Victoria Beckham's US media blitz backfires

NEW YORK (AFP) - Victoria Beckham's attempts to woo the US media since arriving in Los Angeles soccer star husband David appear to have backfired, with critics savaging a reality show to be broadcast Monday.

"Victoria Beckham: Coming to America," was originally intended as a mini-series, but trimmed to a one hour special by the NBC network.

Billed as a revealing special that "delves into Victoria's larger-than-life world to reveal, among other things, her wicked sense of humor and style," the show failed to impress the mainstream media.

The New York Post gave the show a damning zero-star review, slamming the pop-star turned fashion figure as "relentlessly self-promoting" with "vapid, condescending behavior" in a show described as "an orgy of self-indulgence."

"You'll sit there slack-jawed at the gall of these people who think we are that stupid," the Post's reviewer wrote in a scathing broadside, also laying into the couple's "nightmarishly overdone rococo mansion" in Beverly Hills.

"The 'special' which NBC calls an 'exclusive' inside look at Victoria's larger-than-life life smacks of too much fame, too much money and too much time spent believing the hype for all concerned," the paper wrote.

The New York Times was no more forgiving in its write-up, describing Victoria Beckham as being "somewhat famous for being sort of famous, and is photographed a lot in Britain."

"She does appear to be pleasant and not without a sense of humor. But that isn't quite enough to carry viewers through an hour of house hunting, sunbathing and applying for a driver's license," the paper's reviewer said.

"There has to be something going on behind the scenes because there is no other way to explain so much time and videotape spent on the moving arrangements of Mr. Beckham's wife.

"If she can retain viewers past the first commercial break, then the results will be conclusive: either there is a vast, media-controlling conspiracy afoot, or there is no such thing as celebrity ditz-fatigue," the paper said.

The US media has been having a field day since the couple arrived in Los Angeles last week, when David began a new chapter at the LA Galaxy soccer club, with the pair appearing on magazine covers, chat shows and television specials.