Real Kato Blog: Television: Beauty and the Geek

Aston Kutcher's "social experiment" is actually pretty entertaining.

I didn't watch "Beauty and the Geek" on the WB network last season, but I've started watching it this time around.

For those of you who don't know the concept: they get eight brainy but socially inept guys, and pair them up with eight ditzy attractive women. Each person tries to help their respective teammate through challenges at which they'd normally fail. For the boys, it's things like singing and dancing and going out on dates. For the girls, it's things like math and politics and fishing.

Although it's pretty horrible how each group perpetuates its stereotypes (and how the show mocks them with those stereotypes), the show is actually pretty entertaining to watch, in a train-wreck sort of way. You don't want to believe that these pretty girls are brainless and that they rely heavily on their looks to get them ahead in life... but they do, and they're shameless about it. "A big book is intimidating to me," says one girl. "Heck, a big menu is intimidating to me." And you don't want to believe that intelligent guys could be such dorks... but they are equally shameless about it, to the point of even being smug about it. Ultimately, all that shamelessness is pretty funny, in a sad sort of way.

For me, the real appeal is in watching snooty attitudes get shattered. I like watching the egos get smacked down. I like it when someone is forced to deal with a world that they're not comfortable with, a place outside their normal zone of control. What impresses me is seeing someone who can be adept in many different situations. Even if only one person emerges from the show with that ability, that's still an interesting transformation to witness.

Is this the best TV show out there? No, probably not. Is it teaching us anything we don't really know already? Not for most of us. But it's funny and entertaining, and that puts it ahead of a lot of other shows.

Speaking of ego smackdown... "American Idol" starts on Tuesday. Hooray!

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