Madison says ‘Holly’s World’ a ‘guilty pleasure’ type of show

Much to the dismay of yours truly, Joel McHale and anyone who's ever been subjected to the likes of "Dr. 90210," "Living Lohan," "Leave it to Lamas," "Denise Richards: It's Complicated" or "Pretty Wild," it turns out E! actually might be putting some thought into its programming.

"E!'s always really conscientious about, even though they have a lot of reality shows, they try and keep them all very different," Holly Madison says by way of explaining that her new made-in-Vegas "Holly's World" (10:30 p.m. today, E!) won't resemble the channel's other "Girls Next Door" spinoff, Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett's "Kendra."

"Kendra's is more of a domestic comedy, and mine is more, like, single girl trying to achieve her goals along with her crazy friends. Like, if you were going to say 'Kendra' was 'I Love Lucy,' I'd be 'Mary Tyler Moore.' 'The Kardashians' would be 'The Brady Bunch.'

"I guess that would make 'Kourtney & Khloe' 'Laverne & Shirley,' " she adds with a laugh.

The sitcom analogies are fitting, because when "Holly's World" aired a sneak preview back in December, it felt more like a scripted comedy -- and not a terribly convincing one -- with its focus on Madison's "less traffic, more fun" campaign to improve vehicle flow on the Strip.

But Madison says while the series will be "a little like that episode" (a review copy of tonight's premiere wasn't available), "it's definitely more real. One of our goals ... was just to keep it more real. "Even more real than 'Girls Next Door' was. And, you know, life isn't always perfect. You can't kick the cameras out of your room if you're having a bad day."

For now, that room is a suite at the Planet Hollywood Resort, where the four-time Playboy cover girl stars in "Peepshow," the fun burlesque revue that answers the question of what it would be like if all your favorite nursery rhyme characters took the same Pilates class and flat-out refused to keep their tops on.

The charmingly goofy "Peepshow" already has received tons of exposure -- so to speak. Since arriving in town a year ago, Madison has rivaled the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign and the Bellagio fountains as the most-photographed icon on the Strip. Now, "Peepshow" is destined for even more attention.

Broadway veteran Josh Strickland, Madison's "boy BFF" and "Peepshow" co-star -- he's the one who keeps his clothes on -- is one of the four leads of "Holly's World," alongside Madison's "down for whatever" roommate, Laura Croft, and helium-voiced assistant, Angel Porrino. And "Peepshow's" distractingly sexy dancers, who were seen throughout the preview episode, hopefully will keep turning up.

"It's definitely a fun, end-of-your-weekend ... guilty pleasure, eye-candy type show," Madison says of her series, but all that fun belies the work she puts in as co-executive producer.

She was still under contract with E! after leaving "The Girls Next Door" and was all set to host an "America's Next Top Model"-type show about the search for new Playmates. But then she quit her job with Playboy, moved to Las Vegas and sold the cable channel on the "Holly's World" concept.

Now, she's almost as big of a presence behind the scenes as she is onscreen.

"I definitely get to have a lot of say as far as what plot lines (the show is) going to go with," Madison says, explaining that her duties include going over her schedule with the other producers and choosing the days -- usually four a week, each of which involves roughly 12 hours of filming -- that would make for the best TV.

"And once those days are locked in, we film whatever happens that day. If something goes wrong, you get it. If somebody has a breakdown, you get it. If somebody gets into a fight, you get it."

But despite all the extra work she puts in when she could just show up and be herself, and to the surprise of virtually no one, Madison loves the cameras every bit as much as they love her.

"I just feel like having a show like this," she says, "is just an excuse to do your life bigger, better, more exciting and more colorful than you ordinarily would."

Christopher Lawrence's Life on the Couch column appears on Sundays. E-mail him at clawrence@ reviewjournal.com.