Reality TV Can't Fix Playboy's Inertia
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“It is a guys’ world, definitely,” says one of two female photographers competing on Playboy Shootout, a new reality show from the magazine. “I love that kind of challenge.” But a woman’s presence doesn’t change the formula whatsoever.
The formula is basic: Ten photographers and ten models are competing, in tandem, to both shoot for and pose for the magazine (respectively). It’s not a bad idea for a brand extension, but it’s hard to ignore the heavy smell of anachronism. (Maybe it wafted in with Hef’s smoking jacket.) And nothing about the show, which airs on the Playboy Channel, indicates that Playboy is actually interested in using it to freshen itself into relevancy.