When I heard that TMZ had been renewed for two more years, I thought, yeah, I get that. In my neck of the woods, the show airs at 7:30 p.m. every weeknight. Tabloid TV has gotten to the point where it's no longer relegated to a 3 a.m. timeslot. Now it airs at a respectable hour, which has somehow made the show respectable, too.

So what IS it about the rich, famous and screwed-up that we find so fascinating? Other than the fact that it's just plain fun to gawk at these folks, I've come up with a few reasons why TMZ is one of the best things to enter our lives in years:

1. TMZ shows us that even though the rest of us might be struggling out here, we're still way better off than the people on TMZ's radar. That's comforting in a weird way.

2. TMZ confirms that the beautiful people we see on magazine covers, theater screens, and TV sets are living a double life. They don't have it together! They're messed up! So we no longer have to waste energy believing that the grass is always greener on Rodeo Drive. Clearly, it's not.

3. TMZ makes it "ok" to stalk these people because, well, it's on at 7:30 p.m. so it must be ok, right? TMZ is shameless in their pursuit of the embarrassing video or photograph, and that's awesome. It's nice to see people who are unabashedly ok with their profession, as smarmy as it might be to the rest of us.

4. TMZ makes it fun to go behind the scenes and find out how it all happens. When I get to "sit in" on their office chatter about what a coup it was to get a shot of Britney's, uh, you know what, or snap that priceless pic of topless Sienna Miller with a married man, why, I feel downright in the loop! I'm one of the TMZ crew, and I'm ok with that. They're having fun, and I want to have fun, too!

So the next time you're surfing past the TMZ TV show, stop and be thankful for all the good things it's brought into our lives.