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Jenny McCarthy is a 'Bad Girl'

The comedian-centerfold says her new series on UPN, which she dubs Sex and the City in the Mall, has "a real girl perspective."

LOS ANGELES - Jenny McCarthy was risque even at age 6.

Grinning broadly during a recent interview, she recounts how she cracked up the mothers waiting to pick up their kids at her kindergarten with a slightly off-color joke aimed at her teacher.

"I watched all these people laughing and I thought, "Cool. Right on."'

She's hoping the same type of raw irreverence will pay dividends in her new sitcom, The Bad Girl's Guide, premiering tonight, based on the bestselling series of books by Cameron Tuttle.

McCarthy plays JJ, a low-level advertising executive who shares the joys and woes of modern life in the company of two girlfriends - co-worker Holly (Marcelle Larice) and roommate Sarah (Christina Moore).

"Being a "bad girl' isn't necessarily breaking the law, it's basically questioning the rules, testing out boundaries," says McCarthy.

In the premiere episode, JJ indulges in romantic fantasies about a man she has met in the elevator at work. There's some sexy language, but it's not as explicit as, say, HBO's retired Sex and the City.

"This is Sex and the City in the Mall, " McCarthy says. "This is where people can go out and get (the style) for $19.99. We definitely wanted a real girl perspective on it, not a fantasy world."

The Chicago-born McCarthy, 32, was Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1994, then went on to host Singled Out and The Jenny McCarthy Show on MTV. She also starred in Jenny, an NBC sitcom that only aired for 10 episodes in 1997.

Married and the mother of a 3-year-old boy, she's authored the explicit books Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth About Pregnancy and Childbirth and Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood.

"The thing I've realized in my 12-year career - I'm glad to say my 15 minutes of fame was a lot longer than people thought - that when it comes to female comedians who still want to be pretty, people can't write for them," she says, explaining why it was tough to find the right show.

She certainly didn't want a standard sitcom, featuring "the hot wife with the fat, bald guy."

She's hoping the six-episode summer run will spawn a pickup, especially because the structured working schedule of a sitcom is "the best mom job."

McCarthy and husband John Asher, a director, just completed the comedy feature Dirty Love, which played the Sundance Film Festival and will open later this summer. She wrote the script, which she says outdoes her books when it comes to being "raw."

[Last modified May 24, 2005, 03:00:27]