Erotic Confessions was one of the earliest ongoing softcore TV series on cable TV. I think Red Shoe Diaries may have debuted first. Both began sometime in 1992 and had a similar premise of having a “host” who is supposedly reading letters sent to them from real people telling them about some recent sexual encounters that would then be shown via flashbacks. The main difference, as I saw it, was that Erotic Confessions was clearly geared more towards arousing the audience than Red Shoe Diaries was, with a lot more emphasis on the sex scenes, thus setting the template for most softcore TV series’ that came after it.

Former Playboy Playmate Ava Fabian starred as Jacqueline Stone, a very wealthy woman who writes erotic novels (apparently basing them off the real-life experiences that her readers send to her). She was the only recurring cast member during the series’ run, although a few other actors appeared in more than one episode, always playing different characters. Most episodes began with Jacqueline lounging around a large mansion in various states of undress, frequently topless. She’d sit down and open an envelope, and proceed to read it. We’d then hear the voice-over of the letter-writer, as the flashback begins.

This particular DVD collects 7 episodes taken from the 2nd and 3rd seasons of the series, each directed by Peter Gathings Bunche.

ELEVATION
Written by Sahara Riley

Reginald Chevalier stars as Ray, a night watchman for some high-rise business building. He spends his nights sitting at a desk, monitoring the various security cameras. Kim Yates plays an unnamed woman whom Ray says in his letter is the President of the company. One night, as she’s leaving for work, Ray sees her changing her clothes, from her business suit to a dress, in one of the elevators.

That’s right, somehow the President of the company is unaware of the security cameras in the elevators. And, apparently, there are no bathrooms in the building that she could have changed in (not to mention her own office). Nevermind.

Anyway, Ray watches her and records her changing, as she strips down to her underwear and removes her bra, before putting on the dress. But she leaves one of her shoes (having changed from flats to high heels) behind when she exits the elevator. Ray rushes to catch her and give her the shoe, at which point she realizes that he saw her changing clothes, but she doesn’t appear to mind. After she leaves, Ray goes back to his desk and watches the tape of her changing, and then he fantasizes that he and her are having a business meeting in a large conference room, and then having sex on the table.

Some hours later, the woman returns and starts flirting with Ray. She invites him to join her in the elevator where they have sex. Dona Elena Hatcher plays a friend of the businesswoman, who comes into the building and sits at Ray’s desk, and masturbates (exposing her own breasts) as she watches them have sex via the security camera.

It’s a pretty hot episode, and notable for a couple of reasons. One is that it appears that this may have been Kim Yates’ very first professional acting role. She was credited as “Mary Cassell” here, and it’s the one and only credit under that name, with her first credit as “Kim Yates” being later this same year in another episode of this series. So I guess like many actors (especially in softcore) she chose to use a pseudonym, and Mary Cassell was her first choice before settling on Kim Yates, which she has gone on to use through most of the rest of her career. I point this all out to say that for a first-time actress, she puts on a fantastic performance, both in terms of delivering dialog and performing in the sex scenes.

The other thing I find notable about this episode is that Chevalier is a Black man and Yates is a White woman and, as I’ve lamented before, you don’t often see a lot of Black actors or interracial sex scenes in softcore (for the record, Hatcher is Black too). You’d think that would be a little more controversial, and therefore less likely to be filmed, 20 years ago than it would be today, yet it is still uncommon in this genre. . .

BOSS’ ORDERS
Written by Sahara Riley

The story is about Billy (the credits on my tape are incomplete so I don’t know this actor’s name), a young legal associate. His boss asks him to take his “shy, quiet, conservative” niece out, just to have some fun while she’s in town for a visit. Billy agrees, but when meets the niece, Laura (played by Gabriella Hall), it turns out that she is nowhere as sheltered and innocent as her uncle thinks she is. Within minutes, Billy and Laura are in the boss’ office having sex (at her suggestion).

This is obviously something that Billy doesn’t want his boss to find out about, and they almost get caught when Laura unexpectedly shows up at his office again the next day in the middle of the afternoon and tries to seduce him right there but her uncle walks in before they can get started. Then, at the boss’ suggestion, Billy takes Laura to an office party that weekend, where the two try to sneak off to have sex without being caught.

It looks like this was one of Gabriella Hall’s earliest acting roles as well, and she also did a fantastic job that previewed what a big star she would go on to become in this genre.

