MTV's Undressed: classic or inconceivably, dreadfully godawful beyond imagination with no redeeming value whatsoever?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

its an absurd show, to say the least. it could be seen as an obnoxious attempt to appeal to as many teen demographics at once as possible, or an unintentionally wicked sharp satire on a culture that is more and more distressingly sex-obsessed each passing minute. it is beyond farce in its everybody-is-doing-it silliness. the "acting" is so deplorable that it's beyond kitch too, really, at times being more scary than funny the way people just stare past the camera saying things like "oh but i'm not a lesbian". oh - and at the same time, maybe its one applaudable aspect is that it does put gay & lesbian collegiate couplings in prime time on cable with regularity, but the "gays and lesbians" they choose are invariably unattractive or are made to appear awkward in some fashion. it features a number of writers who are colege-aged themselves, but strangely they all seem to have uniform views when it comes to doing the nasty: they're about as deep as an inverted spoon. then what is it about this show? how can it be explained?

― V, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

actually, no one has probably even suffered throuhg one episode of this show besides me

― V, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw it once. kinda like american pie without any attempts at humour and just concentrating on sleaziness. Terrible show.

― jel --, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I understand Kristen Miller of USA High fame appeared on it at some point: this is (probably) a good thing.

― nabisco, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the gay people are NOT all unattractive etc! in fact one of the great things about the show is how you have NO idea who's going to put what moves on who: it's like "if they are on camera = they are sex-monkeys". I've wanted to ask this question for ages and I haven't because I really don't know the answer. I mean it's obviously BOTH but how in what way. I think a Real Answer may end all human striving and initiate a new order of transparency and understanding in all our endeavors.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Occasionally moments arrive when I am deeply happy that I don't have satellite. And this is one of them.

― Matt, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw it once. It was fascinating. So was Law & Order in just the same manner, though, and I'm sick of that show.

― Maria, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It makes me feel really undersexed.

― J Blount, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I know thats why I just had to ask this before I leave. I mean, its both terrible and fantastic for different reasons, I guess I just accentuated the negative since one of the last episodes i saw was nonsensical even by its "standards," (and it did feature a totally unattractive, effeminate version of "gay male" who was made to fall in love with some mannish chick - quite annoying, but I concede that sometimes the same-sex couplings can be okay, like it was tonight.) that said, i guess it is exciting that anyone can do it with whomeer at any time. has there even been a show like that before? um, aside from 50 years of ...soap operas...

yeah thats another terrible aspect, maybe the worst. makes u feel like a gigantic loser (if u define sexual activity = nonloserdom)
― V, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i don't even know HOW too italicize. how did that happen?
― V, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

― electric sound of jim, Tuesday, 30 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It is marvelous in an I-can't-believe-this-exists sense. Taking attractive college kids off the street and paying them to make out in their underwear without any of the burdens of 'plot' or 'dialogue'...actually I guess I'm surprised it took so long.

― Jordan, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

did you guys see the episode when the guy that non-kinky-girl is supposed to be working on a project with gets tied up by his girlfriend in an S/M scenario and she has to untie him? this show roXoR!!

― Dave M., Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

I miss this show. It accompanied many late-night/early-mornings when I couldn't sleep and couldn't stop watching. This and Dido's "Thank You" video on VH1.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 01:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, this show was addictive. I used to just sit and watch those strung-together episodes till way too late. There was something so satisfying about the exaggerated cheesiness of the writing and acting (though the acting was often "good," in a right-for-the-job kind of TV way) - the same kind of quality that got me hooked on "7th Heaven." It was a certain kind of good TV, packed into this impressively minimal thing. (It was almost like an experment to see how "little" they could get away with developing the characters and plots, and still make those things "work" - not that the underwear didn't help.) And the episodic hook was effective.

did you guys see the episode when the guy that non-kinky-girl is supposed to be working on a project with gets tied up by his girlfriend in an S/M scenario and she has to untie him?

That was one of the best storylines. And I usually thought the "post-college" scenarios were the weakest in general. But both those characters, and their "chemistry," were really good.

I seem to remember the "second season" dropping way off in quality, or losing some balance between prurient and "everybody learns a lesson" wholesome, tipping into crappiness, and I stopped watching.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 04:09 (twenty-one years ago)

(Why do I use so many unnecessary quotation marks when I post on ILX? I swear I don't usually write like that.)

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 04:11 (twenty-one years ago)

i miss this show too! it was completely terrible and beyond-redemption in an utterly comforting way, like some disgusting no-WAY-this-can-possibly-be-any-good-for-you food you still can't help adoring (chili cheese fries, maybe - or corn chips, which shared with undressed the inexplicably-addictive-yet-somehow-YUCK factor). the scripts and the performances were so awful that it was like they'd hired ed wood to write and shoot an all-"making out" version of real world. in short, all we ever wanted from any of those "good looking kids suffering unlikely angst" MTV shows. classic.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 04:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i really miss this show

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 08:23 (twenty-one years ago)

there was definitely something impressive about the show's control of its tone. that tone was almost insufferable but it was impossibly consistent.

― amateur!!st, Wednesday, 25 August 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

three months pass...

i sent an email to mtv last week asking them to put this on dvd. cross fingers!

― peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 21 December 2004 14:08 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

I can't believe they made 222 episodes of this.

Revive because I found out Brandon Routh (aka new Superman) was on the show and imdb page has a couple interesting comments. I'm surprised there hasn't been something as ridiculously trashy following in its footsteps.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Monday, 3 July 2006 06:29 (nineteen years ago)

I think reality shows like "Next" and (even better) "Parental Control" sort of fill the same niche now.

― 31g (31g), Monday, 3 July 2006 06:40 (nineteen years ago)

I want this to come out on DVD to fuel hungover winter sundays.

― Baaderonixx immer wieder (baaderonixx), Monday, 3 July 2006 07:47 (nineteen years ago)

Undressed was kinda good

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Monday, 3 July 2006 08:32 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

This thread is kinda OTM

MTV Undressed TV - Watch for FREE! - Sexy Late Night Comedy Drama

― W i l l, Tuesday, 14 October 2008 23:24 (seventeen years ago)

also lol at Sgt. Espera

― W i l l, Tuesday, 14 October 2008 23:26 (seventeen years ago)

Undressed was kinda good

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Monday, July 3, 2006 4:32 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 01:00 (seventeen years ago)

goddamnit now I'm watching this again

― ChuckStewart(no relation) (BigLurks), Wednesday, 15 October 2008 01:08 (seventeen years ago)

Good, bad ... I just like that it paired Nick Gonzalez with Eyal Podell as gay lovers, et al.

― Eric H., Wednesday, 15 October 2008 01:09 (seventeen years ago)

It was kinda great!

― Kevin John Bozelka, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 01:09 (seventeen years ago)

this show is just begging for a nabisco exegesis

― W i l l, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 01:17 (seventeen years ago)

it seems like every young tv actor/actress i imdb these days has an undressed credit (last one i remember is christina hendricks)

― Jordan, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 01:24 (seventeen years ago)

xp otm

― Surmounter, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 01:28 (seventeen years ago)

HAHA this is the (2nd or 3rd) best thread i ever created!

i don't even know HOW too italicize. how did that happen?
― V, Monday, July 29, 2002 5:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark

my, how much has changed

― Vichitravirya_XI, Wednesday, 15 October 2008 01:30 (seventeen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.