THE GIRLS OF THE PLAYBOY MANSION (Mon Feb 25, Nine- 11:05pm)
Yes, it’s every bit as sleazy and lowbrow as you’re imagining right now, but this show, also known overseas as THE GIRLS NEXT DOOR, should appeal to those who like clothing-(and-brains) optional co-men running around an opulent mansion whilst talking to camera about; their likes (saline implants, puppies and kitties feature prominently), dislikes (amazingly, none of their dislikes appear to include being pawed at nightly by a randy octogenarian who insists you sleep three to a bed and makes you dress like something out of the Stepford Wives Swimsuit Calendar) and ‘what daily life at the Playboy Mansion is really like’. A strangely compelling, Spanish-Fly-on-The-Wall Documentary.
SIX DEGREES (Tues Feb 26, Nine- 10:30pm)
Apparently, it’s a common belief that everyone on this little blue planet of ours is connected to everyone else through links involving no more than 6 people- hence the amusing party game 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon and why so many people who’ve never heard of him feel a mixture of rage and shame whenever Nick Giannopoulis makes another movie. This new series from JJ Abrams, creator of LOST and the upcoming monster mash CLOVERFIELD, takes the phenomenon literally and makes a series out of it, presenting us with six wildly disparate people in New York City- a single mom, a writer, a photographer, a petty thief, a high school jock and a waitress- whose daily decisions continually affect each others lives despite the fact that they don’t know and never meat each other. Adding a bit of spice to this interesting dish is Jay Hernandez as the high school jock- last seen in both of the gloriously grisly HOSTEL movies, it’s nice to see Hernandez being allowed to be a much less literal slice of hunk in this series, and that he gets to keep that handsome head on his shoulders at all times…
