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Name of Show:
Going to California, Episode 9:
“The Naked and the Nude (Growers, Show-ers and Overthrowers)"

Our Rating:
Date of Show: October 4, 2001
Studio: Showtime
Producer: Paul Kurta
Awards (if any): None
Principal Actors: Sam Trammell, Brad William Henke
Episode Guest Stars: William Schilling, Richard Portnow, Stephen Reed, Patricia French, and Alesha Oreskovich.


THE NIGHT CABLE TELEVISION
PUSHED SOCIAL NUDITY AS FAR AS IT COULD GO (SO FAR)

In this episode, "The Naked and the Nude," the producers and writers find out just how much the Showtime network will let them get away with, as the plot involved a turf war inside a nudist camp.

Synopsis: While driving down the highway, a trio of stunningly beautiful young girls in a Mustang beckon the guys to follow them up the road. The guys follow their trail to a fenced compound with the sign, "Uncle Eddie's Sunny Time Camp" hanging above the gate. Since they have arrived after dark, the guys decide to rent a cabin and search for the girls in the morning. But when the sun comes up, they are greeted by two members of the hospitality committee who are wearing nothing but their smiles. The guys realize they have entered a nudist club! Hank wants to leave immediately, but Space still wants to find the lovely girls from the car, so they decide to stay "just for a few hours."

With his hands tightly clutched over his privates, Space ventures onto the grounds and meets Uncle Eddie (William Schilling) and his friendly band of middle-aged nudists who have run the camp successfully for several decades. Soon Space relaxes, eats a hot dog, and joins his new friends in the pool. Hawk eventually comes out of his cabin to join them also.

The guys soon learn that there's trouble at the camp. All of the old, out of shape, meat-eating members of the camp are being pressured by a vocal group of new members who call themselves the "GB's" (those "Genetically-Blessed") who are all physically fit, thin, and young. The GBs call the older group "Repugs," and want to turn the camp into "Narcissistic Gardens," a retreat complete with saunas, tennis courts, and a gym. And no older people. Vivian (Patricia French), the wife of one of the Repugs, decides to join the GB's. much to the dismay of Uncle Eddie and her husband Lou (Richard Portnoy).

The two guys are forced to take sides. Hawk supports the Repugs, but Space still wants to find the hot babe from the Mustang, whom we learn is one of the GB's. The tension grows to hostility between the two groups. Chase finally meets the girl from the Mustang. Her name is Erin (Alesha Oreskovich, who was June 1993's Playboy centerfold) and she tells him she is both a vegetarian and a virgin, and has no plans to change either. She is dedicated to the GB cause: physical exercise, getting an all-over tan, and forcing the old people out. Rebuffed, Chase follows her to the GB side of the park in hopes of changing her mind.

On the GB side, we meet their pretentious leader, Romulus (Stephen Reed) leading his band of nubile nudists in calisthenics. Full-frontal nudity, men and women together, proud and loud. Chase starts to realize he is on the wrong side. As tension between the two groups continue to rise, Chase suggests the camp hold a volleyball game to determine who will get the camp. Winner takes all, the losers have to leave the camp.

As the Repugs seem on the verge of losing, Both Vivian and Space switch their loyalty and lead the older group to victory.

Erin, Romulus,and their GB friends indignantly drive out of the camp, and off into the sunset, Chase waves goodbye and realizes some things in life are more important than just good looks. A voice-over announcer repeats the moral of the episode just in case the viewer missed it.


Going To California was an American comedy-drama series created for the then-fledgling Showtime Network, airing from 2001 to 2002. It starred primarily Sam Trammell s Kevin "Space" Lauglin and Brad William Henke as Henry "Hank" Ungalow, two friends on a road trip across the continental United States. The tag line for this show was: "No map. No plan. No rules. No turning back."

Created by Scott Rosenberg, the show couldn't find its core audience and suffered from very low ratings. It was cancelled after its first season. In fact, so few viewers watch it, Rosenberg was able to recycle unaired scenes and even some characters for his follow up series, October Road, without anyone even noticing. Both Going to California and October Road were essentially spin offs from his earlier film, Beautiful Girls.

Going to California opened with a great theme song by Old 97, "Going to California / Let's Get Lost Along The Way". This song, unfortunately, isn't on YouTube. And there are no clips from the show on Youtube. So you will just have to take my word for it until a DVD of the series is released someday.

Rosenberg’s writing style mimics that used by David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed the Plow) and Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, Social Network). The dialog has an original cadence and feel - similar to that used by writer/director Howard Hawks (His Girl Friday, Gentlemen Prefer Blonds) in the 1940's - that is fresh, natural, and always fun to listen to.

In this particular episode, it is obvious that Rosenberg has researched the nudist culture well before putting pen to paper. When Uncle Eddie explains the behavior rules to Chase, the dialog comes straight from the rules posted at most real nudist clubs around the country. There is no attempt to hide the nudity of the actors here - it is full-frontal and unselfconcious. Howver our two stars of the series always seem to be standing behind a strategically placed plant, tree, or they are filmed from behind only.

The production notes for this episode state that the producers believed that Showtime executives would change their minds eventually and pull the episode before it aired, but instead the execs encouraged this pushing of their networks's "No Limits" philosophy to the next level.

The notes also say that the casting directors were challenged to find good actors willing to appear nude on television, no easy task in 2001. Both William Schilling and Patricia French had appeared in minor roles on other series and would do so again in later years, so perhaps it was their good fortune this episode did not attract a high rating. The directors also put out a casting call to nudist clubs in Florida to fill out the remaining Repug extras for the cookout and volleyball scenes. It was also said they visited several local strip clubs to recruit some younger, more athletically-inclined to be extras in the GB side of the cast because they could not find enough to fit the bill at the nudist resorts. Come on, we're not ALL repugs!

While the details are spot on, the basic plot is contrived and simplistic, as only Hollywood can do. However, the basic argument between Repugs and GBs is going on at a subtle level at many nudist parks today. the conflict between staying true to your nudist traditions and risk losing your core values and going out of business vs. radically re-marketing your business to attract a new generation of customers. i recall one club owner a few years ago being quoted as saying "nudists don't spend enough money to cover my overhead."

Sadly, this episode was the last time full-frontal nudity was shown on cable television in the United State in such a casual and accurate way, without the usual double-entendres, sexual context or innuendos. As America's attention turned to war in the Middle East, television pulled back from pushing any more boundaries for awhile. For now.


Sony/Tri-Star has yet to release the series on DVD even though they had it listed as a potential release on one of their last surveys of possible releases. So if anyone from Sony is out there, this show needs a DVD release! Please don’t forget us fans!
Review by Gary Mussell, SCNA Film Critic
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