William Houston noted, in the afforementioned Globe & Mail review, that the show lacks any interest in accuracy or deep thought; but also conceded that such lofty goals are hardly the point:

MVP, of course, doesn’t aspire to greatness or authenticity. And, for what is, it’s slick and entertaining.

But while Houston argues this show is entirely made for women, I’ll bet that it gets a serious dose of male viewers, too. After all, our era is the cult of celebrity and pretty girls in the beds of our favorite star athletes are photographed, blogged and written about more by male sportswriters than by female ones, and for a largely male audience. (And more of that audience has probably wished they were Sean Avery because of his liaison with Elisha Cuthbert, than because of his hockey prowess…)

So my guess is that MVP, while primarily aimed at women, will still reach a noteworthy section of male viewers. After all, this is still basically a show about hockey players who drink too much, and the hot chicks who want them. What’s not male targeted about that?!

An interesting tidbit from Houston: Peter Miller, who plays “Damon” on the show, played five seasons in the CFL in the 1990s.

Anyway, I’m not the best female test-subject for MVP since my own interest in trash-television is largely limited to Toronto Maple Leafs games. But here’s the thing: I do want to like MVP… both because there’s nothing wrong with a bit of tawdry fun, and because it’s a drama set peripheral to my favorite past time—hockey.

So I’ll be watching next week… if I can manage not to screw up the PVR again. No more reviews, though— if I do manage to get hooked on this show, I’ll be hiding that fact as my own secret shame.

P.S. The CBC’s website of the show is quite well done with some notable features:

• All the episdoes are kept online here.**
• The show’s soundtrack is updated here each episode. A cool idea.
• There’s a blog with the show “Puckbunny Blog” that’s bound to be a hit. (Though I think they’d do well to team up with the girls of Hot Oil)
• A linkup to the show’s Facebook group.

Notes:
*Nah, he didn’t say that. He said, “You review it because I’m stuck in the United States and can’t get CBC on cable. I’m dying to to see that show. Tell us everything!”***

**Episodes are only available to Canadian-based IP addresses. If you figure out a workaround outside Canada, drop me a line.

*** Okay, okay, he didn’t say that, either.