Fantasmes

I had a bad experience with RED SHOE DIARIES. I insisted on VHS-recording it live to edit out the ads on local M-Net pay channel. It was Fridays late at night, and the programs preceding it were boring long movies sometimes causing the show to be fitted in shortly before 11:30 PM and I was quite grumpy about having to stay up winter's nights to slough on through the junk even if the show turned out to be worthwhile. No, I wasn't a video pirate, just in it for love of a good piece of film featuring pretty girls. Some episodes were less favorably received, but I suppose I have to take my disdain into account. Hell, long movies like PULP FICTION and CARLITO'S WAY I especially remember how disgruntled I was. How much better on DVD, only I got bogged down buying those 4 episode sets, heard tonight about a complete Season 1 release in 2014. I'm used to buying box sets in proper complete-season sets, with the episodes in sequence, but here it was self-defeating, and I rather focused on the show that later on replaced R.S.D.on M-Net... THE HUNGER, which isn't better, but was properly available.

Okay, even now, why only Season 1? After all these years, only Season 1 as a complete season?

Make it available in a complete set, or all six seasons separately available, and I'll get to it.

There were some episodes that were worth staying up for. Others were a letdown, setting me up for grumpy Saturdays even.

Late night eroticism, but the stories were told from a woman's perspective. The music in this series was fantastic, and it set the mood perfectly. Many of the stories were good, but there were some clinkers, as well. Some of the actors and actresses that appeared were those that viewers would recognize from other TV series and B-grade movies (Joan Severance, Steven Bauer, Denise Crosby, Matt LeBlanc, Francisco Quinn, Paula Barbieri, etc.). This was one of two TV series that David Duchovny appeared in before he starred on "The X-Files" (the other was the odd "Twin Peaks").

Jake Winters (David Duchovny) is still heart-broken by the betrayal and death of his girlfriend Alex. He has placed personal ads in the paper as Red Shoes asking for diaries from women to better comprehend. He reads the material he receives at the start and at the end of each episode with his dog Stella always at his side. In between, there are the pulpy erotic romance stories with some fleeting softcore nudity told by the women's diaries.

Zalman King uses his movie of the same name as a launch point for this late-night erotic cable show. Duchovny gets to walk around at the docks pretending to read letters. It is what it advertises to be. It is cheesy and pulpy. There are scantily-clad hot women with little or no clothes. It is an after-dark lounge with impossibly hot people getting it on. Some of these women are actually known with real acting experiences or other exposures. There are plenty of nude models, and B-movie actresses like Audie England or Joan Severance. It's the 90's and it filled that softest of 30 minutes porn needs. The stories are nothing special to write home about but they could be a lot worst.

The first episode is fantastic, but after episode four in Season One, the quality and vibe completely change for the worse. Lots of good concepts and storylines, but the way it is executed with casting, acting, and writing does not do it justice. The show very quickly becomes stale and boring by not stretching itself creatively, which is a shame. It started out very sensual, erotic, and romantic at times with a promise of more to come and then it just didn't deliver. Feels like a wasted opportunity. And there's no diversity whatsoever. There's more female nudity than male nudity, of course, because the nude male body is so offensive and just too much to take for some people I guess. I don't know what simpletons sat there clutching their pearls calling this porn or soft porn, but it is most definitely not. Some of these episodes don't even have nudity! People need to grow up. It's obviously an Adult show about adults doing adult things like having affairs, engaging in bondage, etc... It's also definitely geared towards women. The sex scenes are shot so erratic, dimly lit, and foggy that sometimes you can't even tell what's going on.

I use to really like this show as it had a better storyline than the other junk, late night soft erotic shows of the past. I especially relate to Jake's (David Duchovney's character) yearn to know why his late fiancé kept the secret of an affair she was having hidden from him, when he thought they were perfectly happy and when he gave everything he could to her.

My favourite episode was with Cheryl Lee entitled 'Jake's story'; it made such a change to see Jake share with us his experience and encounters with new love with a mysterious woman.

Occasionally there was the bad episode, but the great camera shots and the whole style of the show when showing people and places was worth watching and made up for it.

Worth a watch!