012-07-16T17:09:26Z")
Storage Wars Pit Boss Hoarders Hoarders: Buried Alive Ghost Hunters (The guys from Rhode Island - TIP) I Almost Got Away With It ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/30 "2012-07-16T17:25:41Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > In an addition to this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15276201)about what bad movies are your secret pleasure, what are your TV secret pleasures? > > I have a thing for documentaries about ghosts, cryptids - pretty much any forteana. I am currently watching some [drivel](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/28/mermaids-the-body-found-real-mermaid-on-beach-video_n_1550091.html) about mermaids [warning, it has an audio/video advert that starts up automatically, I have adblock but it still popped up] . I love talking back at the TV and telling the program why whatever whacked claim they are making is bogus. I love Ancient Aliens, and telling the dude with the hair what an idiot he is. 😃 > > I also like serious for real documentaries, but they are getting more and more rare ☹ I like the Fortean stuff as well. I found that “Mermaids” mockumentary very entertaining! ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/31 "2012-07-16T17:43:16Z")
Ooh I forgot about Maury. That is some top shelf trash opera right there! And I do like Four Houses ok - I really like What Not To Wear but I really do like Clint and Stacy, not in any kind of ironic or “this is awful” kind of way. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/32 "2012-07-17T00:25:29Z")
Lord help me, I can’t stop watching Lizard Lick Towing. I know that everyone on the show is a caricature of a southern resident; I know the plots are not typical of a real towing company and that they’re totally rehearsed and outrageous. Heck, the people on this show might even be australian shakespearian actors who had no other choices if they wanted to work in the U.S. But I just can’t help watching. Also, I watched MXC on Spike when it was on. That was hysterical. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/33 "2012-07-17T01:43:23Z")
A lot of these shows, I don’t consider them ‘bad’. Bad compared to what? I love Judge Judy. I don’t watch it often, just when visiting a relative who watches it. If I started watching JJ at home, I would become addicted and have to schedule my whole life around that block of time. ---
**Author:** ![SticksAndString](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SticksAndString](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SticksAndString)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/34 "2012-07-17T03:37:53Z")
I’m absolutely ADDICTED to “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” which was incredibly horrible right from the start and jumped the shark two seasons ago but I can’t seem to stop watching it. I also really like “Switched At Birth” which has a totally implausible plot–two girls switched at birth and nobody knows the difference until one of the girls gets her blood typed in a high school science class and finds out it doesn’t match either of her parents so the family sets out on this whole quest to find the daughter they SHOULD have had and switch them back. Only the other family ends up living in their guest house…yeah…like that’s not weird.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/35 "2012-07-17T03:49:56Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > Lord help me, I can’t stop watching Lizard Lick Towing. I know that everyone on the show is a caricature of a southern resident; I know the plots are not typical of a real towing company and that they’re totally rehearsed and outrageous. Heck, the people on this show might even be australian shakespearian actors who had no other choices if they wanted to work in the U.S. But I just can’t help watching. Also, I watched MXC on Spike when it was on. That was hysterical. I watch this sometimes, purely for the cheesy value of seeing local places on cable TV. 😃 They seem to do a lot of filming in Bunn, and they’ve done some in Wake Forest – my mother got to see the trucks one day. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/36 "2012-07-17T14:36:02Z")
I consider How I met your mother to be bad TV because I hate every character except Barney, but by the time I realised this, I was halfway through the story. And it’s impossible to leave stories halfway 😕 ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/37 "2012-07-17T17:35:13Z")
How about “Scare Tactics”? Every once in a while, they run a marathon of this tacky show, I think on the Chiller channel, and I start watching, and just can’t seem to stop. Same goes with “1,000 Ways To Die” – I forget what channel airs it, but sometimes I find myself watching episode after episode of the show. Weird, wild stuff! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Dord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@The\_Dord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Dord)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/38 "2012-07-17T18:04:05Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Og help me, _Hardcore Pawn_. Same here, but the Pawn Shop is less than 45 minutes away from me.. It’s like Detroit is beckoning me.. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/39 "2012-07-17T20:09:42Z")
Recently, **Call of the Wildman**. The guy’s such a nut, he should’ve been dead about fifty times already. I think the part I enjoy most is the graphic they put up after each job that tells the job and his payment, usually something like, “JOB: relocate giant snapping turtle. PAYMENT: ride in a NASCAR”. They remind me of the deals my dad used to make when he was younger. Like, he got our first satellite dish for $200 and shooting a dog (she was old and sick and the owner couldn’t bring himself to put her down). ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376/40 "2012-07-17T20:12:32Z")
16 and Pregnant. I think I watch it to make me feel better about my life. Plus I like thinking about the popular snobby chicks from high school suddenly stuck with babies and no money and no life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bad-tv-programs-are-your-secret-thang/628376.md?page=3)