John Eggerton

To See Or Not To See
August 31, 2007

Showtime has been tempting viewers with a risque Adam & Eve campaign for its original series Weeds and newbie, Californication, but it upped the ante for reporters on the TV beat.

The ad campaign shows Weeds Star Mary Louise Parker and Californication front man David Duchovny naked, from the strategically obsucured chest up, as Adam and Eve, with Duchovny tossing a bitten apple into the air, and Parker with a python curled around her.

But in the press kit for screeners for the show, the cable net takes it a step further, with foldouts of both stars a la Playboy (though not a la Playgirl it turns out). Somewhat curiously,

Duchovny's foldout is of a fully-clothed star in a scene from the show, while Mary Louise Parker's continues the EVe theme, with Showtime letting us see a full body shot of the star naked in a pose that is reminiscent of a mid 1960's Playboy foldout (at least what others have described to me as such), with a prominent and well rounded behind on full display. And that disparate treatment comes despite the fact that Californication, at least the episode supplied in the screener, actually features Duchovny's naked butt, while the same could not be said for thethree episodes of Weeds we watched assiduously to find a Mary Louise mooning.

Why the different shots? A spokesman for Showtime said it was not a case of sexism, or of trying toappeal to male scribes, but then passed along this short and sweet explanation from his boss: "Because she had a prettier body."

Well, at least is wasn't sexism.

Posted by John Eggerton on August 31, 2007 | Comments (0)