Makeover: CW's 'Beauty and the Geek'

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TV This Week
Makeover: CW's 'Beauty and the Geek'
By Diego Vasquez
Mar 11, 2008 - 1:00:55 AM

As they age, many reality shows start to tweak their formula to stay competitive. "The Bachelor" introduced "The Bachelorette," "Survivor" and "Big Brother" aired all-star editions, and "The Apprentice" enlisted celebrities.

For the fifth season of the CW's "Beauty and the Geek," which premieres tonight at 8 p.m., the contestants will no longer be divided into pairs of one beauty and one geek.

Instead, this time the reality show that's also part sociological experiment pit beauties versus geeks as the two factions compete against each other as teams, eliminating many of the awkward interactions that came to define the show's first four seasons.

This comes after ratings for the show declined last fall, along with many other programs on broadcast. The fourth edition, the first airing in the fall, averaged 3.1 million total viewers, down 21 percent from 3.9 million the previous season.

Still, it's CW's No. 5 show among households and does well among the adults 18-34 that the network targets. Some viewers may simply not have been expecting to see the show during the fall.

Tonight the show faces its toughest competition yet in Fox's "American Idol." The CW's "America's Next Top Model" is one of the few programs to perform decently among 18-34s against "Idol," and the network clearly hopes that "Geek," with its new format, can also hold up. That will be a tough order. Though "Idol" is down year to year, it's still by far the No. 1 show with 18-34s.

A look at this week’s top TV draws
MONDAY, MARCH 10
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	Championship game of the Colonial Athletic Association, won last year by Virginia Commonwealth.
8 p.m.	Fox	“Canterbury’s Law” (D)	Series premiere. Julianna Margulies stars as a lawyer who sometimes takes the law into her own hands.
8 p.m.	ABC	“The Bachelor: Where are they Now?” (R, A)	A look back at past seasons of “The Bachelor,” and an update on previous contestants.
9 p.m.	CW	“The Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious” (R)	The ladies receive makeovers, then attend a red carpet event.
9 p.m.	VH1	“Flavor of Love” (R)	The girls write bedtime stories and read them to children.
9 p.m.	ABC	“October Road” (D)	Season finale. Eddie’s ex shows up, causing problems in his current relationship.
10 p.m.	NBC	“Medium” (D)	First of a two-parter has Joe’s mother share a secret with Allison.
TUESDAY, MARCH 11
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	NBC	“Today” (N)	The cast of “The Real Housewives of New York City” guests.
7 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	The Summit League championship, won the last two years by Oral Roberts.
8 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	The finals are here, and the remaining 12 perform.
8 p.m.	NBC	“The Biggest Loser” (R)	Two eliminated contestants who’ve lost the most weight since being bounced return to the competition.
8 p.m.	CW	“Beauty and the Geek” (R)	Season premiere. This season a team of geeks will compete against a team of beauties.
9 p.m.	History Channel	“The Universe” (N)	A look at the feasibility of colonizing Mars.
10 p.m.	Oxygen	“Bad Girls Club” (R)	Jennavecia deals with the fallout after quitting her job and Cordelia tries to cut down on drinking.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	The big boys get their Championship Week underway as the Big East kicks off its tourney with first-round action.
8 p.m.	Fox	“The Moment of Truth” (G)	The No. 1 new show this season moves to a new timeslot, an hour earlier than its old one. Can it still see an “Idol” effect?
8 p.m.	CW	“America’s Next Top Model” (R)	Season eight winner Jaslene Gonzalez judges a runway competition.
9 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	One of the 12 finalists is eliminated.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Supernanny” (R)	A couple’s at-home business suffers because of their three rowdy kids.
10 p.m.	NBC	“Law & Order” (D)	Paging Michael Vick: The murder of a woman is somehow connected to a dog fighting ring.
10 p.m.	Bravo	“Top Chef” (R)	Season premiere. The new season’s 16 contestants are introduced and compete in Chicago.
THURSDAY, MARCH 13
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 p.m.	ESPN2	“College Basketball” (S)	The ACC kicks off its tourney tonight with first-round action.
8 p.m.	CBS	“Survivor” (R)	While one contestant tries to recover from an injury, another goes down in pain.
8 p.m.	CW	“Smallville” (D)	A roadie for the band OneRepublic chews kryptonite gum and develops super powers.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Lost” (D)	Desmond and Sayid meet the captain of the freighter.
9 p.m.	truTV	“Smoking Gun Presents: World’s Dumbest Criminals” (R)	First of a two-part look at wannabe criminals who just aren’t that smart.
10 p.m.	ABC	“Eli Stone” (D)	Taylor tries to make it work with Eli by arranging a real-life George Michael performance.
10 p.m.	MTV	“Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew” (R)	The final four groups perform to the tunes of Broadway musicals.
FRIDAY, MARCH 14
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	Fox	“The Return of Jezebel James” (C)	Series premiere. Parker Posey stars as a single children’s book editor who wants kids.
8 p.m.	ESPN Classic	“Boxing” (S)	A re-airing of Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s first pro fight from 1996.
9 p.m.	Lifetime	“Your Mama Don’t Dance” (R)	The first mother-son team is bounced, leaving eight teams to perform.
9:30 p.m.	HBO	“In Treatment” (D)	Paul tries to deal with the fact that Kate and Rosie have been keeping secrets from him.
10 p.m.	History Channel	“Battle 360” (N)	The Enterprise suffers damage in the 1942 Battle of Guadalcanal.
10 p.m.	Univision	“Nuestra Belleza Latina” (R)	Can the reality show/beauty competition continue to bring in viewers?
SATURDAY, MARCH 15
Time	Network	Program	Description
11:30 a.m.	CBS	“College Basketball” (S)	Championship game of Conference USA, won a year ago by Memphis.
2:30 p.m.	NBC	“PGA Golf” (S)	Third-round coverage of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, live from Orlando.
6 p.m.	ABC	“College Basketball” (S)	The Pac-10 title game, which Oregon won last year.
8 p.m.	Fox	“Cops” (R)	Cops in Kansas City try to track down an elderly parolee on the run.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	The Big East championship game, live from Madison Square Garden. Georgetown took the title last year.
11:30 p.m.	NBC	“Saturday Night Live” (C)	Jonah Hill hosts, Janet Jackson performs. Keep your clothes on, Janet.
SUNDAY, MARCH 16
Time	Network	Program	Description
1 p.m.	CBS	“College Basketball” (S)	The SEC tourney title game, which Florida won last year. Probably not this time, however.
2:30 p.m.	NBC	“PGA Golf” (S)	The final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which Vijay Singh won last year.
3:30 p.m.	CBS	“College Basketball” (S)	The Big Ten title game from Indianapolis, won a year ago by Ohio State.
6 p.m.	CBS	“NCAA Basketball Championship Selection Show” (S)	Fill out your brackets: The 65-team field is revealed.
8 p.m.	ABC	“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (R)	Ty helps a family who turned their garage into a teen community center.
9:30 p.m.	Fox	“Unhitched” (C)	Gator and Freddy hang out with nannies and Kate sees her ex at a child’s birthday party.
10 p.m.	FX	“Dirt” (D)	Don digs up some dirt on a politician who used to be an actress.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.