The other day, I found out a friend of mine was faking it. (No, not like that. Honestly, some people..) I mean, she was masquerading as a Dancing With the Stars fan, pretendingto be captivated by the razzle-dazzle of forgettable B-list celebs waltzing andjiving and tango-ing and cha-cha-ing. I should mention that I find Dancing unwatchable.I’ve suffered through exactly two episodes, and I remain dumbfounded as to why more than 20 million people tune in each week. Tell me, who is Albert Reed and since when doesbeing an Abercrombie model make you a ‘’star”? I don’t want to boast,but once, when I was five, I modeled clothes from a popular boutique for awidely-attended Mother’s Day brunch. Luckily, the fame has not gone straight tomy uncoordinated limbs. (ABC, I’m anxiously awaiting a call.)
So why does my friend, who equally despises Dancing, spout nonsense like,"I found Wayne Newton’s moves last night particularly stiff. He reallyneeds to work on his technique if he serious about making it to the finalround." Because she’s faking it to score points with her boss, who has fallen head-over-high- -heels in love with the competitive dance-off. She watches televisionfor conversation material, pen in hand, almost like its assigned homework. And, she says, her newly found pop-culture knowledge has paid off. ”I’m in theoffice inner-circle now,” she shrugs, averting her eyes, while doinga poor interpretation of the mambo in socks across her hardwood floor.
So, PopWatchers, it’s time to confess. What shows do you watch because they’retrendy; what movies do you gush about, but secretly hate? Why are you faking it?I’ll go first. I saw Titanic in theaters three times, and was moreinterested in my Sno-Caps candies than the deadly iceberg. I spent somewherearound $34.75 trying to prove I was cool. I pretended to cry when Jack slippedoff into the watery abyss, so no one would discover I was heartless (or realizeI had been sleeping for the past hour). So if I’m nottoe-tapping-salsa-skipping for joy over TV’s reality sensation, I’m sorry. ButI won’t fake it.
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I don’t have anything against it, but I faked watching most of this season of Top Chef because my boss is REALLY into it.
Again, I caught a few episodes on the weekends, but mostly there was other stuff on at Wednesdays at 10 (Rescue Me, the Bionic Woman I’d just taped) that I’d rather watch instead. So I’d scan EW’s TV Watch to get enough info to fake my way through it. Thanks EW!
I reall enjoyed Nip/Tuck for its first two seasons. Completely different than everything else on tv, I totally got behind the shows characters and twisted plots. But, as the cutter season and than last years baby with lobster hands story line progressed I became less and less interested in what was going on. Unfortunately, all of my friends remained obsessed. So, everyweek I would find myself on the couch staring at Christian and hoping the show would regain its magic. So, here’s to hoping changing cities will ease my pain this season.
I watch Dancing With the Stars because i am a bitter old lady with a lot of stress and too much time on my hands. I love to make fun of others. It releases my stress. Yeah, these are not Stars.
In retrospect, the past season of American Idol. I started, hated it, continued to hate it, but it was everywhere and I hate even more feeling left out. Will not make that mistake again.
Come to think of it, last year’s Lost might have had elements of faking it, too.
Although I enjoy the original CSI, I find the Miami version to be wholly ridiculous – Caruso’s cheesy one-liners, preposterous plots that make no sense, cartoon villians, the stripperish outfits of supposed scientists Calleigh and Alexx, and on and on. Yet I tune in every week just so I can be a part of an in-depth discussion with my boss, who is crazy for the show. Can you believe we have already spent hours (!) talking about Horatio’s son and the implications he will have on future episodes?
I went to see Envy (yeah that crappy movie starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black) with some friends. Really not my choice of movie, but I went anyway. We came out of the theater and everyone said they loved it and thought it was soooo funny. I HATED it. Probably one of the worst movies I’ve seen in the theaters in the past 5 years. Anyhoo, I faked my opinion and told everyone that it was funny. I don’t even know why I did it. Maybe I didn’t want to be an outsider, but til this day, those same friends mention that movie and its “hilarity.”
I completely agree with Lene about American Idol. I watched the first season and really enjoyed it, then it became way too much of a fad and people watched it just so they were in the loop. Same thing happened with Survivor.
I actually will come right out and say it most of the time if I don’t like something, even if it’s garnered critical acclaim. Fargo? The English Patient? Bored me to tears. The Office? Not interested. But for some reason, I hedge on Brokeback Mountain. I thought it was…okay. I thought the story itself was fine, the acting top-notch, but I wasn’t really overcome with heart-wrenching despair at the end. And I was fully prepared to say just that until I looked at my companions’ tear-streaked faces and thought to myself “Crap, am I just heartless?” So I lie and say it’s one of the most moving love stories I’ve seen on screen.
EW.com is my gateway drug to faking it. For some reason, I feel the need to read every TV Watch even though I’ve minimized my viewing schedule to about 3 shows per week (consistently). Namely, I like to be well-versed in Lost, Heroes & Battlestar Gallactica just b/c it seems cool.
on the music front, i faked it for a while with arcade fire and recently decided- life is too short! they annoy me!