GIFTS
Written by Sahara Riley

This episode stars William Lamar (another Black man!) as Tom, a graduate student working on some kind of scientific research. Jennifer Behr is his assistant, and fellow grad student, Naydeen. The two of them are in a relationship, against Tom’s better judgment, for some time, but they must keep it a secret because it’s against the rules of the university that they work for. Adult film star Leena plays the Dean of the university, who oversees the grant that funds Tom’s research, and she’s made it clear to Tom that she would not tolerate such a relationship. But then, due to a serious misunderstanding, the Dean comes to believe that Tom has been sending her gifts as a “secret admirer” and, despite being married, she ends up meeting Tom alone in his lab one day and coming on to him. Tom can’t resist, of course. But he does end up breaking it off with both women afterward.

Again, a Black man, in two interracial sex scenes. Erotic Confessions was ahead of its time.

FRIENDS & LOVERS
Written by Rick Bitzelberger and Sahara Riley

Debra K. Beatty and Christopher Brewster star as Jean and Mike, two longtime platonic best friends. They’ve recently just become roommates, moving into an apartment together and immediately the sexual tension between them increases. Jean’s tendency to walk around the house topless certainly doesn’t help the situation, as Mike can’t help but stare at her voluptuous breasts (and who can blame him?). Jean also finds herself checking out Mike’s muscular body when he emerges from the shower in just a towel. One night Mike brings home a date, played by Kim Yates, and Jean gets jealous when she catches them having sex on the living room couch. When Jean later brings her own date (Scott Coppola) back home and starts making out with him on the couch, Mike enters the room and kills the mood. The guy leaves and Jean and Mike get into an argument in which they finally admit their feelings for each other, and proceed to jump each other’s bones.

A very hot episode, even if it does play into the Men And Women CAN’T Just Be Platonic Friends cliché.

LESSONS
Written by Rick Bitzelberger and Sahara Riley

Peggy Trentini is Cora Jones, a wealthy but sexually frustrated housewife with two young kids. Jimmy (actor unknown) is a young man who teaches her kids how to swim. One day Jimmy comes over but finds Cora sunbathing topless by the pool. She’s alone as her husband and kids are out camping. Cora reveals that she doesn’t know how to swim, so Jimmy offers to give her free lessons and, well, you can guess what that leads to. They end up spending a lot of time in the pool, but not swimming.

The rich housewife/young pool boy story is also a bit of cliché, but the chemistry between the two actors totally makes it work.

ARRESTING DEVELOPMENT
Written by Rick Bitzelberger

Craig Stepp plays Tom, a successful but single tax attorney, who comes home one night to find that his apartment has been broken into and robbed. Rebecca Ferratti plays the police officer who arrives after he calls them. Sparks immediately fly between the two, but the officer tries to remain professional. She takes notes on what’s missing and leaves him with her card. Tom can’t stop thinking about her, including a hot fantasy sequence where she’s interrogating him and then teases him by stripping in front of him without letting him touch her. Another fantasy has him in a jail cell where, again, she strips in front of him while he desperately tries to reach through the bars to touch her. Eventually, the fantasy becomes reality, as the officer arrives at his place late a night, waking him up. She handcuffs him to the bed and then undresses, before uncuffing him so they can have sex (with her on top), and Tom discovers that he likes it when the woman is in control.

Fans of femdom and light BDSM (such as myself) will really enjoy this episode. It’s a shame that Ferratti, who was a Playboy Playmate, didn’t go on to make a lot more softcore films and shows, she could have been huge in this genre.

MESSY
Written by Sahara Riley

Darcy DeMoss and Tom Paris star as Alycia and Jeff, a married couple. One day while Alycia goes out shopping, she insists that Jeff clean the house, which is a mess, while she’s gone. Jeff, being lazy, decides to call a professional maid service to do it for him. Chona Jason plays Cassandra, the maid. She gets busy cleaning while Jeff is lying on the couch watching TV, but he keeps finding himself checking out Cassandra, looking sexy as hell in her little black maid’s outfit. Cassandra notices Jeff’s attention and encourages it. When she finishes cleaning, she joins Jeff on the couch and they start having sex. Right as it’s getting good, Alycia returns!

Enraged, she kicks both of them out of the house and immediately calls a divorce lawyer.

Psyche! Just kidding!

This is a softcore series, of course. So what actually happens is that Alycia and Jeff end up having a hot threesome with Cassandra. DUH.

Darcy and Chona are two other women that I wish had taken more softcore roles.

This is a great collection of episodes of this excellent series. Attractive actors who could also act, with decent (if not perfect) scripts. And best of all, every love scene is smokin’ (much credit to the director for that). Old fans will love it to reminisce, and new fans will enjoy seeing what classic softcore looked like. Chacebook rating: 5 STARS

Jason Majercik is selling this Unrated DVD for $19.99. Email him at quinn_nash@hotmail.com for his softcore inventory list.