Fastlane's Girl-on-Girl Encore

Viewers may have gotten a kick out of Tiffani Thiessen and Jaime Pressly's sapphic hot-tub smooch on the Jan. 17 Fastlane, but filming the same-sex sequence was no picnic for the former Saved by the Bell goody two-shoes. "It was freakin' freezing in the jacuzzi because they didn't heat it," Thiessen tells TV Guide Online. "That was the only thing that was really difficult about it. It was so cold."

Well, the ex-90210 hellraiser can warm herself with the knowledge that her suffering was not in vain. The heavily-promoted lip-lock gave the show a considerable ratings bump in its new Fridays-at-8 pm/ET time slot. Not surprisingly, Thiessen thought Fox was smart to play the lesbian card in its bid to attract a larger audience. "They're doing what Fox does, and I can totally understand that," she says. "It did exactly what they wanted it to do."

Now, the network has to make sure that Fastlane's newly-recruited Howard Stern-lovin' demo sticks around. No problem, insists leading man Peter Facinelli, who bared his butt in the show's pilot. "Next week, me and Deaq (Bill Bellamy) will be getting it on," he laughs. "I'll take [the higher ratings] wherever I can get it. We're here to entertain. We're not here to give the news."

Should the undercover cops play kissy face, don't expect the network to issue a similar media alert, however. As Thiessen points out, "Society is a little more forgiving of two women kissing than two men. It's sad but true."