Television

Hubba-hubba

by Chris Wright

Boston's Channel 66 has long been a Bermuda Triangle of television stations. The music-video vehicle V-66 went belly-up a decade ago, and the home-shopping channel WHSH-TV recently went kerplunk. Those stations, however, unlike the fledgling WHUB-TV, didn't have babes baring their taut backsides for the camera. Nor did they have Corey Lewis at the helm.

Lewis has proven himself to be a regular dynamo when it comes to getting TV stations off the ground. Over the past 15 years, Fox, WB, and UPN have all called on the 36-year-old Swampscott native to help get their start-ups started. And when USA Broadcasting decided to include Boston in its universe of semi-independent local affiliates by launching WHUB, Corey Lewis was quickly anointed the station's general manager.

After a little more than a week on the air, Lewis already has good things to report. "Last night at nine o'clock," he says a little breathlessly, "we beat WB and Pax."

Which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, as 9 p.m. is the slot allotted to Strip Poker, a game show in which contestants who answer incorrectly have to take off an item of clothing (picture Jeopardy with thongs). After this, viewers are transported to America's sexiest beaches for a dose of 10, a show in which a watered-down Tom Green banters with near-naked post-pubescents.

"We're young adults and their parents," Lewis says, "with a heavy male skew." He is quick to point out, though, that more female-oriented shows will be coming this fall. One of those, Crush, invites a subject to guess which one of three friends harbors a secret crush on him or her. Then there's Lover or Loser, an exponential version of The Dating Game in which one of two guys is rejected by 100 women, who then find their own numbers whittled down to one lucky winner.

"It's all about new choices," Lewis says. "The old choices are having a heck of a time."

Which is not to say that WHUB doesn't feature old choices: reruns of Cheers, Married . . . with Children, and Star Trek: The Next Generation are all on the bill of fare. But just in case we forget we're viewing the antics of Norm or Captain Picard on Boston's hot new station, WHUB perks things up with the snazzy, flittery, MTV-like station IDs. "We took the approach to try to wake everyone up," says Lewis. "You're not watching 'LVI, you're watching the HUB."