Undressed (1999–2002)
The Young and the Horny
6 July 2005
The phrase "guilty pleasure" doesn't even begin to describe the late-night MTV show "Undressed", a horny and very kinky show about young, hot and very horny character's various sexual escapades. Given, as an American basic-cable program nothing got too explicit, but the show crammed in as many elaborate sexual situations and fresh young flesh that was permitted. (Some of that Young flesh included the O.C's Adam Brody, Brandon Routh from the ill-fated Superman reboot and, I'm not freakin' kidding about this, Mad Men's Christina Hendricks).

In some ways I can't say the show was bad. The glossy look showed technical professionalism, and it did have some unusually creative set-ups to it's strictly libido-minded agenda, if never at all believable. It was also more diverse than other like-minded shows, with some topics dealing with the modern homosexual plight and the troubles of inter-racial dating. Though not they really dealt with those issues in a honest or realistic fashion. "Lord of the Rings" was closer to real-life than this. For all it's mock seriousness, it was ultimately extremely exploitive and very juvenile, busy but one-dimensional. None of it's elaborate scenarios led to anything particularly insightful.

However, you can't say it didn't know it's target demographic well. the show was solely populated by people in the sixteen-to-twenty-five age range, all extremely nubile and with only one thing on the mind: sex, sex and more sex, in all it's various forms. Even the class geeks and mousy bookworms we're all very attractive and well-sexed. And it certainly bridged the gender gap by having both it's hunks and babes frequently strip down to their skivvies. Parents, tastemakers and homophobes could all be deeply offended.

Perhaps it would've worked better on the stage. Given the histronic (actually I would just call it monotone) delivery of the actors to the mostly sterile sets where the outside world ceased to exist, it all felt rather silly and a bit uncomfortable on screen. I kept waiting for the laugh track was going to kick in (and some moments definitely deserved one).

All in all, it was a pointless and exploitive experiment, essentially PG-13 porn/soap opera hybrid trying to play naught, but not surprisingly it was a remarkably addictive little pill of a show. You might have never gone out of your way to watch one of it's frequent marathons, but when you did come across it late one night you never changed the channel.
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