Jenny McCarthy is disadvantaged in her new UPN comedy The Bad Girl’s Guide. She can’t take off her clothes on broadcast TV. The only thing uncovered by the former Playboy centerfold is her stunning lack of talent.

McCarthy’s last attempt to star in a sitcom, Jenny on NBC in 1997, failed miserably, getting canceled after a half-season. Even moving down the network food chain to the lower expectations of UPN, there is no reason this series should fare any better.

Desperate Housewives was initially helped to some degree by its alluring title. However, once it had people in the tent, it gave them a solid show. The suggestiveness of The Bad Girl’s Guide might attract the curious but there is nothing to keep them interested. The attempts at humor are lame, mostly sexual double entendres and drug jokes, and there isn’t a hint of originality. This show makes Pamela Anderson’s Stacked look like Seinfeld.

The series is based on a book of the same name. Judging from what is on the screen, it must be a picture book.

McCarthy and Marcelle Larice play advertising agency colleagues JJ and Holly. “Work is what we do to pay for going out,” JJ says. However, to say they work together would be an exaggeration. They hang out until the threat of being fired spurs them into action. Then they get stoned for inspiration.

Combine their IQ and the sum would be lower than Shaquille O’Neal’s free throw percentage. This might seem harsh, but in a moment of self reflection, they agree, “We’re a couple of morons.”

JJ has a roommate, Sarah, another party animal played by Christina Moore. As breathtaking as it might sound, JJ is the brains of their apartment.

The secondary characters are cliches. Stephanie Childers plays Irene, their mousy boss and the foil for their schemes. Johnathan McClain is Patric, the girls’ ally and the only one in the office who doesn’t know he is gay.

Even UPN seems embarrassed. The network has most of the lowest rated series on TV but it still held out The Bad Girl’s Guide until the cusp of the summer doldrums, when ratings don’t matter. The only better move would have been not to air it at all.

ON TV

Program: The Bad Girl’s Guide

Stars: Jenny McCarthy, Marcelle Larice, Christina Moore, Stephanie Childers, Johnathan McClain

Airs: 9:30 Tuesdays on WBFS-Ch. 33, WTVX-Ch. 34