[Televisionary]

I know, I know: this is the guiltiest of all guilty pleasures in some ways. But I do believe that when it comes to television, one shouldn't feel guilty about what one finds enjoyable, as long as you're truthful with yourself about the quality of the thing in question. Which brings us to Bravo's Million Dollar Listing , which returns for its fourth season tonight, amid a cast shakeup that saw the departure of oddball Chad Rogers from the series and the arrival of a new face in Josh Altman. While Chad irritated me to the point of tears at times, I do have to say that I'll miss him because he added such an unpredictable, weird element to the mix. Between the pocket-sized dog, the bizarre chemistry with his girlfriend, and his social awkwardness, Chad added a certain je ne sais quoi to the mix that will be missed, particularly as he managed to get under the skin of his fellow two real estate agents on a nearly weekly basis. Josh Altman, who joins returnees Josh Flagg and ...

Ordinarily, I wouldn't be the target viewer of Bravo's real estate reality series Million Dollar Listing , which is as much about the housing market as it is the personal vendettas between the three young would-be moguls jockeying for power and prestige in the cutthroat world of Los Angeles real estate. But the series, which returns tonight for a third season, is the television equivalent of a trainwreck that I just can't bear to look away from, no matter how much the imagery (particularly Chad's gasp-inducing hairstyle) might hurt me. While the production values haven't improved at all this season (the on-screen kyrons still drive me up the wall as opposed to the slickness of the network's own Flipping Out ), the drama has been amped up, partially due to the plunging housing market which sees our feuding trio--Chad, Josh, and Madison--attempting to keep their respective businesses afloat amid some increasingly uncertain times. Desperate times call for desperate...