I never used to be a huge TV watcher, mainly because we didn’t have cable and I didn’t have time. It’s hard to find the time to sit down and watch TV when you are working full-time while balancing school full-time as well. I’d come home at 11:00 PM exhausted and ready to just fall asleep.
I’ve also never been a fan of paying for cable, not just because it’s expensive (it’s not that bad) but because I always felt that I was paying to watch advertisements. They never stopped, and it was annoying.
Recently, now that I’ve graduated and we have settled into the new house, I watch my one-show per night before moving on to being a little more productive with my time, and I’ve really enjoyed getting into a few shows.
There’s just something about some of these shows that has me online shopping like a fiend, so I thought I’d create a guide of shows that you SHOULD avoid if you don’t want to spend heinous amounts of cash on pretty things. Obviously this list depends on your taste and your age, but they usually have something for everyone.
Pretty Little Liars
This is the worst for me. Spencer has, hands down, my favourite wardrobe in the show. Every time I see her in another cute outfit I find myself Googling the piece. Obviously, most of the items are really expensive, but they make me pine.
Too young for you? The girls in this show live in beautiful houses, drive beautiful homes, and have beautifully dressed parents and older siblings, too. Avoid at all costs if you’re on a budget.
Gossip Girl
While the show may be over now, the re-runs won’t stop for awhile, and even if you aren’t in to the beautiful clothes, hair, and home décor (in which case, what’s wrong with you?!), you can’t avoid wanting to hop on the first plane to NYC when watching this show.
Plus they are always going to various places around the globe and that definitely plants the jealousy seed.
Keeping Up With The Kardashians
Judge me as you will, but I have an embarrassing weakness with KUWTK. But the show does nothing to curb my case of the “I want”s. I mean, the girls run a few awesome stores and I love the clothes that they all wear. Plus, their houses are divine and even the kids are dressed adorably.
Never mind the fact that they take a yearly vacation, and film it when they are there. I always want to go to wherever they’ve gone, because the resorts they choose are amazing.
Real Housewives of ______
I don’t watch any of the RHO series except for the local one. Because this is possibly the worst TV ever invented, I try to limit even the amount of it that I watch.
Watching this show doesn’t really give me an urge to go out and buy their outfits, so much as it makes me want to go to the restaurants/bars/stores they frequent.
Because RHOV is set in a city pretty close to where I live, I always love to try new places, but that comes at a price.
Are there TV shows that make you want to spend money?
Honestly, I think that most shows are bad… At least with these shows, they’re depicting lives of people that are know to be rich. It’s the “regular” shows where the characters have new, fashionable clothes, fancy apartments/cars, vacations on meager salaries that make me feel “poor” :/
I didn’t realize until the first season was almost up that the characters of “New Girl” weren’t SUPPOSED to be loaded!
I used to watch “Desperate Housewives” and I was in love with Bree Van de Kamp and her cooking skills. Being “inspired”, I wanted to buy more cooking books, cooking staff, dishes, rare spices, etc. Of course, I didn’t do that but I wasted a lot of time on “window shopping” in internet or in cooking stores 😉
Ha! I couldn’t agree more. All of these shows want to make me spend money…especially on therapy.
omg, Kardashians are it for me too! it doesn’t help that they have an affordable line at Sears. I worship the fashion ground those girls walk on, including Kim’s sometimes-questionable pregnancy style.
Yup. I have this problem too. I had the same issue when “the Hills” was on air as well, and now ‘The Carrie Diaries’ is starting to suck me in (in addition to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, KUWTK, and Vanderpump Rules!)
I don’t even have cable. There’s really no escaping this.
I don’t watch any of those programs but I know what they are as the wife has watched them. Most of those lifestyles many of us could only dream of. I think just being realistic with what we have in our own budget is the only way to stay grounded. I wrote a post once on a friend of mine who wanted to live the life…. spending money to be cool, look good like he had money..etc when he had none. It all boils down to what one can afford I would think.
weirdly enough, despite my crazy addiction to the different shows, I´ve never felt the urge to spend more money…
The Rachel Zoe project is my guilty pleasure. Pretty much any show on Bravo’s network is bad for curbing materialism.
Anything on HGTV is horrible for us! All of the ideas of things to do when our living situation doesn’t need any upgrading at all.
So true, those shows always make me feel like I should go shopping or out to a nice restaurant. Damn you TV!
All true. I try to avoid watching house hunters international for fear of buying a million dollar Italian estate. Thankfully (or maybe not so thankfully) I don’t actually have the money to buy one ;-), but it’s fun to pretend.
I make this problem disappear by not having cable, plus I don’t watch shows like this. Also, it might just be me, but I am not a fan of large cities.
SO true. I had to stop watching Gossip Girl and any show like it because of the consumerist urges I would feel every few minutes…why don’t I have long robe like that? I need that necklace! Where’s my marble bathtub? It made me crazy. I did not know that Vancouver had a RHO franchise, that’s crazy. We’re such American-centrists here that they don’t even try to market that show to us =P.
I would say anything on HGTV should be avoided. The shows make you feel like your house/property is inferior and needs remodeling. That can cost a lot of money. Unless you are renovating your whole house or just want some updating ideas, these shows should be avoided.