Guilty Pleasure

If I'm being totally honest, I have to admit that I've always had a pretty healthy appetite for totally trashy television. Exhibit A: I have seen every single episode of every season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, except for the season with Jesse the football player and the Air Force guy. That's 19 seasons combined, people. (And, yes, I totally looked that up on Wikipedia.) Since I'm freely admitting what most people would be mortified to share with the entire World Wide Web, you'd think I lack any shame regarding my TV viewing habits.

Not true.

I still have one very guilty pleasure that I have yet to own up to: The Vampire Diaries. I fully blame my sister, who introduced me to the show last spring. I immediately thought, "Ugh... Yet another story about a teenager in love with a vampire / caught in a vicious love triangle / out to save her unsuspecting town from the undead?" After all, I could barely get through the Twilight series without losing my lunch on several occasions. Of course, no one twisted my arm and made me read all four books in record time, and then see all three movies to date, but I digress.

However, I wrong about The Vampire Diaries. It's dark and twisty and totally addictive. The characters are approximately 11,000 times more likeable and relatable than good ol' Bella and Edward, it's set in the South and so there are all kinds of flashbacks to the Civil War era, which are fun-- albeit totally historically inaccurate, but who's paying attention?--and it's got a kind of O.C. (another one of my favorite teen televisions series of yore) meets True Blood vibe. And now after having caught up on all of season 1 via DVD over the holidays, it's official: I am obsessed. It returns to the CW tonight, and I feel like I should be ashamed to admit it, but I could not be more excited. Elena, Stefan, and Damon: get ready for some Q.T!