Undressed

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.

I had heard about "Undressed" from other cable channels, but had not sat down & watched it until recently. To me, this is an ideal soap for the high school & college age since all the characters are of that age group. They show enough skin to keep the viewer interested, & you find yourself talking to the characters. I only watched three episodes & I found myself trying to tell a character what to do. Unfortunately, MTV pulls the plug on a lot of interesting programs once when they seem to getting steam. Look at "Remote Control," & "Singled Out."

For a show with no nudity, it manages to bust all of the television taboos except one. That's right, nobody who is even an ounce overweight need apply. You can have sex with a different race, different religion, same sex, different morals, but you can't have sex with a chubby, much less a fatty. That would be too taboo even for them.

As for the quality of the show: Acting is Bad, The Writing is bad, and the plots revolve around stupidity and misinformation. Nobody with any taste would watch it. I tune in frequently.

You ever watch something that you thought was so bad, that for some reason, you couldn't stop watching? It's why we like B-Movies, and just about everything that Aaron Spelling can throw at us. It's also why Undressed is so good to watch. It has 3 simultaneous storylines of different people in relationships, and it's not always completely heterosexual. While most of the time its completely unrealistic (if I myself was getting as much action as the people on this, I wouldn't be watching!), and it has everything that makes it such a bad drama/soap opera (and typical MTV drivel) of bad acting, bad storyline, and cheap 2nd rate actors. It's fun to watch the predictability of the whole episode. This is also what keeps it interesting, as each situation lasts a few episodes, and you just pant out loud wanting to see what's going to happen next. Just when it ends for one story, another starts up in its place. This is something the 16-28 year old audience can watch and relate, maybe for a present relationship, or something that's happened in the past to them.

Okay, as far as I can see, most of these comments are on the morality or lack thereof of this show and the utter lack of acting talent. While I fully support anyone who questions the credibility of this show or questions the ability of the actors and actresses to act, I do not agree that this show is something horribly immoral and wrong. Morals are relative, not clearly defined by one person. Sex isn't illegal, and many people question their sexuality and experiment at some point in their lives. MTV has in fact abandoned playing music most of the time, but as most people know this, they should refrain from watching it unless they want to see something that's not music. Also, if teenage sex and homosexuality/sexual experimentation is something that bothers you or offends your morals, don't watch MTV (most of the time) or this show. However, those of us who don't care much about the educational value of a TV show (it rots all of our brains anyway) or the blatant sex (non-nudity) can watch this show all we want. Not all shows have to serve a purpose. Sometimes they just are. And this one is pretty darn fun to watch.