I think there were more class acts around during Hollywood's "Golden Age," but it can't be denied that there was also promiscuity and tacky behavior in the mix. The difference I see it is that there are more people willing now to act out in public simply for the publicity they know it will get them. There may have been stars back then who didn't wear underwear, but AFAIK, they didn't also wear short skirts and deliberately flash their privates to the paparazzi. I believe that more stars back then were better at knowing how to behave in public, whatever their private behavior. There are still a number of classy stars around, but these are the ones you rarely hear about involved in any scandal.

Hef may be pining for the good old days, but in many ways, he's a part of the lack of class we see today. I don't think anyone with true class would pimp out his lifestyle on a show like TGND. At the very least, he could fix up that tacky mansion and give it a veneer of class. Also, with a girlfriend like Kendra, class just goes out the door. Holly and Bridget can be dressed up and act with a modicum of decorum, but no matter how much Kendra dresses up, she always acts the same.

Maybe Hef is attracted to Kendra because he has My Fair Lady fantasies about classing her up? Hmmm...

I think that part of the difference is that in the old days of Hollywood, entertainers were under long-term contract with studios and those contracts tended to have strict moral clauses. Studios got behind a star and marketed her aggressively. They'd even use their mafia connections to stop a news story if they felt they had to. Hollywood now is very much freelance, so there is nobody to reign in these young stars, and no studio feels vested enough to protect their reputations. Can you imagine Katherine Hepburn quietly carrying on with Spencer Tracy, a married and violent drunk with children, in 2007?

Playboy actually does have somewhat of a morals clause with its own Playmates, cutting off any who end up in hardcore porn or escort work. Somewhat hypocritical, given their connection to Vivid Video!

Playboy is attempting to project classy image with this show. Their contract with E! states that the show will stay away from the topic of Hefner having sex with the women. The image we're given is that these well-dressed sorority sisters are living in a mansion for free with a good-natured house-parent watching over them.

Very true, Carmelized, but a lot of these actors also were under studio contract and those contracts had morals clauses. The studios would protect them--and, more importantly, their investment--as far as they could by trading off some scandal involving another actor/actress to have the columnists bury some other little slip or something along those lines. If the employees didn't live up to their contracts there were a dozen other equally pretty people waiting in the wings to take their places. With very few exceptions they were replaceable and they knew it. The current crop of talent doesn't have that safety cushion under them and so are food for the feeding frenzy of the tabloid press. Jean Harlow was famous for not wearing undies, but you never saw her snatch and that was part of her appeal--her reputation was that she was naughty, but she wasn't blatant about it.

If you have a few (often) not too bright or educated young kids who are naive enough to believe their press--ala Britney, Lindsay or whomever--and who are out there pretty much on their own or so spoiled they have no reason to listen to their handlers then you're talking trainwreck waiting to happen.

I'm just saying, is all.

Old Hollywood didn't have the internet to exploit all the dirty details the second they happened. They still had attention whores who pulled silly publicity hijinks to get noticed, but the top stars of the day lived in closely guarded bubbles.

The women on this show have sacrificed all independence to live for free in a mansion and wait around hoping the old fart will drop dead and leave them all his cash. It's an investment opportunity for Holly and Bridget. Kendra appears to be too lazy and dumb to do anything other than be a bleached little parasite. Every time I see her I want to cut off all her hair and dye it dark brown. The cotton candy hair looks like shit and does not show off her butch personality like it should. I'm thinking Hef keeps her around because she is a perpetual child and he's actually that pervy.

The mansion does not draw a classy crowd. Apparently it did at one time, but those days are long gone. The grotto must be a festering pool of Scott Baio spooge at this point.

I loved watching Holly's discomfort when that hag Barbi Benton kept talking about all the cool stuff they used to do when they were young. Now Hef doesn't leave the house or let them stay out past 9:00pm.

Kendra with short, brown hair? Yuck. But she's actually toned down that blinding white stuff. I wish to Gawd Holly would do likewise. I hate that Bimbo Bottle Blonde shade.

Sorry, still wretching over the festering Scott Baio spooge grotto! That is a hard thought to erase! I think the reason Hef has the 3 girls, is to cover his sex life, or lack of. Truly most men I have known over 40 have serious sex issues, Viagra or no. And at 80+, forget it. They are covering for him, and he pays them well and they get to live in a mansh and get publicity. All they have to do is pretend to love him, and act like he is some kind of sex god. There is no medicine in the world that can turn someone his age into a love machine.

Good points all around. There were class acts both then and now, as well as tacky attention seekers. People haven't changed, but the internet and all the entertainment shows have created a much bigger arena for those with the propensity for making public asses of themselves. Another difference is that careers were ruined or threatened by bad behavior in the old days, but now bad behavior often enhances a career. Only the most extreme and despicable actions seem to ruin careers today. Back in the Golden Age, one wrong word from powerful columnists like Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons could sink a career, and has been mentioned, the stars had morals clauses.

