James Hibberd

Upcoming CW competition reality series “The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search For the Next Doll' has turned into an unexpected TCA highlight when critics and “Charlie’s Angels' director / “Pussycat' executive producer McG get into a fight over whether the burlesque group are empowering women to bring about the “third wave' of feminism, or merely “skanks' corrupting the underage daughters of TCA critics.

Things got started by McG baiting the crowd by insisting the Dolls are about more than simply pop songs and thigh highs.

“It's something that's aspirational and fun for a woman to be involved in,' says McG (who later describes "America’s Next Top Model' as “awesome and aspirational').

The show’s judge and executive producer Robin Antin adds, “There's so many different types of ‘Pussycat Dolls’ in the world, and that's what is so inspiring to women. The message is just finding your ‘inner Doll.’'

So a critic asks: “Why should young girls aspire to dress up like skanks?'

“First of all,' Antin says, “there's nothing slutty about it. There's nothing skanky about it. Their clothing is cute.'

The critic counters: “You've been using words like ‘empowering’ and sounding like these girls are running for president.'

“There's a reason why people like Scarlett Johansson, Gwen Stefani, Cameron Diaz and Charlize Theron have all been so interested in what ‘Pussycat Dolls’ is about,' says Antin, entirely missing, if not proving, the critic’s point. “Those are women that I am really inspired by and are classy. These are women that have wanted to be a part of it because they feel that it is empowering to get up there and dress like a Doll.'

McG, getting irate, wades into the battle.

“Not everything is going to solve the crisis in the Middle East,' he says, almost certainly not for the first time in his career. “Sometimes you want to have some fun … and women celebrating one another being beautiful, and, frankly, being appreciated by me, has been around for a long time. Under no circumstances is it shameful. And there's even a position to take that this is, frankly, third-wave feminism. You know what I mean?'

The critics don’t know what he means.

One middle-aged critic asks how lyrics like, “Don’t you wish you were a freak like me?' celebrates women.

“You must understand the fundamental paradox of a gentleman of your age demo asking that very question,' McG says. “I don't know if you two-way your friends on your Sidekick … It's just saying, ‘Don't you wish your girlfriend could be free and comfortable in her own skin and do her own thing like me?’ That's what we're saying.'

According to the official CW transcript, what follows next is “[Booing].'

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