Kim Dawson

NIGHTCAP was a weekly television show that first aired on late-night cable back in 1999. The main star was Tane McClure, who appeared in 12 of the 13 episodes of the show’s one and only season. McClure played Nikki, a former psychiatrist who now co-owns and works as a bartender at a bar named The Quench. Nikki Fritz co-stars in the first 8 episodes as Nikki’s partner, Trina, who works as a waitress at the bar, and then Kim Yates becomes another regular cast member later in the season. Each half-hour episode usually revolved around a customer who comes to the bar and ends up confiding in one of the ladies about his or her personal lives, which they listen to and give advice on. Occasionally Nikki, Trina, or Kim are part of the story. Many accomplished softcore actors and actresses would appear on this show during its brief run. And there were typically three sex scenes per episode.

Today I’m reviewing the first episode, titled Illicit Affairs. Written by D. Ray Morton and directed by David Nicholas, it guest-stars Kim Dawson as Loren, a woman who one day comes home from work early to find her boyfriend, Chad (Daniel Anderson) in bed with another woman. She kicks them both out and goes to the bar to commiserate with Nikki, who is longtime friends with both her and Chad. After getting worked up with several drinks, Loren calls one of her coworkers, a man named Bob (played by Jason Schnuit), whom she always suspected had some interest in her, and invites him to her place the next night to “talk about work.”

We jump to the next night, where Bob shows up at Loren’s place, and they start off with some awkward talk before Loren starts coming on to him. At the same time, Chad has gone to the bar to talk to Nikki. He swears to her that he loves Loren and had “no idea” why he did what he did, but that he wants Loren back. Although Nikki is skeptical, she tells Chad that he should go tell Nikki that, and hopes the best for them. Of course, when Chad gets back home, he catches Loren in bed with Bob…

Believe it or not, this somehow helps Loren and Chad get back together. Having resolved their issues and re-committing to their relationship, they both go back to the bar to thank Nikki for talking to both of them, and alls well that ends well.

This episode was a good opening for the series, basically setting up the premise and structure of the series going forward. As I said, each episode has three sex scenes, usually opening with one before the setting switches to the bar, whereupon the regular cast members get involved, then there’s another sex scene in the middle of the episode, and then ending with a third sex scene, as that episode’s conflict gets resolved.

In this episode the sex scenes are the first between Anderson and Susan LeSage, who plays the unnamed woman that Chad cheats with, one between Dawson and Schnuit, and the finale between Dawson and Anderson. All are very well-shot with slow, romantic music. This was one of the better softcore series from that time period.

Chacebook rating: 5 STARS

Nightcap DVD UNRATED 13 EPISODES