There are also more celebrities these days who are famous simply for being famous, thus we have TGND. I'm sure they had some hacks and people with no discernible talent in the golden age who got some attention, but I don't think most of them achieved any kind of real, lasting stardom. Not that Kendra, Holly and Bridget are superstars, but they are very well known. I don't think any of them could have gotten more than occasional bit parts in the movies of the 30s, 40s & 50s that Hefner loves. Now Bridget could have been a kick-ass party planner, or maybe a great real-estate agent, but she's the only one I can readily see being successful or well known, either then or now, without being one of Hef's girls. Without this show, I imagine Holly and Kendra would still be living some pretty hardscrabble lives.

Nail. Head. I think you hit it. Same reason for the 7 girlfriends before the show. How better to guarantee buzz and pictures than to show up at trendy places (even if only for an hour or so) with 7 blondes wearing next to nothing and acting like he's the sexiest thing around (I just threw up in my mouth a little when I typed that).

Then, take that marketing plan up a notch with a reality show. More exposure, less blondes needed. Even better if one of those young blondes can appear to be totally and completely in love with him. Can't you just hear the producers telling Holly to talk about marriage every chance she gets? Not too hard to do when she's so clearly in love with the supposed lifestyle.

Last ditch effort to save a dying magazine before the founder dies himself.

I do think that part of their "job" is to jump on his std-laden stick every now and then though. (more puking)

I think there are plenty of stars who still have class - and you won't see them anywhere near the mansion. For a reason. For all the "wholesome girl next door" crap he tries to interject into it all, the fact is the man makes most of his cash from the porn industry. Vivid, Playboy tv, Spice Channel, and Jenna Jameson are all Playboy.

I realize that it's easy to assume that Hef does not have sex with these women either because, a) the thought of elderly people having sex, especially sex with younger people, sounds gross to some, or b) men are jealous they don't get to have sex with so many women, c) people think the women were being used or exploited by Hef if they all were having sex with him, d) everyone likes to believe they can spot a scam, or e) Hef himself seems really unappealing to some.

I do believe he's having sex with all of them, and often. He already admits he takes Viagra, and I wouldn't put it past the old buzzard to get a penis pump. Heck, he still might not be able to get it up every time, but that doesn't mean he can't get it up sometimes.

Reality is home to serious horrors. Famine. Racism. Honor killings. Animal abuse. The Olive Garden. White chicks from San Diego wearing grills. Some old geezer in Beverly Hills getting sex just isn't that shocking.

No, and I actually have a grudging admiration for him. He has lived his life as he wanted, and I really don't think he has done anything horrible (his first wife may disagree). In the 60's the Playboy image was pretty classy. I used to sneak my dad's Playboy's and thought it was all pretty cool. But my take on it was cocktail parties with well dressed women and Rat Pack types. Of course there were the clubs and the bunnies, but the rules for them were not far from convent life. (I am sure they managed to sneak in a lot of fun). But it all seemed so much more innocent, or maybe just because I was. And yes, classy. Hef has launched a lot of girls careers, and really seemed to care about a lot of them. I love how so many of the old gals feel so comfortable coming back to visit. And I think he was totally gutted when Dorothy Stratten died, and I think he felt some guilt about that. To sum up: I don't think he is a horrible person, he just did it his way!

I agree. There has been a definite loss of innocence--for better or worse is probably debateable, but the instant communications available today has definitely put everything in a different light.

Actually glidefloss Scott Scanlin accidently shot himself in the second year/season. Sadly I am still a wiz at 90210 trivia.

OT-I don't think Kendra or Bridget have sex with him, not often at least. Holly is the only one who ever mentions it, if memory serves correct. I think the other two are for his ego and for company.

So, if Bridget and Kendra aren't having sex with him (and that's a good point, ugagirl, about Holly being the only one who talks about it), do we think that they're getting it somewhere else? Or just not having sex with anyone? I can't imagine that someone like Kendra, who is really young and who seems to go out of her way to be sexy, wouldn't be sexually active in some capacity.

If Kendra and Bridget are getting sex somewhere else, and I doubt they are, they would have to be very discreet about it. Hefner imposed the curfew because Brande Roderick and the Bentley twins were very openly running around with other men. He dumped all three.

I figure that Bridget & Kendra aren't having sex with anyone unless it is with Hef occasionally. I don't think that Hef would allow it if he knew. Since he has been 'burned' in the past by his 'Girlfriends' stepping out, he is probably very watchful for the girls fooling around with other men.

I think that Bridget values her relationship with Playboy too much to take a chance on getting caught & thrown out of the mansion.
Kendra, I could see giving in to the temptation of a hot guy. I bet her mom & grandma counsel her all the time not to do it though! They value her Playboy relationship almost more than she does. And Kendra did mention the embarrassment of her mom finding her vibrator...

