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He looks a little bit different from most of the students walking across the campus of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The wild shock of hair, earrings, and nose ring are tip-offs, and in case that's not enough, with his sleeves rolled up, you can see that the guy's arms are covered with tattoos.

Hmm. You might think this guy looks more like a heavy metal rocker - albeit a middle-aged one - than a student, and you know what? That's precisely the point. He's Tommy Lee, the music-scene party animal, survivor of tumultuous marriages to Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson, and, for the better part of two decades, drummer for the metal rock band Motley Crue.

He's in Nebraska to star in NBC's newest "reality-comedy" series, called Tommy Lee Goes to College, which premieres with back-to-back half-hour episodes at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

It's no problem that 42-year-old Tommy - who in real life quit high school in his senior year to focus on a career in music - doesn't exactly fit in on this mid-American university campus. The show isn't about fitting in, but about an aging rock star's "fish-out-of-water" experience.

After tooling onto the campus in his little red sports car - eliciting squeals from co-eds and dull stares from male students - Tommy drops in on the school's grim-faced chancellor, Harvey Perlman, to assure him he's going to take his little academic adventure seriously. No, really, Harvey.

Perlman later admits that he actually listened to a Motley Crue album the previous night, "just to get myself into the mood" for his encounter with Tommy Lee.

And?

"Well, it must be an acquired taste."

One of the first orders of business is to find a roommate. Tommy checks out a few potential roomies but doesn't click with them. Then he meets Matt Ellis and the two hit it off right away. But first Tommy has an important question for Matt:

"I need to know your GPA," Tommy says.

"I pulled, like, a 3.5 last semester," Matt replies.

"That don't sound so good."

"That's out of 4."

"Oh, OK. I was thinking 10 or something …"

While Matt is out studying or something, a row of black SUVs rolls up and Tommy's team of decorators goes to work, transforming the guys' dorm room into a bachelor pad. When Matt comes back, he's thrilled, and the two settle in for a little PlayStation 2 on Tommy's new flat-screen TV. During a lull in the action, Matt looks around the room. "Where's my stuff?" he asks meekly.

Tommy just smirks at him. As the scene fades, Matt says, "Dude, I'm serious."

Tommy Lee isn't really enrolled at UNL as a student; he's just out to sample a little college life. As such, he starts showing up regularly at a few classes - chemistry, English lit, physics, and horticulture. While in the classroom, he spends much of his time staring blankly at whatever professor is droning on at the front of the room, or doodling in his notebook, or checking out the cute co-eds around him.

Naturally, it's not long before he needs a tutor, and just as naturally, his student tutor, Natalie, turns out to be a gorgeous blonde who becomes a terrible distraction to Tommy, who can't keep his mind on schoolwork, or his eyes off Natalie, during their sessions. It's only when you remember that he's old enough to be this girl's father that the whole thing seems a little creepy.

In the second episode, Tommy tries out for the school's marching band, and given that he's been a drummer for a major rock group for years, you'd think it would be a snap. It isn't, and that's not just because the rehearsals are at 7 a.m. daily.

Of course, the whole "college experience" thing is a big goof for Tommy Lee and about as realistic as one of Motley Crue's music videos. But underneath all the baloney, the guy comes off as kind of likeable, in an overgrown-adolescent sort of way.

You wonder why a reputable college would go along with a show like this. School officials explain that they agreed to it to get some national exposure and maybe reach a group of prospective students.

It's much easier to understand why Tommy Lee wanted to do the show. He's got a new solo album out, and at the end of each episode, there's a plug for it. And Motley Crue is in the middle of a world tour, which includes a stop Aug. 24 at DTE Energy Music Theatre (formerly Pine Knob), north of Detroit.

I suppose the series is harmless fun, but if it winds up getting good ratings for NBC, it might just send the network the wrong signal.

Could Ozzy Osbourne Interns at the Mayo Clinic be far behind?

Contact Mike Kelly at: mkelly@theblade or 419-724-6131.

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