HBO's GIRLS

If you don't want to bother with watching the first season but still want to start up with the second, we'll fill you in on the necessities of what you need to know about the characters going into the second season, plus give you tips for the best way to watch the show, and tell you how to catch last season and the current one without actually having HBO.

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- Guilty Television Pleasures: In Defense of Gossip Girl

ABC

However, when it comes to T.V., I'm a sucker for all things love. And mainly, I mean the ABC reality television dynasty made up of The Bachelor and spinoff/counterpart, The Bachelorette. Monday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. I fraternize with the lowest of the romantic low and let me explain why.

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- ABC's "Bachelorette" Couple Hits The W Scottsdale For Pre-Wedding Party, Catch The Event This Sunday
- Guilty Television Pleasures: In Defense of Gossip Girl
- Guilty Television Pleasures: Kristin Gilger's Defense of The Voice

Hmm... television guilty pleasures, eh? The trick is that I'm more adept at talking guilty pleasures with music than with TV. I've got a whole host of critic-hated albums at home, but with TV, I'm generally pretty solid. So I had to think a while. Then I sheepishly remembered Ancient Aliens on the History Channel.

Why do I dig it? Above all, I find Ancient Aliens intriguing and informative. As a close second, I marvel at its paradoxical nature. It's tough to find a better mixture of science and speculation.

Would I call myself an Ancient Astronaut Theorist, as the show describes its minions? No. But that's mainly because I don't really "support" anything along those "how it all works" lines. Over the years, I've come to accept that I have never, nor will never, understand the mystery of God/life/whatever. This leaves me to leave open the possibilities of just about anything... including far-out theories of Ancient Aliens.

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The CW

It's one that airs on the CW, no less. The network is home to Rachel Bilson-starring Hart of Dixie, which finds yankee doctor Zoe Hart relocating to a small, southern town, and upcoming, abysmal looking Sex and The City prequel The Carrie Diaries. But to judge Gossip Girl based on its proximity to these programs would be, in a word, stupid.

Sure, Upper East Side-dwelling, super-privileged high schoolers having their oversexed lives dissected through a TMZ-style celeb news blog isn't a relatable premise. But to presume that the viewer should deeply and meaningfully connect with the show's characters would also be, you guessed it, stupid.

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- Guilty Television Pleasures: Amy Silverman's Defense of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo
- Guilty Television Pleasures: Kristin Gilger's Defense of The Voice
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It's almost the weekend, which means you'll have plenty of time to catch up on the shows you diligently recorded, queued, and bookmarked throughout the week. In celebration of the television you'll be watching (and maybe lying about later), we're introducing a short series of guilty pleasures on the small screen. Today, Kristin Gilger, Associate Dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University defends her favorite show, NBC's The Voice.

http://www.nbc.com/the-voice/

They'll tell you I can be counted on to show up on weekends or work through the night if that's what it takes. And they'll point out that I'm almost always the last person to leave the office at night.

Except on Mondays. On Mondays, I log off my computer no later than 6:30 p.m. and race to beat the traffic lights home. On Mondays, I skate in the door a minute before 7, scuttle past my husband, skip dinner and grab the remote. On Mondays, I have a very important appointment with The Voice.

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