'Scott Baio is 45,'
quite charmingly so
This longtime Hollywood lothario gets a life coach
Jul 13, 2007
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Scott Baio has always had charm to spare. He used it to coast to TV stardom in the '70s and '80s on shows like “Happy Days” and “Charles in Charge.” Judging by his latest show, “Scott Baio is 45 . . . and Single,” that charm has diminished not one bit.
What worked so well for him in those long-ago sitcoms works equally well in the new millennium of reality television. Baio milks it for all it’s worth, and it turns out to be worth quite a bit.
Over these past 20 years, Baio has aged remarkably well, but now he's going through an existential crisis. While hardly Nietzschean in weightiness, it's all quite amusing to witness.
A notorious Hollywood lothario, Baio has loved and left some of the most beautiful and famous women in the world, including Heather Locklear, Denise Richards, Pamela Anderson and Nicollette Sheridan. Now he's staring down on a life of permanent bachelorhood.
What keeps the show, premiering Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on VH1, from becoming too maudlin is Baio’s attitude toward his circumstance.
It comes down to his openness. There’s just something endearing about it. He's consistently self-deprecating, unafraid to show his myriad flaws, and he does nothing to hide the fact that he's been a bit of a cad.
This devil-may-care sensibility permeates the whole show, and it makes for an entertaining if innocuous half-hour of mostly lighthearted semi-self-awakening.
The setup of “Single” is straightforward. Worried that he’s incapable of making a commitment after years of fooling around, Baio gets a life coach to help him uncover the reasons why. After meeting a variety of kooks, whom one suspects were never really in the running, he signs on with Dr. Alison Arnold, or “Doc Ali” as he calls her.
Doc makes him sign a contract. And he has to agree not to see his current squeeze, Renee, for two months while he works on his issues with Doc.
Girlfriend Renee consents on one condition: Baio must make a firm commitment to her at the end of that time (no pressure there).
With the stakes established, the twists kick in.
Doc Ali orders Baio to reconnect with his old flames to learn why they think their relationships with him failed. In the first episode, that leads to an amusingly uncomfortable reunion with Susie, who reminds an incredulous Baio that he used to break up with her on weekends so he could hook up with Playboy Playmates. Then she plays amateur life coach, telling him, "You’re always looking for the next best thing, and there is no next best thing. There’s just the next thing.”
“Single” breaks no new ground. It follows the standard template for most personality-based reality shows, creating faux drama for the sake of the audience, putting the star in situations he’d likely never face without cameras around and providing a constant soundtrack that invariably comments on the action on the screen. It’s all quite familiar.
But none of that matters if the show is well-executed and the star is compelling. Here, both are. With “My Fair Brady” and “The Surreal Life," VH1 succeeded in streamlining the reality format down to its basic elements: conflict, characters and a bit of craziness. In "Single," it does it once again.
Baio is easy to laugh at and root for at the same time, with his ever-winking narration and bemusement over his dilemma. He may not find the personal enlightenment he's look for. He probably won't. But one senses his life won't be any worse for failing to do so. His charm will carry him through.
