Temptation Ticket Outlet features several real-life, financially strapped couples who are tempted with opportunities to purchase choice seats for shows like Eric Clapton and matchbox twenty.

“It has all the makings of great TV,” said the show’s producer, Larsen. E. Whipsnade, who not only produced last year’sWho Wants To Marry A Concert Promoter?, but also last summer’s ratings bomb, Tourvivor. “We have couples saving for their retirement, or for their children’s college education, and we’re waving tickets for Sarah Harmer, The Promise Ring and Henry Rollins right in their faces. Will they, or won’t they? That is what keeps viewers tuning in every week.”

If the ratings are any indication, Temptation Ticket Outlet is already a hit, with the first episode pulling a 40 percent share of the audience in major markets. “We couldn’t have asked for better contestants,” said Whipsnade. The young couple from Iowa having to make a decision between grandmother’s open heart surgery or buying first row tickets for KISS was pure drama of almost Shakespearean proportions.”

No matter how popular, Temptation Ticket Outlet does have its detractors. Rev. Jerry Falwell and moral crusader William Bennett, author of A Roadies Book Of Virtues, have taken out full-page ads in major newspapers deploring the program, and some affiliates are having second thoughts about carrying any more episodes. However, if you think this means trouble for the network, think again.

“You can’t plan better publicity than that,” said Whipsnade. “We have a saying in TV, ‘the louder the outrage, the bigger the hit.’ And just wait until next week’s show when the couple from Arizona have to decide between spending the money set aside for the separation of their joined-at-the-nostril twins, or buying dinner seats for U2. This is what Americans want to see.”

While Whipsnade may be basking in the success of his latest creation, when asked about last summer’s dud, Tourvivor, where several people were forced to live in the same house while constantly being bullied by promoters into buying tickets for the Diana Ross and The Supremes tour, the television producer had a classic concert industry response:

“Diana, who?”