The potential embarrassment. Her Mom was headed to her room and she said she needed to go hide it. Masturbation is hardly cheating on Hef anyway.

There was an item on Page 6 awhile ago that said Kendra is anxious "for her contract to be up." Whatever that means. It said she is grateful to Hef but wants to move on to other opportunities.

I remember reading an article in Playboy (before I had kids) in which Hef talked about using Viagra. He said it was perfect timing for him because it came along right after his divorce was final.

I dont' have a problem with the guy. Everyone at the mansion is there by his/her own choice. They know what they're getting into.

And he shouldn't feel responsible for Dorothy Stratten's death. The guy that killed her was her boyfriend from home. She would have left him sooner or later.

I forgot exactly if her mom found it or not. I remember Kendra mentioning it though. It just made me think that it might be her sexual release for now -- not that using it was cheating on Hef.

Interesting. To me that sounds as if the girlfriends (at least Kendra) is still there for the show and not for Hef.
I wonder if one of the "girls" were to leave if she would be replaced for the sake of the show.

Well, you know what they say about people who feel the need to talk about it all the time....

Why am I having scary, scary visions of "Next Girl Next Door" competitive reality show flashing before my eyes? No...no!!!!

I figure they're doing it with each other.


I definitely think a girl would be replaced if she left. Crystal Camden seems to be aching to be a gf again...

I definitely get the bi-vibe from Kendra. She probably uses the vibrator and fools around with one of the other 1,000 girls living in the house, guest house, Bunny house, doll house, tree house and tent out back.

Bridget-Sorry but she honestly seems a little asexual to me. She seems only interested in Halloween, horror movies and pets. Not much else to her. Kendra at least mentions that guys/girls are hot and openly talks about being horny and using her vibrator, whereas Bridget, despite being the oldest of the three, acts like a shy 12 year old virgin (dresses like one too).

Bridget likely realizes that she is #2 to Holly, and acting overly sexy is going to threaten Holly and thus piss her off.

Hush yo' mouth!!

Who knows if E! producers read this thread for show ideas? Don't give them anymore!





She does and that's why it's so creepy when she does her "sexy" face in photoshoots because we all know she doesn't talk about sex, or have sex with anyone (other than Hef perhaps...ew!). Holly talks about sex, so what gives Bridget? She has posed for playboy as her lifelong dream, so the sexual aspect is there.

And Bill Maher and that guy from Full House.

Must... resist... obvious... JOKES!


You may as well include "children of reality show stars" to that list, if the previews for this season's Real Housewives of OC are any indication...

Really? Judging from her audition tape she had that guy make for her I'd have never ever guessed she was a journalism major!

As I understand it, Hollywood kept a tight reign on its stars and starlettes with handlers. Now-a-days, they pretty much let them do as they please.

Just thought I'd mention the girls made an appearance on that Phenomenon (Criss Angel, Uri Geller) show last night. The part I saw had them shooting paintball guns at one of the magicians- not sure if they were on the entire show or not. Kendra was having trouble hitting the magician (even though it was obviously part of the act) and it was obvious she was getting frustrated since she has the sporty girl rep to protect.

So is this show finally on its way out? I like to make fun of it as much as the next person, but I really don't care that much anymore and it seems to be losing momentum. I feel like I've seen the past episodes 50 times each. And showing a few new episodes and then holding off on more new episodes seems like the network could care less about it.

I don't think Bridget ever had much of a legitimate career. She had a couple of jobs (in a video store and as a secretary, iirc) but moved to LA to become just another random aspiring model/actress(/stripper?) a long time ago. The journalism aspirations seem pretty new. It was a 'certificate' in broadcast journalism, btw, not a Masters, she was doing (although she previously gained an MA in Communications).

Add to that the fact that they WOULDN'T be photographed doing these things anyways, nor would such photyos have been published anywhere. There just wasn't a demand for it.

I'm not sure about that. I remember seeing a special about a notorious magazine, which I think was called "Confidential." I believe the magazine in the movie LA Confidential might have been based on that. Anyway, it was full of scandalous material, allegations, and pictures of stars. I believe a star (maybe Maureen O'Hara) finally sued them out of business for reporting a false story about her. But if I'm not mistaken, while they were in business, they had Hollywood living in fear that their secrets would be published. They didn't have paparazzi in the numbers that exist today, but a big scandal would still be heavily covered in the press, movie magazines, etc. I know that the Fatty Arbuckle scandal, where he endured a lurid murder trial, was highly publicized and ruined his career. Errol Flynn's paterinty suit was big news, as was the murder trial of Lana Turner's daughter. There was still plenty of interest in the lives of stars, but I think more of them made a point to keep their personal lives quiet.



