What the L was I thinking?

Man, is this hard to say. Like ridiculously, terribly, aggressively hard to say. But, here goes. I watched the third season premiere of “The Real L Word” and did not despise it with every fiber of my body. Whew, there. I said it. Please forgive me Lesbian Jesus, I feel dirty even just thinking that.

Now, “The Real L Word” is one of those love to hate/hate to love kind of guilty pleasures lesbians tend not to talk about in polite conversation. I actually have always prided myself in only watching the first episode of the first season and leaving the remaining three episodes in my screener unwatched and untouched. You see I tend to have a violent allergic reaction to things Ilene Chaiken touches these days. Plus that kind of high-gloss, high-drama lesbian scene is was not my bag of herbal tea or anything else for that matter.

Over the two seasons it has been on I’ve watched less than a handful of episodes. I caught some of the second season because I can’t help but like the slightly dorky lesbian couple Cori and Kacy. And, yes, I know – they’re the ones keeping the old pregnant lesbians flag flying. But, darn it, if I’m not rooting for them to start their little family.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. Over the weekend in a fit of wanting to watch anything lesbian (and because I downloaded the wrong episode of “True Love,” dammit), I popped in my “The Real L Word” screener. And much to my surprise I did not violently want to hurl all of my possessions at the screen. Part of this is because the episode was less about everyone wildly chasing after hot tail, and more about relationships being formed. (Though, wow, are lesbians going to have BIG LESBIAN FEELINGS about what’s happening with Romi.) Another part is because they’re finally showing lesbians from another city besides L.A. And still another part of it was because Dara was not wrong with her five reasons to people like to watch the show.

But a really big part of it is because there’s still so little full-on, full-time lesbian content on TV and in the movies. Sure there are a few characters here and there. Of course, I love me some subtext. Still you can’t beat the real thing. And for all its ridiculous drama and superficial tendencies, the show actually does feature real lesbians being real lesbian together. We can argue a lot and loudly about whether we like the kinds of lesbian things they’re doing (and their fashion/hairstyles, because was that a shoelace Whitney was using as a headband for a while?) But gay is still gay and I like to see gay people sometimes. So sue me.

Does that mean I’ll be glued to my TV a week from now when it premieres on Showtime? Or that I’ll start watching the whole season religiously? Well, let’s not get crazy here. I still have some standards. But I might pop in from time to time to see how those nutty lesbians are doing. Sometimes you just can’t help yourself. Also, it’s kind of fun to yell and pretend to throw things at the TV when things get really, really horrible. And, don’t worry, it’s bound to happen. This is “The Real L Word” after all. Give it time.