The XXX Files

They're ready for their close-up: five well tanned, gym-toned, bikini-clad stunners. ''That's a gorgeous shot!'' cracks Sarah Jessica Parker, as a camera zooms in on a beach towel full of female buttocks. ''Just beauuuuutiful!''

That's right, we're literally behind the scenes on the set of HBO's Sex and the City. And these keisters — meant to represent the seductive twentysomething Hamptons elite — are creating a bit of a stir, even among the seen-it-all staffers of the hit adult comedy series. Just check out the pack of neck-wrenching, walkie-talkie-wielding guys practically bathing our bethonged beauties in an ocean of drool.

''Look how many crew members just have to help,'' Parker chuckles as she watches on the sidelines with series creator Darren Star. ''I've never seen such a helpful group of men. Even the gay ones are over there.''

And they're not the only ones straining to get a peek at the ribald goings-on. Now deep into its second season, Sex and the City — which follows a quartet of quipping, coitus-crazed New York power gals — has become a bona fide pop-culture sensation. Though seen by only 2.7 million people, the show, based on Candace Bushnell's New York Observer column, has kicked off fashion trends (e.g., those retro gold necklaces that sport your name) and a near-daily love letter from The New York Times (one critic deemed it better than Stanley Kubrick's highbrow sexcapade Eyes Wide Shut). And how's this for validation: Last week, the series nailed two Emmy nominations (one for best comedy series and one for its 34-year-old star, Parker).

Why all the heavy breathing? Well, the writing is Friends sharp, the acting top-notch, the characters endearingly smirky. Oh, and there's one other small factor: sex. Or, more precisely, sex talk. These girls chat with refreshing frankness about everything under the Kama sutra: life-changing oral sex, wrinkled bums, spanking, and certain kinds of kinky grooming that...oh, forget we even brought it up. A sample scene: Carrie — the waifish sex columnist played by Parker — is the victim of a stuck diaphragm and pleads for a helping hand from her friend. ''I just had my nails done,'' snaps Samantha, the PR exec played by Kim Cattrall.

''I think the show's filling a huge void,'' says Cattrall, 42, all too appropriately. ''It's a completely fresh area,'' agrees executive producer Michael Patrick King, who had an epiphany while writing the now-infamous anal-sex episode. ''I was saying to myself 'No one's ever said this before.'''

True. But they're getting closer. In this post-Lewinsky world, as networks compete with cable, and cable competes with the Internet, and everyone competes with R-rated antics on the big screen, it seems TV has sex on the brain. It's everywhere. Flip to Ally McBeal and see the under-the-knee orgasm trick. Check out Friends, where Chandler and Monica have all-day nooky sessions. Drink in Howard Stern's CBS show, where he slathers mayonnaise and bologna on a woman's naked tush. Look at MTV's new series Undressed, where, in the first episode, a character snuggles up to a seven-inch vibrator. And sample The WB's Dawson's Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Felicity, where there's more deflowering going on than in a badly managed greenhouse.

Or how about that recent episode of ABC's daytime gabber The View, where thirtysomething's Polly Draper could be heard expounding on male bodily fluids? It was too much even for saucy host Joy Behar. ''We're having a real conversation, and sometimes you're going to go over the edge,'' says the comic. ''What can you do? We try our best.''