I find myself watching Grey’s Anatomy because all my girlfriends love it to death. But I just don’t get it. It’s horrible. The writing is dreadful, the cast is mostly unlikeable. What do they see in this self-indulgent soap opera? Sorry, that’s an insult to soap operas…
right on stef! i watch 6 shows and read recaps on all others. can talk about them with the fans and impress non-fans with my knowledge.
My boyfriend wanted to watch Behind Enemy Lines, but I thought it looked awful. finally we rented it and it was so bad. I kept getting up and doing things, but the guy kept pausing the movie. I didn’t have the heart to say how stupid his taste in movies was. Of course, by the end of the relationship, when he put in Happy Gilmore I just snapped “turn that sh*t off.”
I used to pretend to care about Buffy because all of my friends loved it. I don’t really feel the need to fake it any longer. I can’t imagine watching a show I hate just to be a part of the crowd.
ok, I can admit it…Seinfeld. Whiney does not equal funny to me. I could NEVER admit this to everyone else around me..I would have been shunned.
I find myself faking it in the sense that I know so much random crap about tv and celebrites in general and I act like I don’t around certain people. Oh, I also fake LOVING Ugly Betty. It’s okay. I watch it, but sometimes Betty just gets under my skin!
Napoleon Dynomite!! Some lines are funny…but…
I’m sort of a Grey’s faker. I only started watching last season to be one of the cool kids. And so my mom would have someone to discuss it with. It’s ok, but more times than not I find myself wondering why I keep watching it – tired story lines, annoying characters. I also faked liking The Departed. I thought it was eh. Not deserving of a best picture by any means.
My friends and I were on a road trip and we stopped off to see the Reese Witherspoon film Sweet Home Alabama. I HATED it. It was crap. But my friends loved it so much (and I said I did) that we had to go see it again at the theater a couple of days later in another city. To this day I still can’t believe I sat through that thing a second time.
To Stacey – I am so glad I’m not the only one who thought Fargo was painfully dull! Perhaps I’m just not sophisticated enough but, man, was that a boring movie.
As for faking it, I too pretended to like Napoleon Dynamite. The guy I was dating (and all his friends) thought it was the funniest thing ever. Ever. I didn’t get, still don’t, but at the time I laughed right along with everyone else.
I can’t believe you sat through Titanic, I never even bothered seeing it! I can’t go into a 3 hour movie knowing the ship is going to sink.
You went to Titanic to seem cool? I am really confused.
I fake liking heroes. I find it takes itself too seriously and the storyline plods along like a lame mule.
Forrest Gump was the first movie where I had to fake it. When it came out, everyone and their great auntie loved it. I dragged my feet for an entire summer and waited until it was about to leave the theaters before I saw it. And lo and behold, I hated it – hated Tom Hanks, hated Sally Field, hated the CGI presidents. But well until after the 1995 Oscars, I rode along with love fest.
The thing I am most guilty of is doting on British shows I have barely seen. I love the British office and old Monty Python episodes, but that’s pretty much the extent of my British television knowledge. I have never seen Little Britain or Ab Fab and always agree with people who say they love those types of shows. I do it to seem cultured. I think people see through it. They know I’m more of a “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?” guy than a Faulty Towers guy. Because I look like you’re average John Q. America.
I work in a small office so I’ve occasionally watched shows in an effort to be part of the conversation. Everyone is either a mom or over 40 and since I’m neither, sometimes it’s hard to find common ground. I thought I could handle watching a couple of the shows they’re really into, and a big one is “Deal or No Deal”. Game shows aren’t really my thing, but I tried watching a few eps so I could at least understand what was going on. UGH. I tried to act amazed and excited during the first couple of office recaps (“wow, I’m with you – how could she not have taken that final suitcase?”) but I finally gave up and admitted the show didn’t do it for me. So now I have to wait for another one I can chime in on….
I just never “got” Flight of the Conchords. It was ok, but i think def WAY overrated
I have to say, American Idol. Last year, I DVRed it and just watched a few second of each craptastic song so I would know what happened. Also read the EW recap. YAY EW.
Also, “rock of Love” I just didn’t get it, but some of my friends thought it was great TV. gah.
I never really got into Seinfeld, but I knew enough to fake my way through it. I started out fake-liking American Idol, then got totally sucked in, and now I’m sort of at the beginning again. I wish I wasn’t hooked on it! But DWTS–awesome!!!! For me, it’s about appreciating the cheesiness–the show knows it’s cheesy, the “celebrities” know it’s cheesy, the hosts know it’s cheesy (although not sure about Samantha), so it all works! Embrace the cheesiness, people!!!
Usually I only do a partial fake. I don’t watch the shows (like American Idol), but will flip through them and then read about them so I get the understanding of what to talk about. I do this a lot more with music bc I know nothing except what ew tells me! Napolean Dynamite was a full fake. I didn’t really think it all that funny, but I even ordered Vote for Pedro t-shirts at the office!