When sex and technology don't mix
Playboy TV’s new reality dating show isn’t a turn on for man or machine
![]() | "Gadget or the Girl?" Maybe none of the above? |
Playboy.com |
Call me a hopeless optimist … and well, you’d be the first. But I had high hopes for Playboy TV’s new dating reality show “Gadget or the Girl?”
This is how the show is promoted on the Playboy TV site: “If you’re given the choice between an awesome gadget and a weekend getaway with a hot girl, sometimes it’s best to go for the sure thing.”
(Wink. Wink.)
My iO Digital Cable package does not include Playboy TV, and when my remote fingeraccidentally stumble one channel past Comedy Central to E’s own Playboy Mansion reality series “The Girls Next Door,” I can’t click fast enough.
It’s not the Bunnies I have issues with — I loathe most every reality series I’ve ever endured for the sake of pop culture education … with the exception of A&E’s “Paranormal State.”
That’s a show about college kids hunting various sundry ghosts and boogie men made palatable by the Southern charm of reoccurring psychic Chip Coffey, the non-offensive good looks of wooden ghost buster leader Ryan Buell … but mostly, the copious use of complicated and exotic ghost-hunting gadgetry.
I really like nifty gadgetry. So when it came to Playboy TV’s new show, it’s the word "Gadget" that caught my eye when the geek blogs started yammering about, "Gadget or the Girl" (on Mondays, 7:30 p.m. ET).
“Gadget or the Girl” sounded like an idea that had reached its time — new twist on an old paradigm, fresh discussion of the veracity of dude/sex/gadgets stereotypes. “Gadget or the Girl” seemed it had a pretty shot at being pretty good … or whatever.
OK, not so much “pretty good” as “mad stupid” — but entertainingly so. Plus the counterintuitive casting of host Iliza Shlesinger, spunky winner from NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” provides at least an eentsy big of credibility. I mean, right?
Boy howdy! Was I ever wrong.
Failing to read the “Gadget or the Girl” press release for comprehension before I requested the review DVD, here’s what I envisioned the show to be … what I really wanted it to be:
Dude goes on your typical “Blind Date”-style TV outing with both the gal and some nifty bit of high tech vying for his attention. The threesome hit the spa, the lingerie store, yodeling lessons or whatever, drinks, dinner and the obligatory hot tub.
All the while on this date, the sufficiently tarted-up female attempts to distract the male from surfing his potential iPhone or honing routes on the TomTom that could be his … depending on the date’s outcome.
Cutesy pop-ups implying inner dialogues keep the action going as dude debates whether he’s more interested in chicky’s career plans or the gadget’s instruction manual. And the audience, in breathless anticipation, hangs on the show’s every snarky (and insipid) word.
Here’s how "Gadget or the Girl" goes in reality:
Dude sits on couch with spunky hostess Iliza Shlesinger … who is a bit stiff, but still adorable and tiny with alterna-nerd appeal — nothing like the tan-in-a-can bleach blondes one comes to expect on such shows.
Spunky Hostess asks Dude, his favorite part of a woman’s body. In this pilot episode, Dude says something non-scandalous, such as “smile,” and Spunky Hostess punches his arm and accuses him of lying.
From commercials for upcoming “Gadget or the Girl,” this seems to be standard operating procedure … unless of course the Dude in question answers correctly … if he is not “lying” according to Spunky Hostess, the correct answer is “boobs.”
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