Inequality of the Sexes, or the Giggling Over Jiggling

Somehow, when no one was looking, it became acceptable again on television for men to embrace their inner pig--to crudely ogle girls, swill beer and generally behave like boorish louts.

Consider “The Man Show,” which premiered on Comedy Central last summer and features such regular segments as “girls on trampolines.” Or Howard Stern’s late-night antics, which rely in part on women disrobing with strategic areas obscured through the wonders of reverse video.

While describing itself as a sort-of “The View” for men, FX’s “The X Show” displays even men’s fashions on scantily clad female models as a dandy way to keep young men glued to the set. The same network is also preparing to launch a new series, “Son of a Beach,” from Stern’s production company.

This weekend even brings us “Poorman’s Bikini Beach,” a program that will be parked next to chat lines and psychics, airing at 2:30 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays on KCAL-TV. Featuring and produced by Jim “Poorman” Trenton, the deposed host of KROQ-FM’s “Loveline,” the show does little more than follow girls around the beach and get them to engage in such jiggle-inducing stunts as water-balloon contests, races and wrestling.

Trenton is unrepentant about the show’s demographic target (“I know it’s an all-guy audience. Any woman who watches it can’t stand it”) but was still surprised that two of L.A.’s competing independent stations, KTLA and KCOP, balked before KCAL agreed to run the show, albeit in the equivalent of programming Siberia. He bought the air time and is selling commercials himself.

“In the case of Channel 5, they showed a live shooting of a guy in a car chase,” he points out, calling the morality of his “fun, stupid show” infinitely preferable in the sex-violence scheme of things.

The sponsors Trenton has lined up reflect the audience likely to watch girls in bikinis at 3 a.m.--guys whose last girlfriend was either fictional or inflatable. The list includes Hair Club for Men, a “bikini girl” chat line and the Web site Matchmaker.com.

There is more than a little irony in all this chest-pounding insensitivity at a time when the major networks have been compelled to plead mea culpa about their minority representation--as if gender issues have become the last safe haven in terms of excesses and stereotyping.

So far, this is largely taking place within television’s fringes, where diminished rating expectations make reaching a small but demographically desirable young audience economically viable.

Yet it has proven true in prime time as well. Consider the ditsy blond boss introduced this year on NBC’s “Veronica’s Closet,” or the personality make-over given once-sensitive Billy on “Ally McBeal,” as if firm principal Richard Fish weren’t enough. Indeed, male piggishness has become one big rollicking joke--especially if it can be dressed up with a lot of half-naked women as a visual garnish.

With broadcasters’ standards dropping even faster than their ratings, there’s no telling where this trend is heading. Local TV stations recently had a field day with a story about a Russian newscaster who strips as she reads the news, and if Fox was willing to barter away brides in prime time, how long can it be before fashion-plate news talent--such as Jillian Barberie and Lisa Joyner of local Fox morning show “Good Day L.A.”--are asked to peel down to their underwear?

“We get to have fun with fashion because we’re not reporting on death and destruction,” Barberie told Times fashion writer Mimi Avins in 1998, explaining her form-fitting outfits. “It’s unfortunate, but for some reason people think I’m less credible if I’m dressed more casually.”

As anyone who watches “Good Day L.A.” or “The KTLA Morning News” can tell you, credibility isn’t exactly an issue. Losing IQ points is. If preserving credibility is the criteria for wardrobe choices, those zany morning gangs should feel free to show up to work in fake noses, party hats and Bermuda shorts.

Mark Cronin, producer of “The X Show” and a onetime writer for Howard Stern, sees the recent spate of man-oriented programs as a minor backlash toward political correctness and the emphasis on not offending anyone in years past.

“I guess everything went through a kind of PC phase when it was very difficult to do anything like that, and that’s gone now,” he said.

Certain programs have become more tame in their attitude toward women, including late-night network series. Remember Johnny Carson and his amply endowed “matinee lady,” played by Carol Wayne? For the most part, you don’t see Leno and Letterman engaging in such material, confining their boundary-pushing to finding new ways to describe Bill Clinton as a horny hillbilly.

Cronin also credits Stern with elevating the frustrated male as fodder for humor, presented with a knowing wink (at least before his recent marital separation) that blunted its edge.

Still, he’s quick to insist that “The X Show” shouldn’t be lumped in with “The Man Show,” saying gags on the latter are generally more hostile to women, while the FX program celebrates gender differences--including what sort of fare tends to keep men and women watching.

“We always try to have a reason why things are being modeled [by women],” he noted. “It’s not as gratuitous as girls on trampolines.”

Even played mostly for laughs, all this manly posturing is anathema to feminist groups such as the National Organization for Women, which is in the midst of a survey designed to evaluate how women are presented in prime time.

To NOW President Patricia Ireland, most of these shows aren’t particularly funny and seem designed for the tastes of 10-year-old boys, “who still think scatological things are funny and to whom women’s bodies evoke enormous giggles.”

In a sense, Ireland added, these programs validate what the women’s movement has accomplished by trying to “relieve some of the insecurity of these guys. They’re playing to the group that doesn’t want to have women as equals.”

Trenton, meanwhile, is projecting that “Bikini Beach” will turn a profit and already is talking about expanding to other cities if the L.A. run works out. One thing is certain: As long as there’s money to be made, such fare will no doubt keep bouncing along--as surely as some men will stop flipping around to gawk at women in bikinis and girls on trampolines.

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Brian Lowry’s column usually appears on Tuesdays. He can be reached by e-mail at brian.lowry@latimes.com.