Does anyone really need two full hours of Beauty and the Geek in their life? Ashton Kutcher’s lasting gift to the reality-competition genre is probably my favorite show of its kind — unlike, say, The Bachelor or The Apprentice, Beauty at least tries from time to time to subvert the stereotypes it’s flinging around. Still, even I wasn’t sure I could make it through last night’s feature-length premiere without getting bored. It was in the spirit of Beauty’s sorta-noble-minded social experiment approach, then, that I sat through the whole thing in order to bring you all the following important lessons.
1. Beauty and the Geek should definitely rip off American Idol more often. The show spent 45 minutes on a very funny, Idol-style nationwide casting call, which introduced us to a Raleigh, N.C., dude who "founded a pseudo-fraternity named PsiPhi," a serious Smurfs obsessive from L.A., several beauties whocouldn’t name the composer of Beethoven’s Fifth, and all sorts of other absurd characters we’ll never see again. Definite bonus points for bringing back season 3 standouts Nate and Jennylee (pictured) to help run the auditions, though the shots of them walking together arm-in-arm were edited to leave it maddeningly unclear whether their surprise romance from last season is still going strong.
2. Back to basics works. Last season, Nate quickly turned out to be nothing worse than a witty, outgoing charmer with a very slightly dorky demeanor — hence his aforementioned love connection with Jennylee. I’ll be shocked if there are any similar ringers lurking in this bunch. The geeks range from a LARPer (Live-Action Role Playing) who likes to think of himself as "the demon lord Malgosh" to a devoted filk singer, while the beauties seemed even more vapid and superficial than usual. The result: hilariously awkward non-chemistry between the two sides, even if the getting-to-know-you portion of the premiere lasted way, way too long.
3. But that big format switch just might work, too. The premiere waited until 10 minutes before the end to reveal what attentive EW.com readers have knownfor two months: This season features a female geek and a male beautycompeting against all the traditionally-organized pairs. We didn’t getmore than a quick, dialogue-free glimpse of them (plus a few comingattractions clips), but it was all worth it to see the rest of thecast’s shock when they realized that the show would finally be gettinga much-needed dose of gender equity. Plus, who needs to be introducedto those last two contestants when one of them’s already done an in-depth EW.com Q&A?
Anyway, the premiere definitely got me hooked despite that totallyunnecessary hour of airtime; I’m just hoping this season won’t startstrong and get boring two-thirds of the way through, like last season.(Watch for our critic’s official review of season 4 in a forthcomingissue of EW.) Any of you with me?
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Does it bother anyone else that the “hot guy” is Quentin, Brett Butler’s son on the latter seasons of Grace Under Fire?
YES! He’s an actor. He’s on a bunch of stuff. Look him on imdb.com and he’s all over the place. Why would they pick an actor when there are so many vapid hot guys out there?
I liked the auditions more then I thought I would. The fact that there was no geeks in Little Rock is not something you normally see (a show admitting they screwed up).
I am always amazed that this show does not get more recognition….this show actually transforms some people…and not just with surgery or giving them a new house.
GO GEEKS! GO BEAUTIES!
i think luke is adorable!
yeah and wanted luke and holly as partners they were really cute together
Tony and Luke are way too cute for words. Admittedly, as a geek girl, I actually found myself finding the guys that rambled about things like quasars and the inner workings of computers really hot. (The guy that rebuilt the old school Nintendo? Hello! I want to pick his brain.)
Tony and some others definitely have potential, and I found Holly and Katie to be quite sweet. But Dave? He seems completely uninterested in the whole “change yourself” aspect of the show and practically threw a hissy fit about his partner (by the way, I didn’t like that they didn’t get to choose their own pairings). And Jen (the athletic one) made me really nervous.
My sister and I listened to Dave the LARPer talk for half a second and yelled “DWIGHT SHRUTE!” at the TV
Anybody watch “The Pick-Up Artist”? Similar kind of premise (it’s not nearly as creepy as it sounds) and an entertaining show.
I’m wondering how many seconds it will take into the second episode for the beauties to start clawing their way to the “hot” dude. Ugh. When will they learn? But of course, as I am hopelessly addicted to this show, I will watch every jaw-droppingly stupid comment by the beauties with delight.
After watching this last season, I find the show to be one of the more entertaining reality shows. But come on: the incessant build-up about a game-changing twist was pretty lame. We’ll see how things progress.
Maybe “Quentin”/Sam is legitimatelly a dumb, beautiful aspiring actor? I hope so – fakers are lame!
Anyone getting any faker vibes off anyone else? I’m a wee bit suspicious of the “Rubber Band Club” president from Berkeley. That sounds a little hipster – a “geek” in the Seth Cohen sense. His clothes fit normally, his hair isn’t disastrous, and he’s going to be a legitimate hottie by the time makeovers come around – I guarantee you he’s no virgin!
Working Girl – I agree, if anyone is a faker, it’s the Rubber Band guy. Or maybe there’s something wrong with me because I think he’s attractive. *sigh*
the hot guy isn’t even that hot..or maybe that just isn’t my type cause i would definitely rather go for rubber band guy or luke
I watched for the first time last night. I was pleasantly surprised to find the beauties less mean and bitchy than I expected. Shay is an early favorite… ’bout time we had a nice sista on TV. The geeks were hilarious: I saw many of my friends in each of them.
That being said, the “hot” guy looks mad queer. And you can totally tell the “geeky” girl is very Rachel Leigh Cook/She’s All That: it’s not going to take much to make her into a beauty.
“I think that my boob job was an investment…I mean, with, like, all the money I’m saving because I don’t have to buy my own drinks, it will, like, pay for itself.” PRICELESS. Best. Quote. Ever. Bar None
Even better for the TV’s Funniest Quotes:
“I don’t know. I don’t read books.”
- Potential “Beauty”s answer to “Who wrote Beethoven’s 5th symphony.
Can we get a TV Watch for this?
OMFG, the winner from last year is cute! If all geeks were like him, who wouldn’t want a geek?
Actually I also have a bit of a crush on the host as well. What’s his name? He’s another cute geek.
So I spent most of the episode watching the winner from last year guy and the host. I didn’t notice much else.
TV watch please!!!!! Does anyone else think the “hot guy” isn’t all that “hot?” And Jennylee and Nate were so adorable during the casting.
To “Wow”:
That’s a gem, though my favorite had to be:
—Who wrote Beethoven’s Fifth?
—I, like, don’t really read books. Just magazines.
Hello, did anyone see the movie “Accepted”? I was watching with my kids and guess who was in it. That’s right, “the hot guy”. BTW he isn’t that hot, his eyes are all googly!