'Sexual Healing' puts viewers in uncomfortable position

There's a lot of nervous giggling during ``Sexual Healing," a new Showtime reality series from producers Joe and Harry Gantz of HBO's ``Taxicab Confessions." As couples share their sexual problems and fantasies with therapist Laura Berman, they frequently laugh through their words. They sound both giddy to be giving up long-held shame and fearful of leaving their private safety zones.

You might also find yourself giggling nervously during this Chicago-based series, which premieres tonight at 10. Witnessing such personal material can feel awkward -- and we don't just listen, like Dr. Berman, a sex expert who carries the Oprah seal of approval. We follow the couples home and see them working on their ``homework" assignments. The footage is not very explicit, but it's intimate enough to feel invasive, especially when sex toys and role-playing are afoot. These aren't actors dramatizing issues ; they're people exposing more than they may realize.

But that's my problem, or possibly yours if you decide to watch. Regardless of the viewer's comfort level, ``Sexual Healing" is a middling piece of reality docudrama. It's not much more sophisticated than a Cosmopolitan article on sexual compatibility . It reiterates the standards: Couples must communicate; they must be sensitive to each other's needs; they must make time for romantic encounters. And Berman, who asks the questions during sessions with the couples, doesn't try to push the issues into new realms. She sticks to conventional advice and doesn't generally explain her thinking process.

But ``Sexual Healing" is based on the stories of vulnerable people, and as such the segments have their touching moments. Each episode focuses on a few couples as they undergo Berman's weeklong program. Tonight's group includes a sweet woman who feels so sexually deadened she has not had relations with her husband for years. One tense husband 's neatness obsession gets in the way of his wife's sexual gratification. And a woman struggling with childhood sexual abuse can't open up to her boyfriend because she's sure he's going to leave her. W orse, he won't kiss her since her gastric bypass surgery gave her a serious case of halitosis.

Berman's program promises them all improvements in the course of a week, and it does appear to boost their energy and willingness to heal. But this is reality TV, and appearances can be deceptive.

I wished the best for these people, even while I wondered why they were willing to be filmed. They're not winning money or the possibility of fame, as players do on the likes of ``Survivor." Sex therapy is a fine idea if you're having trouble in bed, but sex therapy with cameras? Less fine.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com.