Local tennis star seeks love match on reality show

If society has collapsed to the point that even Mark Philippoussis is turning to reality TV to find a woman, what hope is there for the rest of us?

The 30-year-old tennis star has money, looks and, since October, a Summerlin address going for him. But there he is, being served up like a piece of meat to some very hungry lions in "Age of Love" (9 p.m. today, KVBC-TV, Channel 3), easily network TV's guiltiest summer pleasure.

Part "Bachelor," part "Joe Schmo Show," "Age of Love" finds Philippoussis dating six women in their 20s and seven women in their 40s (even though one of those is only 39) to see if age really matters.

For the record, Philippoussis stresses that he wasn't desperate. "The thing is, I don't date a lot at all," he says, adding that he hasn't been in a relationship since August.

Not that the show didn't have a certain appeal. "What better opportunity can I get where you date 13 women at the same time, and they all know about it and they can't get upset at you about it," asks Philippoussis, who's endured a bit of a reputation as a playboy. "I mean, that's a dream right there, isn't it?"

From the looks of things, that dream started out as a nightmare.

Not only does Philippoussis say he's never dated an older woman, his last relationship was an engagement to an 18-year-old model. And that's where the fun comes in: The "Age of Love" producers didn't let their star in on the show's gimmick until the cameras were rolling.

After much primping and anticipation, Philippoussis shows up to meet his potential mates, obviously expecting the usual dating show array of models, bartenders and massage therapy students.

But when Philippoussis finds only the group of older women, and they tell him their ages range from 39 to 48, it's as though different parts of his face are at war with each other. He does his absolute best not to run screaming back to Las Vegas, but I've seen people look more comfortable while sweating out a "Maury" paternity test.

At some point, you almost expect Ashton Kutcher to pop up. (That's a "Punk'd" reference, not a Demi Moore joke.)

"I won't lie," Philippoussis says. "I definitely was freaked out thinking that I'm only going to date older women. And I was a little uncomfortable with it at the start."

But while some of their biological clocks may be thumping like a Lil Jon bassline, the women are much closer to "Desperate Housewives" than actual housewives.

Especially judging from the way these smart, successful women devolve into lusty, giggling coeds as soon as they see a video of Philippoussis without his shirt on. Their reactions to him -- men who find themselves marooned on a planet inhabited only by women in those Showtime movies you stumble across at 4 a.m. are treated with more respect -- are just one example of "Age of Love's" hot flashes of brilliance.

The older women live on the 40th floor of an L.A. high-rise; the younger women, when they finally arrive midway through tonight's episode, live on the 20th. One of the older women is shown doing needlepoint in her downtime; several of the younger women are then seen bikini hula hooping. And, in a twist that will make mature women happier than an afternoon of Oprah-Tyra-Dr. Phil coddling, the younger women, ranging from 21 to 27, are less attractive -- either on the inside, the outside, or both -- than their rivals. (You almost feel bad for the young'uns as they react in horror to the thought of dating after 40.)

Philippoussis obviously can't reveal the age of the show's "winner," but he says he became comfortable with the women in their 40s, even the ones old enough to be his mother -- she's 60 by the way, so the show isn't nearly as creepy as it could have been -- after the first date. "It opened my eyes for sure," he says.

And "Age of Love" -- which despite its cheesy reality gimmicks, tries to present itself as some sort of grand social experiment -- just may have been a success.

"Towards the end," Philippoussis says carefully, "I definitely was surprised, myself. Put it that way."

Christopher Lawrence's Life on the Couch column appears on Mondays. E-mail him at clawrence@reviewjournal.com.