Grab your handy tissues- because Cinemax is looking to cut the soft-core. In the time before nude scenes were readily available and meticulously catalogued at Mr. Skin, wild cable channels roamed the earth offering up soft-core fixes at late night viewing hours. Cinemax featured the most famous of these late-night adult programming blocks, Max After Dark, earning the channel the affectionate moniker "Skinemax".
Variety recently spoke to Chris Lombardo, HBO’s president of programming, and he had this to say about Cinemax’s future:
“The hope is that I don’t hear ‘Skinemax’ any time after our original programming what I’ll call the primetime originals start to really take over the (lineup)”.
Of course Cinemax has no intention of going non-nude, those original programs Lombardo is referring to include the likes of Banshee and Strike Back, two series which certainly haven’t skimped on the skin. Now let’s take some time to review our favorite After Dark series from recent memory. The porn is soft, but you won't be!
Hot Line had antenna popping DJs Tanya Roberts and Shannon Tweed hosting a late-night radio program and verbal vixens everywhere were eager to call in and spill the details of their sex lives.
Taking a cue from Hot Line, The Best Sex Ever centered around another sex-oriented radio call-in show hosted by Angela Davies in which callers you guessed it- recounted their various sexual encounters over the air.
Black Tie Nights revolved around a female-run Las Vegas dating service were all the singles ended up getting very lucky! Vegas got more heat in the steamy series Sex Games Vegas, where a swingers club run by Chloe got plenty of action.
Internet dating always led to skintastic hookups in The Pleasure Zone.
Passion Cove took the fornicators to the shore, with tiny bikinis and naked frolicking all over the titular seaside resort.
Nightcap featured luscious ladies who ran a bar and offered their earsand sometimes their rearsto the customers who come in looking to talk about their erotic adventures. These babes just can’t hold their lickers!
Exhibitionist college students had no trouble getting laid in the soft-core series Co-Ed Confidential. Nice solo cups!
Femme Fatales put the erotic edge on pulpy noir with each episode featuring a differnt beautiful dame with a body to die (or kill) for. Just call me private dick! Hotel Erotica’s storylines were set up by the hotel's proprietor reading a letter from a former guest. Every episode had someone checking into the hotel, then swiftly checking out of their clothes!
Amber Smith was the comely concierge at a Las Vegas casino who would go to any length to keep the high rollers happy Sin City Diaries.
Zane's Sex Chronicles was based on the writings of African-American erotica author Kristina Laferne Roberts, so there's plenty of brown sugar in this dessert buffet of sweet treats! 