This one-hour special hosted by Cindy was a look at sex in America that got, if you'll pardon the expression, limp ratings for ABC in 1998; the title can't have helped, nor could it have helped that it aired at around the time the scandal around Monica Lewinsky (who herself has since done some TV hosting duties in Britain) broke - the US had quite enough sex talk in the news without getting it in specials as well. Add to this the perception that models are invariably idiots, and...
This was a shame, because "Sex with Cindy Crawford" was a sincere and non-exploitative look at the subject that didn't treat its subjects as sideshow freaks (and would thus have been a turnoff for the Jerry Springer crowd). Had Cindy not been the presenter, some viewers might have given it more of a fair shake - in fact, celebrity WAS the show's main drawback (not Cindy's, but rather the contributions of too many ABC network faces). But it wasn't all bad news for Cindy Crawford in autumn 1998; her second "Playboy" pictorial hit the streets at the time, and unlike the TV show WAS a hit. A very palpable hit.
Footnote: Just as the show aired, British producer Peter Stuart filed suit against Cindy and ABC, claiming that she had backed out of an agreement to do the show with his company Rapido. Since this company is renowned for shows that, unlike Cindy, have no truck with taste and dignity ("Eurotrash," "Passengers," etc), one cannot blame her for not working with them. And as the Canadian comedy show "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" put it after the courts ruled against him, any man who thought he was the first one to think about sex with Cindy Crawford was clearly deluded.
This was a shame, because "Sex with Cindy Crawford" was a sincere and non-exploitative look at the subject that didn't treat its subjects as sideshow freaks (and would thus have been a turnoff for the Jerry Springer crowd). Had Cindy not been the presenter, some viewers might have given it more of a fair shake - in fact, celebrity WAS the show's main drawback (not Cindy's, but rather the contributions of too many ABC network faces). But it wasn't all bad news for Cindy Crawford in autumn 1998; her second "Playboy" pictorial hit the streets at the time, and unlike the TV show WAS a hit. A very palpable hit.
Footnote: Just as the show aired, British producer Peter Stuart filed suit against Cindy and ABC, claiming that she had backed out of an agreement to do the show with his company Rapido. Since this company is renowned for shows that, unlike Cindy, have no truck with taste and dignity ("Eurotrash," "Passengers," etc), one cannot blame her for not working with them. And as the Canadian comedy show "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" put it after the courts ruled against him, any man who thought he was the first one to think about sex with Cindy Crawford was clearly deluded.
