Who said the Brits were stodgy? Tuesday's most eye-catching promotion: A model and a bodybuilder, parading virtually nude through the hallways of the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel, offering passersby prescription bottles labeled "Viagra," containing blue jelly beans. Both were covered with glitter.

While his Union Jack short-shorts were real, her halter top was actually composed of rhinestones glued to her breasts. She also had "BBC" appliqued in rhinestones to the small of her back, an inch or two above her barely-there thong.

The stunt was to promote BBC America's comedy series "Manchild," airing Aug. 2. Think of "Sex & the City," only with four London men pushing 50, and entering a second adolescence devoted to dating girls young enough to be their daughters.

The show's late-afternoon panel was the funniest and liveliest of the day. That was thanks largely to star Nigel Havers' risque commentary, causing costar Anthony Stewart Head to crack up repeatedly. Havers got his best mileage out of his mock-envy of Head's long American career playing Sarah Michelle Gellar's mentor on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

When Head announced (attention, "Buffy" fans) that he would return for at least 10 episodes of the show, after being largely MIA last season, Havers said he would happily fill in for all the episodes Head didn't want to be in.

-- Steve Murray

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