Tuning in to the Guilty Pleasures channel

Digital cable guide
Ever since I subscribed to digital cable, I've been fascinated with one thing: the on-screen program guide.  Now, through the miracle of interactivity,  I can see what's coming on next, or what just ended. I can look to see who directed "Gremlins 2," or find the next showing of "The Surreal Life." And since I upgraded to a DVR, I can record any show I see with just two button pushes. While browsing, the show I'm watching stays on the screen, reduced to a quarter of the set. If the current show is boring, my microcosmically short attention span causes my finger to press "Guide" on the remote, and I start browsing. Now, I do it constantly, flipping to Saturday night to see what film HBO will debut, looking for episode repeats, or exploring prime-time lineups. I'm so obsessed with what I'm going to watch in the future that I sometimes I forget to watch what I'm watching now.     —Andy Dehnart

‘Pimp My Ride’

Chris Polk / AP

So I’m visiting a buddy and he pops my collar like X-to-the-Z. “Whaa-whaaaat?!” says his wife, as if surprised. But I’m the one confused. They’re aping something. Probably that MTV. Turns out "Pimp My Ride" is on. And these two late-twenties white suburbanites — one an accountant, the other a doctoral candidate in divinity — are as excited as they get. We watch as the West Coast Customs crew transforms a rat-infested Pacer into … a Pacer with a juice bar, shag carpeting and a bunch of TVs?! How could they …? Why spend …? Isn’t it just gonna get broken into? During the reveal the owner nearly collapses in giddy disbelief as if on cue, sputtering “Whaa-whaaaat?!” This rapper-guy host, Xzibit (X-to-the-Z, apparently), mugs for the camera and you can tell even he thinks it’s totally insane. My buddy turns to me and says “Dude, they even put monitors in some guy’s bumpers!” Seriously, they did. I saw. It’s ridiculous. But I’m hooked.    —A.W.

‘Starting Over’

AP

Forget reality shows, forget soap operas: “Starting Over” combines the best and worst of both. This syndicated show is on for a glorious five hours every week. Women seeking help with various personal problems move in to a Los Angeles mansion where they’re assigned to kooky “life coaches” (shown at right). The coaches hand out assignments that sometimes seem more like Girl Scout craft projects from hell. (Sommer, who wasn’t dealing well with her gastric bypass surgery, had to shovel pounds of fat equaling the weight she lost.) Some of the women are inspiring. Watching young Sinae, an albino who’s slowly losing her vision, learn to use a cane and realize that she could live independently, was heart-warming indeed. Still, many of us watch this show for the meltdowns as much as for the build-ups. The fact that the women all have to live together creates the juiciest fights — my favorite was when Kim, who’d been forbidden to wear makeup, was accused of stealing Sommer’s eyeshadow, and the war was on. Steal my money, take my car, but hands off my cosmetics!    —G.F.C.

MORE FROM GULTY PLEASURES 2005

Living the Guilty Pleasure life

Living the Guilty Pleasure life Tuning in to the Guilty Pleasures channel Now playing at the Guilty Pleasures cineplex A Guilty Pleasure beat, but can you dance to it?   Add Gulty Pleasures 2005 headlines to your news reader: