… a charming comedy-reality show, ”Who Needs Hollywood?,” directed by Shanda Sawyer, that will debut on the Oxygen cable channel on Nov. 27. In it Katie Putrick, the host and a co-producer, travels around the country coaxing ordinary people to put on performances.

In one hourlong episode, she and a flamboyant choreographer, Marvin Thornton, travel to the Raleigh Hotel, one of the last remaining Catskills resorts, to see if they can persuade the aging employees and guests to stage a variety show à la ”Dirty Dancing.”

The hotel staff and clientele are Borscht Belt old, and Borscht Belt cranky. The show, which reveals the sad, rumpled end of an era, could seem cruel. But some staff members do finally agree to perform, as do some dangerously elderly guests, and the end result is sweet, not humiliating.

The headwaiteris a holdout. ”Take those cameras out of my dining room — customers have complained,” he instructs Ms. Putrick, who resorts to hiding a minicamera in a skullcap worn by the choreographer. (They call it ”the yarmulke cam.”)

In the Catskills, at least, there are a few people who will not appear on television at any price, particularly if it interferes with lunch.