Most reality shows have a feel of "I have to watch so I can make fun of the people," but Sunset Tan on E! takes this phenomenon to another dimension. Set in a Hollywood tanning salon, this show follows the real life exploits of the challenging world of tanning (and fake tanning). In general, only management, ownership, and the employees of one single salon (out of five in the chain) appear on the show. I'll break down the cast of characters for you:

Devin and Jeff, the owners of Sunset Tan: They clearly have never taken any sort of course on how to treat people. How do they hire a manager for a new store? By asking all the candidates how they are better than the person sitting next to them. How's that for a formal interview? What do they consider important to their business? A Sunset Tan swimsuit pageant. In fact, an actual quote from Devin, upon learning someone wasn't taking the event seriously was, "This is a serious swimsuit competition." Yes, I see where he's coming from, if the pageant hadn't gone well guess who would have won? The communists, that's who.

Nick, West Hollywood Manager: Nick's job seems to be to whine a lot. When he was taken to Vegas and forced to drink with attractive women his response was to mope because he didn't want his girlfriend to be upset with him. Was acting cool and remaining faithful not an option? The only safe method was complaining? Got it.

Erin, employee: The girl from Oklahoma who one day dreams of opening her own tanning salon gym. After she works at Sunset Tan for two months she feels she's ready to manage. The sad part is she's most likely right.

Janelle, Santa Monica Manager: Is constantly on vacation. The strife comes when she needs all her shifts filled. Ah to be young, blonde, and have a sugar daddy.

Keely, West L.A. Manager: Is also, like everyone else, ready for a bigger role within the conglomerate of Sunset Tan. Does it matter that she seems to have the business acumen of a pet hamster? Not at all.

The Olly Girls, employees: By far the most interesting thing about the show, Holly and Molly are typical L.A. dumb blondes. Or are they? There seems to be more than meets the eye to these two as they constantly look for ways to screw with the tanning salon. They are the heroes of Sunset Tan by a wide margin, the only things even close to resembling normal human beings.

None of these people (well, besides maybe the Olly Girls) is alone reason enough to watch the show, though. It's the sum of all the parts: people constantly bickering about how hard it is to run a tanning salon where they charge $1200 to make a little girl look like an Oompa-Loompa; the group getting on a chartered flight to Vegas to "scout" the new tanning salon location; and, of course, who can resist the Ms. Sunset Tan pageant where Molly opines, "Some of the boob jobs on these girls are horrible. Mine is a good one though, see?" It's the consternation over getting someone to Paris Hilton's house immediately to spray tan her. Never has a show made me cringe and laugh on such a constant basis. Highly recommended for the summer!

Note: they are running Sunset Tan on a continual basis so it's not too late in the season to catch up. Here's the schedule.

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