Posted on 07/25/2006 9:51:30 AM PDT by pissant
Personal trainers are the new dental hygienists: health professionals who prattle on about how they spent their weekend while their clients are under physical duress and most vulnerable.
So "Work Out," a reality show on Bravo set in a trendy Beverly Hills, Calif., gym, sounds dubious: A chance not only to hear about the weekend but actually to watch it unfold. Yet the series (airing Wednesdays at 11 p.m.), is surprisingly compelling, a rollicking workplace melodrama set amid protein shakes, elliptical machines and glistening abs.
Jackie Warner, the owner of Sky Sport and Spa, is an attractive, exacting businesswoman with a quiet charisma; her trainers compete uneasily for her approval and their rightful place in the cutthroat world of beauty and fitness, the twin pillars of Hollywood.
Jackie is all business, except when dealing with her lover, Mimi, a blond Brazilian-born spitfire with a habit of biting when she feels jealous or ignored. Their love affair is one of several subplots, but it is nevertheless noteworthy; kisses, bedroom spats and physical passion are shown in more detail than other reality shows on Bravo do, but without fanfare. The focus of the series is the gym. The sexual orientations of its denizens -some trainers are gay, others straight -- are just another part of the pumped-up life in Southern California.
And that is what makes Bravo, which is owned by NBC Universal, the premier gay network, even though it is not labeled as such. Logo, a niche cable network that MTV created a year ago for gay viewers, is an earnest, didactic celebration of sexual self-determination in even its most marginal manifestations: gay Republicans, biker lesbians and many gender-defying groups, including transsexuals.
Logo is worthy, but too narrowly cast to draw a broad spectrum of viewers. That is also true of Here!, a pay-per-view network that is also not overly welcoming to outsiders, and perhaps a little claustrophobic for those inside. Both niche networks preach tolerance but reinforce an us-against-the-mainstream isolation.
Bravo, with its potpourri of original programs and NBC hand-me-downs ("The West Wing"), has a gay identity and a strong following that reaches beyond gay audiences. Home to "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," the hair-stylist series "Blow Out," "Project Runway" and now "Work Out," Bravo provides an arena where gays and straights interact, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in conflict, but almost always with flair and a sense of humor. When "Queer Eye" started, it became such a crossover hit that NBC put it on the network schedule.
The trainers on "Work Out" are a mixed group. They range from an incorrigibly flirty trainer, Rebecca, to Brian, a Southern good old boy with a supersize ego who finds it hard to bend to his boss' will. Between setbacks and surprises, Jackie tries to whip her employees into the best team of trainers possible.
"Work Out" follows the same well-worn reality formula of one-on-one interviews and group scenes that is parodied on "The Office" or on HBO's canceled comedy "The Comeback." It is not full of famous faces. The only celebrity clients are Jody Watley, a singer popular in the late 1980s ("Looking for a New Love"), and Kristoff St. John, a veteran actor on "The Young and the Restless." The series could easily be a bore, but for some reason isn't.
Kathy Griffin's comedy show "My Life on the D-List" has a huge gay following, and after a fashion, so does "Celebrity Poker Showdown," perhaps because it makes a point of including cult favorites like Angie Dickinson.
Just as not all gay-oriented shows are on Bravo, not all Bravo material has a gay subtext. "Tabloid Wars," a documentary series that begins this week, is set in the newsroom of The Daily News in New York and is mostly a showcase for rumpled, out-of-shape reporters.
"TOPICS: Gardening"
I laughed. Good one.
}:-)4
At least it wasn't stealth. It's in the title. And the star is a hottie lesbo. ;o)
You caught that. ;o)
I don't think I'll be tuning in to the show "Blow Out" on the gay channel either. Yiikes.
My wife watches that. LOL.
Alas, I watch Brit Hume and the food network's unwrapped and not much else.
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