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Showtime thinking of getting into male escort business

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Showtime has had programs about serial killers, drug dealers, lesbians, call girls, sex addicts and multiple personalities. The only thing missing is gigolos, but maybe not for long.

The pay cable channel is developing a reality show about men who rent themselves out. Perhaps Showtime was inspired by the success its rival HBO is having with its offbeat comedy “Hung” about a down-on-his-luck high school teacher who decides to start a second career as a male escort. The show, according to Showtime, is an “unscripted look into the personal lives of a group of men who offer sex and companionship for money in Las Vegas.” The producer is Relativity Media’s reality television unit.

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For Showtime, this project is its latest step into the reality world. While reality has long been a staple of broadcast television and commercial cable, pay channels such as HBO and Showtime have not had the same level of success with the genre. Showtime recently launched “The Real L Word,” a reality show version of the network’s drama “The L Word” about lesbian friends. Ratings for “The Real L Word” have not set the world on fire.

Pay cable channels tend to get pretty risque when it comes to their reality programs. HBO has had shows about strippers and a cat house.

Lets hope Deuce Bigalow doesn’t audition for Showtime.

-- Joe Flint


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