Mr. Romance: Mannenmodellenwedstrijd _O-

quote:

Mr. Romance


Amerikaanse realityserie waarin twaalf mannen strijden om het volgende mannelijke model voor de cover van de Harlequinromans te worden. De adonissen worden gedurende zes weken getest op de meest uiteenlopende eigenschappen, van zwoele oogopslag tot de meest romantische pose.

quote:

Sarah Payne chimes in on the thirty minutes of almost completely uninterrupted male toplessness that is Mr. Romance
by Sarah Payne

In this first installment of what will become a regular TV column here at EI, TV critic Sarah Payne weighs in on what's hot and not in the world of television.

I love Fabio. This guy spent his career as a rogue pirate, rogue Viking, rogue rebel, rogue Comanche, rogue scoundrel, rogue gladiator – you get the idea - on the covers of those novels you see at the checkout line in supermarkets, and made like a zillion dollars man-whoring his pecs for Middle American housewives’ fantasies. He’s totally ridiculous, and he totally knows it - e.g. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter commercials. Mad respect for this guy, even after he got smacked in the nose by a goose.

So maybe all of that doesn’t give me an unbiased view of The Oxygen Network’s new show, Mr. Romance, featuring Mr. No-Last-Name-Needed, himself. It’s totally Fabio-lous (HAZAA – I knew I’d work that one in somewhere!). This is a great show, not because it’s good, but because its over-the-top terrible, and the producers knew they couldn’t get away with a show like this if they’d tried to make it a serious endeavor. I LOVE THIS SHOW – here’s why:

Premise:

12 hunks compete for the chance to become Harlequin Romance’s next signature cover hero (FYI, Harlequin is one of the $2 billion romance novel industry’s top publishers). Each one is supposed to be a different flavor of sexy – shy and sweet, pensive and brooding, brash and adventurous, yada, yada, yada. The guys go through something like beefcake boot camp (except they’re dressed like extras for Harry Potter for some reason) – seduction lessons, sexy looks 101, bodice ripping. They get rated by some industry people, and at the end of it, they have a “Man Pageant” (I’m not making this stuff up, people) to judge who would best represent the new romance novel hero.

All of this is interspersed with Fabio commentary – he makes jibes at the contestants, and works in his catch phrase “Molto sexy” (I took Italian for half a semester, so I’ll translate – “Very sexy”).

Characters:

It’s a “reality” show, so you know it’s high drama. There are some male models, personal trainers, miscellaneous artsy-fartsies, and a few “regular” Joes. The dynamic is like America’s Next Top Model, more or less. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen a guy cry into his lasso after a bad photo shoot, or two guys cat fighting after someone stole a sexy pose.

Conclusion:

How’s this for a great piece of trivia - Gene Simmons - yeah, the guy from the band KISS - is the creator! I don’t think that’ll draw in the male demographic, but who cares? This show is hilarious; I’ve never laughed so hard at good looking guys in my whole life. Thirty minutes of almost completely uninterrupted male toplessness for the ladies (and some guys) . . . . .