Dead man walking! That's Dr. Ruehl on Sunset Tan!

The E! "reality" series Sunset Tan got some attention over the weekend with a video tease showing its "Olly Girls" tanning salon managers being sent out to a mortuary to bronze a corpse (see the entire clip here).

Except that "dead man" is actually our good friend, contributor, one-time Man of The Year, and cable television legend Dr. Franklin Ruehl.

Hate to break it to you (actually, we're happy to)-- he's not dead!

This, unfortunately, is the kind of ruse that gives reality TV a bad name. Why can't everything be on the up-and-up like The Simple Life and Pirate Master?

ALIVE & KICKING!