From Zap2it.com :

McCarthy Opens 'Bad Girl's Guide'
(Saturday, May 21 12:04 AM)
By Jay Bobbin

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Jenny McCarthy is misunderstood.

That's how she sees it, anyway. Whether "The Bad Girl's Guide" changes it remains to be seen, but the typically zany actress is hoping to alter her image through the UPN sitcom, which premieres Tuesday, May 24. Based on best-selling books by Cameron Tuttle, who is one of the show's producers, the series casts McCarthy, Marcelle Larice and Christina Moore as unmarried Chicago friends determined to grab life by the horns, even if others disapprove of their straightforward, unapologetic approach.

If the premise sounds like "Sex and the City" in a different city minus one woman, the ever-lively McCarthy doesn't dismiss that, claiming her series begins "where that show left off. Some people might ask how bad these 'bad girls' get, but we're not really 'bad.' All we're doing, really, is questioning authority. The stories are reality-based, more about procrastination and hangovers and one-night stands ... things that are kind of young and cool."


"The Bad Girl's Guide" is overseen by executive producer Robin Schiff, who wrote the 1997 female-bonding movie "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion." McCarthy says working with her makes for "the best combination I've had in Hollywood yet. I have done six pilots, and I'd been waiting and waiting for the right writer. Every year, along came someone who said, 'I can write for you.' Well, no one had been able to, and I couldn't understand why people were having such a hard time. Robin just got it. Even though I tend to be kind of out there and funny, I think I also have an approachable personality. People have made me out to be either larger than life or a trophy wife.

"When you get stereotyped, it's hard to show that you have range," McCarthy adds, noting UPN may be more willing to take such a chance on her now, given the rebuilding strategy that "Veronica Mars" and "Kevin Hill" exemplify.

"I was trying to ask the universe, 'What do you want?' I had been in so many development deals; I'd done everything I possibly could. I finally determined that everything happens for a reason and the stars will line up when they do. Then I got this show, Robin Schiff and a network that is willing to try something different. There couldn't be anything better for me."

She feels the same way about her series debuting just as the regular television season ends. "I love it," says McCarthy, whose cousin Melissa plays Sookie on The WB Network's "Gilmore Girls." "If they had asked me what my dream time slot would be, I first would have said, 'A summer launch.' Then I would have said, 'If only Britney Spears had a reality show that we could follow.'"

Chances are good McCarthy had inside information on the second wish, since "The Bad Girl's Guide" indeed follows "Britney and Kevin: Chaotic," the unscripted UPN series that music superstar Spears and husband Kevin Federline unveiled last week. "The universe is really helpin' me out this year," McCarthy says.

While launching "The Bad Girl's Guide," McCarthy also is celebrating her new book, "Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood," a sequel to her best seller "Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth." She reflects, "I had many pots boiling on the stove, as they say. I also have a movie that I wrote ('Dirty Love') coming out soon, so it's a good year for me."

Having transitioned from MTV's testosterone-heavy "Singled Out" to a more conventional show, NBC's short-lived "Jenny," McCarthy was braced for potential skepticism when she became a published writer. "The first time," she says, "I was doing it for no other purpose than just wanting to make pregnant women laugh. Little did I know it would be helping them to get through some really rough times. It was so inspirational, all the things they would say to me, that I had to write a follow-up."

With her son soon to turn 6, McCarthy says her publishers "want me to keep writing, and I'm like, 'I don't know.' We'll have to see where my path takes me, but I have to say that in my whole career so far, my favorite accomplishments are my books." Working on them has helped McCarthy define what she wants to do as an actress going forward.

"I know now that I don't want to be Gwyneth Paltrow. There was a period when I wasn't seen that much, and it was because I was with a manager who turned down every offer. She wanted to make me a serious actress, but that's not who I am, nor who I want to be. Having a sense of humor about everything is just so much better. It's freeing, and I want to keep that going."


I think Jenny McCarthy rocks. She seems so nice and fun and down-to-earth. I remember when I saw her on the Sharon Osbourne Show over a year ago she was highly fun and funny and enjoyable. She made me laugh with the stuff she said about her pregnancy. She just seemed really cool. Even though she's gorgeous, she seems genuinely sweet and until I were to see otherwise from her it's how I'll think of her. I definitely want to check out this show and I hope it's a hit for UPN. It sounds like it could be good. There's no way it won't be better than Pam Anderson's show STACKED. And this has the writer of my favorite comedy of all-time, ROMY & MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION, as executive producer. That's definitely reason enough to give it a shot.

Also, I had no idea the woman who played Sookie on GILMORE GIRLS was Jenny's cousin. That is so cool! I love GILMORE GIRLS, and I bet Jenny does too. If she watched it there is no way she couldn't, and I'm sure she does watch it because her cousin is on it.

Anyway, I'll be watching the series premiere tomorrow night.

Poor Jenny McCarthy. I like her so I don't know why she couldn't get a good show. I taped last week's episode of THE BAD GIRL'S GUIDE and my cousin and I watched it on the weekend. Holy shit was it terrible! It wasn't funny and it was so over-the-top, especially the performances. If anyone watched it they'd know what I mean. It was beyond awful! I couldn't believe it. It's like they were trying sooooooooo hard for a laugh. And the theme song was hilariously bad! My cousin and I actually laughed out loud each time they played it. It was so simple and so lame; like something that would have been a spoof on a show on Saturday Night Live. I mean it, there's no way you could not think the same thing! It was just like, "Bad, bad, bad - BAD GIRLS!" It almost reminded me of the Wayne's World theme song the way it was done. Oh man was it bad. I couldn't believe it. I wish she could get a new show that's actually good. BAD GIRL'S GUIDE is a bad, bad, bad, BAD SHOW! My cousin and I both thought it sucked and we both like Jenny McCarthy. I was going to watch this week for the hell of it to see if it got better, since there's nothing else on now, but I ended up forgetting about it and was thinking it was on on Wednesday night.

I will probably listen to other episodes of it for the hell of it. I hope it can get better, but I'm not holding my breath. As bad as it is I can't see this making it.