New plastic surgery TV show located in Dallas premieres May 27

by Teresa Gubbins

DALLAS — Because there are never enough plastic-surgery shows on TV, Dallas was chosen as the launch site for HotdocsTV, a new show that hopes to "educate" its viewers on "elective procedures, plastic surgery, and beauty information."

So says the press release announcing the arrival of this 13-week series, which premieres on May 27 on NBC/KXAS TV. You can often tell a lot about a show by when it airs; HotdocsTV will air on Sunday mornings from 11:00 to 11:30 a.m.

The need for another show on plastic surgery is clear. So far there has only been Dr. 90210, Nip/Tuck, The Swan, Extreme Makeover, and I Want a Famous Face. There's a dearth of information, a huge hole on the cultural landscape needing to be filled with a show such as HotdocsTV which purports to do something more.

"We want these people - and, believe me, it's not just women anymore - to have the information necessary to make smart decisions about having work done," says some guy involved with the show who is quoted in the press release. Talking to him in person might have been nice, but no one answers the phones at Hacienda Nocturna Productions, although it's entirely possible that the crew is out shooting interviews with "leading area doctors" in the area and local elective-procedure providers such as Lap-Band Solutions.

The press release seems to imply that Dallas is somehow an appropriate location for this kind of show, but I find that kind of implication insulting, don't you?

If you call Nocturnal Hacienda Esquire, their message mentions that you can see a reel on their Web site, but this is definitely something not recommended, as efforts to view said reel froze up my computer solid -- not unlike the frozen facial expression a person gets after having had an especially aggressive facelift.

Meanwhile, celebrate being the first home to the show, as the series will move next to Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami in 2008.

Todd Maternowski contributed to this story.