Sexuality on mtvU syllabus

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - MTV Networks' 24-hour college network, mtvU, unveiled its fall programming slate Monday, including the new series "Sex Cred With Dr. Ruth" and the student-produced "How Do I Say This? I'm Gay."

Also on the slate are returning series "mtvU Stand In," featuring surprise "professors" Ludacris, Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Annie Lennox, and reality competition series "Quad Squads: Michigan vs. Ohio State."

"Sex Cred" features Dr. Ruth Westheimer -- a current adjunct professor at Yale, Princeton and NYU -- and student sex columnists from mtvU's College Media Network, an online network of more than 500 college newspapers, as they tackle sex questions from students that have been uploaded via mtvU.com. All of the content will be archived on mtvU.com.

Stephen Friedman, mtvU's general manager, said Westheimer approached the network about doing the show, and the executives thought it would be a good fit.

"We started talking informally to our audience and interns, and everybody knew who Dr. Ruth was -- she's an icon that transcends any one generation," he said. "This (series) taps a need that's always there in terms of students wanting to know more about things as they are out on their own."

Meanwhile, "How Do I Say This?" was launched a year ago as an interactive, Web-based advice wiki developed and produced by a group of UCLA students. It was part of the mtvU Digital Incubator program to find, finance and launch the best student-developed new-media projects.

Season 1 of the new series, titled "How Do I Say This? I'm Gay," premieres in October on mtvU and mtvU.com and will combine audience feedback from HowDoISayThis.com with original production from the site's student creators in the form of weekly shortform episodes.

Friedman said the network decided to focus Season 1 on helping students come out to their friends and family because that question was the one that came up most on the Web site during the past year. The series premiere, which examines abstinence on college campuses, airs at 6 p.m. Monday on mtvU and mtvU.com.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter