We all have them – those terrible TV shows we can’t stop watching (fess up, Jersey Shore lovers), trashy books we hide under literary book covers or really bad food we eat in the dark and hope no one ever finds out about it. Well, the Wickeds are revealing our own guilty pleasures this week, so make sure you come clean about yours!
Liz: Everyone’s going to laugh at me for this one, so I’ll get it out of the way: I love Monkees
reruns. When I was a kid, I watched them (they were reruns then too, in case anyone was wondering) and they’ve remained my favorite silly show for all these years. There are good memories attached, too – The Monkees were as much a part of my summertime as a kid as the wild blackberry bushes growing behind my house, ice cream at Super Swirl and visiting my grandparents in the evenings after long days of swimming in the pool. See, if I throw a little nostalgia in, it doesn’t seem so silly, right? At least it isn’t Honey Boo Boo!
Jessie: Liz, why am I not surprised that your guilty pleasure is sort of animal related? Mine is Hello Kitty. I am always amazed by how much I am drawn to pink plastic things with that cat on them. It is inexplicable and undeniable. But it’s not like I have a Hello Kitty problem. I can control myself. Mostly. While I admire and consider buying Hello Kitty slippers and ear buds and cellphone covers, I stoically confine my weakness to only one area of life. I have a collection of Hello Kitty bento gear. I have several bento boxes, lunch bags and sandwich cutters. I have had furikake packets with her image on the front, napkins and even cutlery. If you want a rice ball shaped like Hello Kitty’s head, I can hook you up.
Sherry: I recently discovered a TV channel called Me TV. It plays old TV shows. And one of my favorite shows from when I was young (and unlike Liz it wasn’t reruns) was That Girl with Marlo Thomas starring as Anne Marie, the aspiring actress. I wanted the purple dress with matching parasol she wore in the opening credits. I wanted to move to New York City and live in her apartment. But I always thought she deserved a better looking boyfriend than Donald.
Edith: All right, you’ve focused the interrogation spotlight on me for a reason. I just know you have. I’ll admit it. Fritos. Wouldn’t you think after reading the nutritional label even ONCE that I’d never go 
near them again? But no. My esteemed author colleague Margaret hosts the excellent Salem Monday Night Writers Group that has been responsible for improving every scene I have ever read to them. And no matter how many times I promise myself on the way there not to touch them, the minute she pours those Fritos, thick and crunchy, into the bowl, my hand goes right after them. At least it’s only once a week, right?
Julie: These are all excellent guilty pleasures. Mine? Soy chai latte from Starbucks. Seriously, I don’t know what is in it, but it works magic on me. I’ve gotten chai lattes from other coffee houses, and they aren’t as good. Recently I discovered that they are delish cold, which isn’t good. And for the record, guilty pleasure TV show? Murder She Wrote, natch.
Readers: What’s your guilty pleasure?
Thanks for starting my morning with a smile and a chuckle.
I like noting how people have decorated their places when the police bust into them and drag them out on “Cops”.
Nice, Tim. Reminds me of how I like to look in people’s windows when I’m out walking at dusk and they have their lights on but haven’t drawn the curtains yet!
I love seeing houses in “reality” television! What a great guilty pleasure!
I, like Jessie, have a terrible attraction to Hello Kitty, but I have never actually acquired any of the merchandise. I’m always drawn to it, though. I also have to confess that I have NEVER missed an episode of “Dancing With the Stars,” not ONE in all of the years that it has been on.
I don’t get the Hello Kitty thing, Eileen, but my Buddhist sister AND my Mormon sister are both also addicted to Dancing with the Stars! Thanks for stopping by the blog.
How nice to hear from someone else held in Hello Kitty’s thrall! What is it about that cat?
I love Cheetos – the puff kind. And yes, I clean all that orange stuff from my fingers.
I find myself craving those when a deadline is drawing near. I rush to the grocer and pick up a few bags of baby carrots telling myself they are also orange and crunchy and similarly shaped. But, of course, it really isn’t at all the same.
I like the crunchy ones! Yum! I’ve tried the Pirate Booty ones without the orange stuff not bad but not Cheetos!
I love the Monkees. I’ve finished the first season on Netflix, eventually I’ll get to the second.
Ah, Fraser of course you love the Monkees — your British! I didn’t know they were on Netflix though! Maybe it would have been better if I didn’t find that out!
Sherry- I never pictured you as the “That Girl” type, but you’re right- she deserved a better-looking boyfriend! Me? Bet you’ll never guess the show I’m addicted to…”Ink Master.” I don’t like tattoos and hope my kids never get one, but I appreciate the artistry involved. I love watching different creative people work within similar parameters and seeing what they produce.
I would have never guess you would be a fan of a tattoo show, Kim!