Fox's mad reality TV guru Mike Darnell may have American Idol on the respectability side of his resume, and he did manage to dodge the OJ Simpson: Here's How I Did It bullet, but he knows that it's sexy, brutal, off-the-wall, outrageous parodies of classier Reality TV series that keep the bills paid.
Even so, he's putting a cloak of social responsibility on the latest Fox sleazefest.
It's called When Women Rule The World.
And here's how it works:
Twelve women-- twelve attractive women who believe it's a man's world and that they've gotten as far as they can in it-- are sent to an island to build and run their own "society." They elect a "Queen." And then, twelve macho, male chauvinists are brought in-- as servants. They must obey the women. Follow every command. Build shelters. Find water and food. Do whatever is asked. Each week, a manservant is voted out and traded for supplies.
The last macho man standing wins a quarter of a million dollars.
Hmmm... it actually does sounds like an interesting social experiment, doesn't it?
Naaaaaaah!
Darnell has his buddies at Rocket Science Laboratories producing the 11 episodes. They're the ones who did Joe Millionaire and Temptation Island, so we can be assured it that this will be great Fox sleaze, a Roger Corman fantasy without a script (well, without an official script).
The show's premise is imaginative, at least. And there are bound to be twists ahead. Right now, there doesn't seem to be a way for any of the twelve women to cash in. Darnell says they're doing it for "payback," but we'll see about that.
The funniest comes from Fox Entertainment Peter Liguouri, who tells Variety-- apparently with a straight face-- that When Women Rule "is testing social mores.
"This is a social experiment and not a sexual experiment.," he insists. "We decided, why not create this Petri dish of a society and see what happens."
"The other part of the show becomes, 'what will the women do?'" Darnell adds. "Will they be able to create a great society or will they fight with each other. The biggest reality shows we've done, other than Idol, have been social ideas," he said.
Oh, shut up! Filming's just gotten underway. Fox is planning to air the show in the spring.