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Granny's Talkin' Sex & Ratings
October 17, 2003
(Sports Final Edition - Daily News - New York)

At first, the image is well, shocking.

Most Sunday nights on the Oxygen cable network, Sue Johanson, a gray-haired, gobble-necked woman, can be seen fondling sex toys and talking frankly about relationships.

"I never say, you should do this or that, but I will say, you could do this or have you thought about that," said Johanson. "I let them choose what's best for them."

Johanson, who declines to reveal her age, is not your typical grandmother. She's a hot property for Oxygen, which will launch the second season of "Talk Sex" Sunday at 11 p.m.

Though she's been on the channel for less than a year, Johanson's advice about sex, relationships and intimacy is drawing night owls, and making the show one of the most popular on the channel.

The fact that the show is working doesn't surprise Johanson, whose Canadian TV series "Sunday Night Sex Show" has been a late-night staple north of the border for nine years, following a decade on radio.

Before that, she made the rounds of Canadian high schools dispensing sex education to woefully ignorant teens.

"I'm just shocked that there's been no show like it in the U.S. for this long," she said.

It was some 10 years ago that diminutive sex adviser Dr. Ruth Westheimer wrapped up her late-night show on Lifetime.

Along with taking calls, Johanson spices up her show with segments on toys, sex myths, unusual rituals and a quiz.

And she's willing to answer just about any question from viewers - except ones about necrophilia and bestiality.

Oxygen producers on a fishing trip last fall caught her TV act and lured Johanson to anchor a second series tailored to U.S. viewers.

But that meant Johanson had to do more research - and plenty of it.

She needed first to learn about the latest sex toys, pornography, trends and creams, pills and powders that claim to make sex sizzle in the States.

"There are different things available in the U.S., so I do an entirely different show for the U.S.," said Johanson, a registered nurse and sex ed counselor. "It's all about reading and researching nonstop."

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