Beverly Hills Bordello

Of all the Cinemax and Showtime late night series, this is one of the better done.

There are virtually no disappointing episodes.

All the actresses are very attractive, a few episodes actually have plots that involve you in the story, and quite a few of the sex scenes are complete turn ons ... which of course is the whole point of these shows. The acting quality is very much above average for one of these series.

This series is currently (check the date) being presented by Showtime on their Video on Demand channel.

Beverly Hills Bordello (shown on a Quebec T.V. station as La Maison De Plaisir) is a series that featured some of the best actors in softcore from the mid to late 90's.

Taking place in Beverly Hills (I'm guessing Los Angeles has plenty of these upscale places), it features the old storyline of good-looking people who aren't happy with their sex lives and need to pay someone to fix it up. That's where the Beverly Hills Bordello comes in, run by Madame Veronica Winston (played by various women over the years). As you can guess, steamy softcore sex scenes with all your favorite MFV hunks and man-made babes are offered to bolster the slim storylines. I can't critique the acting because this is dubbed into French, but it might actually make the show better. A decent watch, but nothing mind-blowing, although I haven't seen enough episodes yet, so there might be a memorable one still to come down the pipe.

This was the reason I subscribed to Showtime. The quality entertainment, the incredible acting, the magnificent plot lines - none of that was part of this show. However it did have a lot of naked breasts to make up for it and boy did they ever!

I go to the local Blockbuster and see several of these with different titles under the Beverly Hills Bordello title. Anyway...typical with all the women looking just gorgeous. The women are either someone's wife, a student doing a paper or employees at the House. There are maybe 4 stories to a tape...Just as the action starts getting really steamy, a lot of touching, the music is rising...and it cuts abruptly to the "cuddle together with her all covered up scene" after the fact, you know a little pillow talk and "why can't it be always like this" talk. They cut all the really steamy stuff, if there is any, out! Be aware when going to Blockbuster...my copy was rated "R". It would be worth while if it was left uncut but the ham handed edits make it a really bad choice. There were several stories that had potential, but nothing more than really ordinary guy and girl stuff. The women again looked incredible!

Sure, it's a skin-max type of show with soft core written all over it. Why is it so disappointing? The "acting" is amongst the most amateurish you will come across short of a Fred Olin Ray presentation. The only real difference is on this show, the ladies aren't trying to act like heroes in a poorly contrived "shoot over the weekend" piece of detritus.

Make no mistake: the women are beautiful. That does not take away from the terrible plots, painful acting and intolerable music. The only real highlight is Nicole Gian who lit up the screen every time she entered the room. Unfortunately, she's nowhere to be found in season two being replaced by Gabriela Hall and Monique Parent...neither of whom could carry the part.

What's to like? Lots of skin. What's not to like? The strained plots, the amateur-hour talent and the never seen happy finishes. Even faked, it'd be better than fading to pillow talk as done most of the time here.

And finally...the generic "jazz" saxophone. You'd BETTER like generic saxophone music. It's almost like getting it on in an elevator with the music turned up too high.

Watch for the skin. Don't have a single other expectation.