I think it probably is on its way out, unless they can come up with some new and interesting things to do. Lately, it's just all variations on the same themes, and not all that interesting, IMO. We know that Kendra will act like a boneheaded, obnoxious brat, Holly will keep angling to get married and be Queen Bee, and Bridget will keep dressing up herself and her pets in costumes. The parties and socializing don't make for the most riveting TV.

Doubt it! It's E!'s most popular show, is entering Season 4 and Season 5 is in negotiation. Long Live The Girls Next Door! :D

Rumours60, you are quite a fan of the show!

How do you know about season 5? I thought that the show was only going through season 4 (starting to air in Dec. 2007?)

Some acts were so taboo in society, even a star engaging in it would not have been reported. Homosexuality was shocking, so Rock Hudson wasn't outed. Abortion was illegal, so Marilyn Monroe's wasn't reported.

To an extent I think Playboy's alleged glamor days were the by-product of taboos. We assumed from watching Playboy After Dark that there was probably sex going on at the mansion, but we were weren't told about the baby oil, Quaaludes and sex nights. Even now it's not mentioned on GND.

Woohoo!

I don't know what it is about this stupid show, but I love it. Here in the UK, they show a re-run every evening at 7:30, and for me it's like a Valium and a warm bath at the end of a long day. The E! channel in the UK is pretty sad, and some weeks they will literally run the exact same episode five nights in a row (I've seen the one with Shaun White so many times that I can pretty much recite it from beginning to end), but for some reason, I'm still there. Perhaps I have a bit of Hef's OCD. :)

There is a rumor floating around that Bridget will be on the next Dancing with the Stars.
I don't know if it is true, but I feel an obligation to spread the alleged news.
:)

Aja - I am with you. I love the three dingalings.

I heard or saw somewhere that Holly was interested in doing Dancing with the Stars - Bridget isn't interested. But either one would make me tune in - haven't watched that show yet - no one I care to see.

eta - I wonder how Winnie is doing - I think she had surgery on her eyes yesterday. anyone hear anything?

in the name of gathering material for TWOP...SIGN ME UP! LMAO

I'll admit it, I don't watch DWTS, but if one of the girls does it, I am sooo there!

Good thing DWTS tapes on the west coast, otherwise the tapings would run past curfew...

Holly said in her fanclub there were a few other reality shows she wanted to be on, but "All the ones I want to do are on big networks who don't want a Playboy girl." Someone asked her specifically about DWTS, but she didn't answer.

I got the season 1 DVDs from Netflix and it's hilarious to watch for the giant bottle of baby oil on the headboard in Hef's room. Also good in a snarky way is watching Hef throw a fit because his lamb chops at the sushi place weren't finished on time, and how stained the carpet is in Bridget's bedroom. Although it could be a shadow, it was hard for me to tell.

Good times!!

Amen, sister! I've been saying this as long as the show is on. Dignity be damned, I'm so sick of having to worry about the bills and dragging my butt to work every morning at 5:45 AM. I'd happily revolve my life around some old fart to give up all that, but the old farts are looking for the 10's not the 5's so off to work I go.

I have always thought a lot of the criticism of the girls is all about veiled jealousy.

No veiled jealousy from me. Single mom, no child support, lots of bills and a job. I do not wish to look like them, I do not wish to be them, I do not even want to be their age.

If I wanted some old man to look after me, I certainly had plenty of opportunities to do that. What makes me proud is when I overhear my kids tell someone how hard it has been for me, and how much they admire me. And my hard work is paying off pretty well these days.

Yeah, but what if the dress-up was prelude to the baby-oil and Viagra hour at 10? I'd argue that baby-oil and Viagra with Grampa is work in its own right...

No kidding, I would gladly have the most stressful thing in my life be trying to keep the b-day cake candles lit in Las Vegas. (I'm looking at you Kendra) Probably only for a year or so, then I would just get too bored.

Maybe at Kendra's age I would have been stupid enough to do what she is doing. She really doesn't have a lot of top. (Brain-wise!) Getting old either makes you smarter or more stupid.

Hard work is a bitch!

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet but there's a Season 4 preview available. I found it on the forums on E Online. The new season premieres on Dec. 9.

The two episodes where Hef and the girls go to Europe were on again tonight and I enjoyed watching them as much as I did the first time around. Too bad they won't/ can't travel as much because of Hef since I thought it was such a nice change of pace from the usual follies at the mansion. I'm still cracking up over the girls' amusement of the bidet and Holly's delusions of marriage never cease to amaze me or make me chuckle. Just because they are going to France, she thinks Hef should marry her- oh puleeezzee. I thought the editing for those two episodes was brilliant and the 24 countdown clock and sound effects were genius. Who knew you could use the terms brilliant and genius to describe the show?

Season 3 preview is now up on Eonline.

http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/girlsnextdoor/index.jsp