“My Bare Lady” on Fox

From the time we first heard about it last spring, we were kind of put off by Fox's new reality series "My Bare Lady" due to its patronizing attitude towards adult performers: "Hey, we all know that porn actresses can't act, so let's try putting them in a splashy West End theatre production and see what happens!" (OK, so most of them can't act. But we're allowed to say that.) Still, since the first episode is currently available on iTunes as a free download (at least for another couple of days) in advance of its premiere tomorrow night, we thought it would be worth checking out if only to see whether mainstream TV can approach a porn-related subject without the usual dose of alarmist hysteria and for the curious spectacle of seeing Mary Carey and Nautica Thorn featured on the same metwork as Bill O'Reilly. While we appreciate that Fox at least seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing, we have to agree with SugarBank's take on it: "The show then humilates them by making them fake orgasms and takes great pleasure in showing off the clear heels, mini-skirts and hair extensions they've all worn to a Shakespearean audition. All of this is accompanied by bow-chika-bow-wow music in case you've forgotten what these ladies do for money ... Worth watching if only to demonstrate why being in porn, being famous and crossing over are all still such different things." (And did we mention it's a free download?)

· "My Bare Lady" Episode 1: "The Cattle Call" (free iTunes download until December 8)
· "My Bare Lady" (sugarbank.com)
· "My Bare Lady" (official series site @ foxreality.com)
· "My Bare Lady": The Unofficial Vlog (mybarelady.vlog.xicast.com)

Previously: Porn: America's Addiction!, "The Girls Next Door", This Week In Porn Hysteria, DVD: "Family Business", "Pornucopia", Internet Porn Hysteria on 20/20