Lesbians gone wild!

The camera flits through a tightly packed nightclub as a narrator's voiceover tells us that we're in the "the hottest lesbian club in the country" and that in her circle of friends "there's always drama!" A quartet of women wearing bikini tops and micromini skirts jump on the bar and undulate lasciviously. The crowd of young women goes wild, fists pumping the air. The energy is palpable. You can practically smell the beer and sweat.

Say hello to the next lesbian generation.

"We're the real version of The L Word," laughs Charlene Borja, a nightclub promoter and a central figure in Gimme Sugar, a new reality show from Logo that follows the adventures of a group of friends in their early twenties in Los Angeles's lesbian scene. "If there's a lesbian out there who doesn't know any other lesbians, she's going to find that there are other lesbians living their lives just like everybody else. We're here and we're representing."

This being reality television, and the cast being real people getting their first taste of adulthood, expect excess and drama, late nights and cat fights, along with the girl power message. It's a heady mixture that long fascinated the show's co-producer Michelle Agnew. L.A.'s leading lesbian promoter, Agnew has had eight years to observe the scene and consider its television appeal.

"There's so much reality television," she says, "because people like to see their own lives on TV. So I thought certainly our community would be interested, and probably straight people too, in a show about these girls' lives. They're boldly coming of age and they're out there."

The obvious ratings bonanza of hot lezzie dramarama was also evident to Agnew's producing partner, Michaline Babich. The pair complement each other in skills and experience - Agnew is the expert on lesbian nightlife and Babich is the experienced producer/director - but had shared insight into the potential of their fledgling project. They both understood that the secret weapon of their show concept was its universal appeal.

"It's about a rite of passage," Agnew explains, "the same one that the kids on The Hills are going through. This is what happens to us in our early twenties. And we get to follow this next generation of lesbians who move with a newfound freedom that's the benefit of the work gays before them have done."

How this community of bold young lesbians reflects the state of the gay movement is the part of the story that particularly fascinates Agnew and Babich. Unlike older generations of LGBTs, who stayed in the closet longer and experienced adolescence on a time delay, the Gimme Sugar girls are in sync with their straight peers.

"These girls don't have any shame," Babich says. "I mean that in a good way. Being gay to them is not the main issue in their life. These girls are so past any issues about being lesbian that they have a whole new approach to things. Dressing up like sexy schoolgirls just seems like a fun thing to do."

Indeed, Borja rushes past her coming out story - gay brother, grew up in L.A., no big, mmkay? - to get to the good stuff: enthusing about the show that she says does a great job capturing the L.A. scene. "I'm so impressed with what Logo has done," she practically bubbles.

She shrugs off the idea of regretting putting her personal life on TV. "On the show, we weren't afraid to be ourselves. We're out there on the scene anyway," she says breezily. "This is just a bigger audience."

That confidence points to another generational difference Babich sees in the stories of the Sugar girls. "Because these girls feel free to express themselves without fear," she suggests, there is less self-destruction buried in the party-hard mentality.

"I feel like these girls express themselves more, and drink less," she continues. "They're having a good time without trying to blow it all out. Sometimes when people come out it's like spring break all over again, and people tend to drink too much and go to excess. I feel like the excess here is in expression and not drinking."

How much excess? "I had to have a couple of glasses of wine before I showed them the later episodes," Babich quips, "when it starts getting dramatic."

"There are lots of relationship issues," hints Agnew, who says we'll have to tune in for the lurid details. She adds that the private screening of the last episodes went over well. "They're a really special group," she says fondly. "They don't take themselves so seriously that they can't laugh at themselves. They loved it."

Agnew hopes that America loves the show too, and fast; she's eager to get back to filming, but Logo hasn't picked up a second season yet. "Those stories are developing right now!" she wails with mock desperation. "We're missing it!"

But would the Sugar girls want to go through all the hassles of filming again? "Absolutely!" says Borja, without a moment's hesitation. She adds playfully, "What's the scene like in Boston? We're ready to come to your town!"

Hide the energy drinks and lock up your daughters!

Gimme Sugar premieres at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9 on Logo.