Guilty Pleasure: Bravo's Million Dollar Listing Returns Tonight

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 Madison Hildebrand this season, isn't a Chad manque by any stretch. He's your typical real estate agent who likes to dole out the charm offensive and maintain that he can switch from nice guy to "shark" when needed. So far, I've yet to see any of these agents in shark mode and, from the two episodes provided by Bravo for review, Josh Altman sees to stuck in the nice guy gear, particularly in scenes with his family.

Which isn't to say that there is a lack of drama here, because there is. As in previous seasons, the clients that the guys encounter are often far weirder and more bizarre than you can imagine (unless you live in LA, in which case you encounter people like this on a nearly daily basis) and that holds true here. Josh Flagg co-lists a ghastly McMansion in the Valley that he attempts to unload for his weirdo makeup artist client (Monet) even as he knows that the asking price is staggeringly high. His attempt to lure clients in backfires magnificently.

And scenes for the season promise conflict between newly out Madison and Josh Altman, when the latter becomes involved romantically with Madison's assistant, leading to the much-hyped drunken showdown scene that Bravo seems to be playing on a loop during commercial breaks these days.

While Million Dollar Listing isn't fantastic television by any stretch of the imagination, it does combine the voyeuristic spectator sport of reality television with real estate; the market crash only serves to make things more desperate for this troika of agents, with multi-million dollar homes on the lines. (Though, if you ask me, it still doesn't seem, at least based on what's shown here, that these guys do all that much to earn their hefty commissions.)

Throw in the cheesy music (yes, it's still here during the home detail bits), whiny behavior, and some seriously crazy clients and you have the makings of a genuinely enjoyable reality series about excess in every sense of the word.

Season Four of Million Dollar Listing premieres tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on Bravo.

Quick Take: Season Three of Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing"

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 measures, after all. And the first two episodes of Million Dollar Listing's third season find each of them faced with some mighty desperate circumstances. So when Chad is faced with a no-show for an open house on a ridiculously amazing place or the newly shorn Josh gets up on a conference room table in order to simulate the compromise necessary to reach a vital deal, the tension (and head-scratching stupidity) is palpable.

Once again, despite his slightly shady polymorphous status, Madison proves to be the most capable of the three and the one you'd want handling your real estate transaction. He's honest, he's dependable, he has an office and an assistant, and he seems to place most of his energies onto his business rather than petty rivalries. Well, yet, anyway.

Million Dollar Listing might not teach you anything about the housing market or real estate agenting, but if you're looking for a reality series to give you a belly-laugh or five, this is the home for you.

Season Three of Million Dollar Listing premieres tonight at 11 pm ET/PT on Bravo, before it relocates to its normal timeslot next week at 10 pm ET/PT.