Confessions of a Pop Culture Snob

 
I can pin-point the exact moment that I realized that I had become a pop-culture snob.

I was talking with a friend's mother. She is good-natured and sweet - the kind of woman who pinches your cheeks and makes you casseroles. She was telling me how she loves the show Cake Boss. I smiled and said that the cakes were amazing. And then I proceeded to tell her how that show was SUPER FAKE and how there was NO WAY that they dropped that cake down the stairs and how I hated the fake arguments and the fake crises and that Buddy was a tool.....

Amazing cake. Totally Fake show.

 

And then I look over at her beautiful face and saw a sad, deep look in her kind eyes. She was looking at me like I had snatched a lollipop out of her hand.

That was the first incident. Then there were more and more. I couldn't help but rag on the pathetic writing and plot on Glee when someone told me they were a fan. I told a friend that if I had to watch one more episode of Two and a Half Men on the cruise together that I would throw myself off our balcony. I find myself rattling on about "serialized crime dramas" and how they are "Brainless, repetitive CRAP". Skating with the Stars? Really?

Yeah, that's how I talk sometimes. Please don't hate me. I've become a pop-culture snob.

I'm not sure how it happened. I blame many things. Mostly LOST.



I blame LOST for raising the TV drama bar so high that barely any shows clear it now. If LOST is the highbar, then shows like CSI and Grey's Anatomy are the chubby pole vaulter who goes up on the pole and then falls flat on their face. (By the way, if I ever tried to pole vault the outcome would be much worse - like death by impaling).

Some shows hit the bar. Shows like Parenthood and Veronica Mars and Dexter.


Some shows clear the bar: Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, Fringe and Firefly.


I blame Arrested Development for raising the comedy bar.


Likewise, some comedies hit the bar: Parks and Rec, Raising Hope, The Office, Modern Family (our new favorite.)

Some shows clear it: Community. 30 Rock.


In fact, in many ways, TV shows are becoming better than movies. I can't think of a single movie out recently that makes my emotions soar with the caliber of acting the way Friday Night Lights does. And it does it every single week.

By the way, I'm totally calling this now: Kyle Chandler is going to be the next big movie star after Super 8. Just FYI.

I blame movies like Inception, Lord of the Rings, Moulin Rouge, Atonement and Up in the Air for making it unbearable for me to watch The Bounty Hunter, The Tooth Fairy, Big Momma's House and Furry Vengeance.

Yes. No.

It's not just for TV, my snobbery. I'm getting that way for movies too. Recently a friend asked me if I wanted to go see Beastly. I sent her an email back that just said, "You know that has Vanessa Hudgens in it, right?" I mean, it was valid complaint.

 

But it still was a little bit snotty. Okay, it was a lot snotty. I apologized.

Another part of the problem is that I get Entertainment Weekly. Its our er, "Bathroom reader" and we read it cover to cover. It has made me a snob. I now know movie ratings. I know, ahead of time, if a movie stinks. And lately, I have become very good (In my mind at least) at prejudging whether a movie will be horrible. Although, sometimes they are off.

Like how they gave the Adjustment Bureau a B. That movie was a C- AT BEST. Thanks guys!

Would you like to pay 10.50 to see Matt Damon run