Somebody once said that the whole idea of “bad sex” is an urban myth. It’s impossible. No such thing as bad sex.
Of course, that was said by a man.
Tonight, Logo begins a new show devoted to just that, “Bad Sex.” But it’s not the kind of bad sex where you have a headache, PMS or are just tired of the same old nurse-doctor scenario.
This “Bad Sex” is the kind that ruins your life — from the dangerous kind to the non-stop kind to the nonexistent kind.
The nonscripted reality show begins with a weekly group-therapy session in the office of Christopher Donaghue, a sex therapist in West Hollywood.
Each week, one patient — they range in age from 20 to 40, and are gay, straight and bisexual — is followed by cameras as he or she either engages in the sexual addictions they are trying to overcome, or, in the cases of the sex-phobic patients, don’t ever engage in.
Interspersed throughout the program are the group-therapy sessions a la Dr. Drew, in which patients admit, breakdown, confront one another and try to overcome the sexual addictions, fears and perversions that are destroying their lives.
Tonight, it’s about Ryan, a young restaurant owner who is gay and who has the compulsion to have sex many times a day.
He runs out of his restaurant several times in the middle of the workday to get himself a quick pickup (or is that pick-me-up?).
He is roused out of bed in the middle of the night to troll online for anonymous sex. He has seduced his best female friend’s straight boyfriend.
Other patients include a woman who has never had sex, a man who had sex only once and is not interested in ever having it again, a man who is a serial cheater and a young woman who only engages in rough, dangerous sex.
Donaghue is a plain-spoken, very sensible guy who isn’t there to give instant answers and doesn’t claim to have the quick fix to these stunted lives.
But at least you won’t be hearing any Dr. Phil-isms, or life-altering monologues from him.
What he is, you’ll see, is the kind of therapist you’d want to have if you really wanted to get better long term.
Each week, the series shows the process one person in the group goes through.
Why you’d want your story told on TV if you were, say, a sex addict and knew your family would be watching, I can’t say.
But I can tell you that the stories — and the solutions and failures — make for darn good, voyeuristic TV.
It’s Dr. Drew without the celebs, and Dr. Phil without the Texas corn.