I know it’s cheesy, you know it’s cheesy, and we’re still watching every second

In this column, we deliver hot (and cold) takes on pop culture, judging whether a subject is overrated or underrated.

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It’s easy to dismiss Virgin River as hokey. The soapy plot lines, the glossy cast, the improbable plot twists, the Mills and Boon-lite love scenes. Even its stars didn’t expect much from the show when it first aired (its seventh season landed on Netflix in March). Lead actor Alexandra Breckenridge recently admitted to The New York Times that she thought the show was “very cheesy”. Shooting early scenes together, she told Martin Henderson, who plays her love interest Jack, not to worry because no one would see it. But from season one onward, millions and millions of regular viewers, including me, have been glued to their screens, and if anything, we’re tuning in because it’s naff.

It was a fairly straightforward fish-out-of-water set-up when Los Angeleno nurse practitioner Mel first arrived in the titular (fictional) northern Californian town. Heartbroken........

© The Sydney Morning Herald