Gotta love Loveline

By joseph altman jr. Catalyst

Send comments to: catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Adam and Drew of Loveline practice what they preach. They love each other - a lot.

by joseph altman jr.

The intro proclaims "Loveline is intended for a mature audience only." Good thing co-host Adam Carolla isn't in the audience.

But Carolla, the ringleader of MTV's Loveline, has a knack for putting serious problems and advice in terms any moron could understand, and paired up with the conservative-yet-hip Dr. Drew Pinsky, he can't do too much damage.

In all seriousness, Loveline (12:30 a.m. Tuesday-Friday, various weekend times) does provide an interesting outlet for people - mostly college students - to get advice on a gamut of personal problems. Here, for example, is a sampling of callers from a recent show's lineup:

• Craig, 22, from Columbia, Tenn., who is sleeping with his cousin's wife,

• Adrienne, 21, from Kansas City, Kan., who is irritated by her boyfriend's flatulence,

• Cameron, 22, who wants to know the "possible psychological and physical ramifications" of getting a tattoo on his penis, and

• Chris, 23, from Gainesville, Fla., whose ex-girlfriend is sleeping with his roommate.

You can watch it to garner advice for your own sex, drug and health problems or simply laugh at the people who call in. Either way, it's entertaining.

Carolla reigns with his wisecracks about farting and breasts and his ridiculous comments about his own genitalia: "I used to think it was for opening beer bottles. Then I found out it was for masturbating." And his not-so-subtle advice ("C'mon, stop it you jackass! Look at you, you're humping his wife!") usually gets callers' attention, if it doesn't force them into therapy for another reason.

"Dr. Drew," as he is affectionately known, is slowly transforming from a stiff, stale M.D. to a fairly relaxed MTV regular, although his role of providing level-headed, professional advice still is, and always will be, the norm. He has been using the words "crap" and "sucks" more frequently lately. I guess MTV will do that to you.

Diane Farr rounds out the group with a feminine point of view. I'd trust her for relationship advice before Carolla any day.

And of course, if there's one constant in Loveline, it's that most of the people who call in with problems can trace them back to something in their childhood.

On Monday, Carolla was forced to interrogate Leigha, 26, who couldn't put her finger on the reason why she likes to have lots of sex with random guys she meets on dating lines. Well, Carolla's "bad cop" approach reveled that Leigha's parents divorced and she had a stepdad who beat her with a belt. Eureka. He's found the root of her self-esteem problem.

Essentially, the moral of the show is that if you had problems as a child, you're screwed.

But forgetting permanent emotional trauma for a second and getting back to entertainment value, the show has some new features this season.

Dr. Drew now gets up from his cushy chair and steps out into the audience, although he still looks a little unnatural interacting with the 20-somethings. And besides each show's celebrity guest, an audience member is selected to sit up on stage, banter with the hosts and try his or her hand at providing advice for a short segment of each show.

That's kind of scary, but it's entertaining nonetheless. Isn't that the whole point of a show on which people tell the whole world they have a venereal disease?

The radio show that started the Loveline phenomenon, syndicated by Los Angeles' KROQ-FM, airs on Tucson's KFMA, 92.1 FM, Sunday-Thursday at 11 p.m.