"Paradise Hotel" carries the "reality" show genre to its logical next step for Fox. It's a show that encourages casual sex between strangers for the sole purpose of being on TV.
And, if anything, that's understating it.
If you happened to catch last week's premiere, at least Fox was fairly up-front about it. The mantra in this "Hotel" is hook up or get out. And, by hooking up, they don't mean getting together for dinner.
"Paradise Hotel" is home to a group of studly young men and bouncy young women who — by virtue of the gorgeous setting and beautiful pool — spend a lot of time wearing, well, not much. Which provides fodder for the extended discussions the girls have about the guy's bodies and vice-versa.
All of which, frankly, is standard practice for so-called "reality" shows. As is the competition to pair off, which is featured in shows ranging from "The Bachelor" to "Temptation Island" to "ElimiDate."
But "Paradise Hotel" carries it one step further. It's pair off or get off. And, while you might win a million dollars on "For Love or Money" or "Joe Millionaire," what you win here is another 15 minutes of fame on two more episodes. At no time during the premiere was any other prize even mentioned.
That premiere introduced 11 twenty- and thirtysomething guys and girls to viewers. After they played in the pool for a while, each of the six girls picked one of the five guys as the hunk she most wanted as a roommate for the next week. A bit of math will tell you that that left one odd-girl out — Charla — which is where the competition comes in. Her only hope of staying on the show is to entice one of the guys away from one of the other girls.
The five couples retired to their bedrooms. There were two beds in each room, but, we were told, at least some of the couples shared the same bed.
And we were led to believe that one couple, Zack and Amy, had sex. We weren't actually shown that it happened. Even on Fox, that's still a no-no. (Although who would be surprised if that happens in the network's next "reality" show?)
Remember, these are people who met each other earlier that day. And Zack and Amy weren't exactly a match made in heaven — he was shown complaining to Amy that she wasn't his first choice and he was horribly disappointed two other girls had not chosen him. And Amy didn't exactly speak highly of her roommate, either.
That didn't stop her from inviting him to share her bed. And Fox made sure (with the use of subtitles) that we knew Zack said the next morning that their night together was "awesome."
Meanwhile, Toni is advising Charla to make a play for various guys — using any and all means possible — so she can stay on the show. It's not exactly prostitution, but it's close.
Tonight, one girl will exit and a new guy — chosen by the remaining "contestants" from a pool of viewers who contacted the show — enters. And we play out the sex-capades in reverse, with six guys and five girls.
Oh, and did I mention that the show's host, Amanda Byram, may be the least-talented woman on the face of the Earth? Her delivery was so stilted and smarmy you'd almost think she was trying — hard — to be bad.
Plus, the producers of "Paradise Hotel" apparently had so little decent footage to show us that they spent an inordinate amount of time showing previews of upcoming scenes. Sometimes repeatedly.
Speaking of an inordinate amount of time, Fox will be devoting two of its 15 prime-time hours each week (Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Ch. 13) to "Paradise Island."
How proud they must be.
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com