REEL LIFE / FILM & VIDEO FILE : New Exercise Tape Bounces Onto the Scene : Flexaball is said to use resistance to develop balance and strength. But then there’s the question of what the inflatable sphere may do to your dignity.

Exercise videos, like any other product, need to come up with new gimmicks. Problem is, the human body has limited area for development. There are the three T’s--thighs, tummy, tush--and that’s about it.

So the growth in exercise videos relies on coming up with new apparatuses. There’s The Slide, The Step and now The Ball.

Someone’s taken it into their head to sell flabby Americans on the idea of exercising with a 21-inch beach ball. Flexaball differs from its multicolored cousin in that the former is snow white. So when the user sits on it as instructed, the resulting image is of a Lycra-skinned mammal incubating a Jurassic-sized egg.

“It’s definitely the newest thing,” chirped Jill Ross, spokeswoman for the Minnesota-based exercise guide that distributes the $50 ball and accompanying video. “Flexaball uses resistance to develop balance and strength.”

Great, but what about dignity, huh? If exercise aims to improve self image, what’s the advantage of shelling out $50 for instructions on how to turn a vinyl ovoid into a giant huggy-toy of personal fitness? Gimme a break.

In defense of a gizmo that for some odd reason looks like it belongs in a Woody Allen movie, Ross said Flexaball was originally used as a physical therapy aid. To lend further credence to the appliance, she pointed out that it started with the name Swissball, based on the country of origin. The implication is that the clever, industrious Swiss would never produce anything frivolous, cuckoo clocks notwithstanding.

*

Monday’s broadcast of “Star Trek: Voyager” on KADY-TV (Channel 63) marked the union between the independent, family-owned station and the new United Paramount Network.

KADY owner John Huddy called the partnership very encouraging and said his station will broadcast four hours of drama and comedy on Mondays and Tuesdays in addition to other limited programming.

“When TV came out, everybody said the studios would die. When cable came out, everybody said it would kill broadcast. This new network proves that hasn’t happened,” Huddy said.

*

The rains last week dampened but did not drown filming in the county.

Usually there are three or four productions doing location work here. Last week that number was reduced to just one hardy crew, which, rather than running for cover, turned the dark clouds to their advantage.

“Virtual Reality,” a new Fox sci-fi drama, was at Leo Carrillo State Beach on Friday to recreate the April, 1975, evacuation of Saigon. During a lull in filming, a Vietnam-vintage helicopter sat on the narrow strip of sand next to a Jeep while location manager Bob Boyle surveyed the darkened skies.

“We were rained out on Wednesday but today turned out perfect for us.”

Why so chipper about the threat of a drenching? Added authenticity is the answer. April marks the beginning of the monsoon rains in Southeast Asia.