VH1 'Tool Academy 3' for Dummies

THE SHOW "Tool Academy 3"

WHEN | WHERE Season premiere Sunday at 9 p.m. on VH1

LONG ISLAND TWIST Well, you just knew there had to be one this season. Two Academy attendees from our fair part of the state. Sigh.

THE OTHER SPECIAL TWIST This is the first edition with both men and women in the Academy class. There's also a lesbian couple.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT "Tool Academy" gets a bunch of slackers, chumps and schmos - all with huge egos and small brains who treat their girlfriends like mud - and turns 'em into nice, well-behaved guys who send flowers when they're supposed to and stop their cheatin' ways. Their girlfriends are brought along to the Academy, and everyone enters into couples therapy, with counselor Trina Dolenz dispensing advice. Those who make no progress get the boot, until one last happy couple is left standing. (The show comes from 495 Productions, the same group responsible for "Jersey Shore.")

As mentioned, we've got the first coed class, and you'll be shocked - shocked! - to learn "Tool Academy" has found some ladies as moronic as the guys. Meanwhile, there are two guys from L.I.: Angelo from Patchogue, and Jordan from Bellmore. (Their girlfriends, Dana and Rachel, respectively, are LIers as well.) The new season deploys an especially devious twist. The guys and ladies are shipped to Cancun, where they're told they're competing for world party ambassador for the resort and must establish their hard partying creds. Of course, the girlfriends are looking on in horror via closed circuit.

MORE: Read Verne Gay's interview with Rachel

To aficionados of bad TV, there's nothing quite as exquisitely, deliciously awful as "Tool Academy." It does just everything really bad TV should do right - exploit the contestants, make viewers feel like they need a hot shower afterward and pretend there might actually be some sort of redemption afterward. Even for VH1, this is a masterpiece of the form, and - don't forget - this is home to current and former shows like "Scott Baio Is 46 . . . and Pregnant," "Rock of Love," "The Pickup Artist," "Hogan Knows Best" and many, many others. But this season, "Tool Academy" has exceeded itself.

BOTTOM LINE The opening moments will have fans howling. Just make sure there's enough water for that long, hot shower.

GRADE F+