Five Television Shows I am ashamed to admit I watch and some thoughts on why I think I enjoy watching them.

1. Eureka

The science is bad. The technobabble is insulting. The comedy is cheeky, predictable, and sometimes cringe-inducing. But this show is one of the very few examples of a program that succeeds on the strength of character alone. The right actors portraying the right characters create a ensemble performance that is more watchable than the sum of its parts.

2. Just about anything with Gordon Ramsay in it.

I have explored my infatuation with Gordon Ramsay previously. I’m super excited for Hotel Hell.

I’m totally not gay. And If I were to get enough drinks in me, Ramsay would still not be my type. But sometimes I find myself wondering what kind of lover Ramsay would make. Would he be the angry, domineering narcissist we see in Hell’s Kitchen? Would he be the sensitive, pleading, thoughtful Ramsay we see in Kitchen Nightmares? Would he be the smug, smarmy gangbanger we see in Master Chef?

The answer, I would think, depends on how often you clean your walk-in.

3. Whispertits

The only reason to watch this show, which is really named “The Ghost Whisperer” is to see what kind of goofy outfit Jennifer Love Hewitt is going to wear next.

My wife will no longer allow me to watch this program now that she knows I call it “Whispertits.”

4. Voltron Force

This show takes the heart and soul of the original Lion-force Voltron: Defender of the Universe, painfully extracts all of it’s life-sustaining 80’s particles, and replaces them with inferior, soul-eating 2000’s particles.

The end result is that everything you loved about the old series is gone and has been replaced with less-good versions. I would imagine this is what fans of the Transformers feel about Michael Bay.

In the end, though, it’s more Lion Voltron. So there’s that.

5. The Guild

This show is the geek darling of the Web series world, yes. And it’s a little too close to home for those of us who have dabbled in the world of MMORPGs.

But it’s funny, in a cute neurotic girl sort of way.

There’s quite a bit of character drift and convenient bafoonery, but in the end, this is another character-driven ensemble performance that is stronger than the sum of its parts.