Beauty and the Geek: CW Reality Show Likely Ending but May Return
After a severe drop in ratings, it looks like the Ashton Kutcher-produced reality series, Beauty and the Geek, has come to the end of the road — at least for now.
Beauty and the Geek debuted on June 1, 2005 on the WB network. The reality show typically teams intelligent but socially-awkward guys with attractive yet dimwitted girls. The pairs compete in a variety of challenges and one team is eliminated each week. The seasons end with the winning pair receiving $250,000. The series began on the old WB network and then made the move to the CW when WB folded.
The first three seasons of Beauty and the Geek averaged over four million viewers, running either during the summer or as a midseason replacement on the WB. The fourth season, the only one to debut in the highly-competitive fall season, dropped to 3.3 million. The show’s fifth round debuted on March 11th and, like most everything on the CW this season, took a hit in the ratings. It’s been averaging only 1.8 million viewers.
While there’s been no official word from the CW, sources have told Variety that Beauty and the Geek won’t be returning next season. Executive producer J.D. Roth said, “You can never be sad about a run like this.” The series may be revived at some point in the future — ideally when enough time has passed for the concept to feel fresh.
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If producers can come up with a way to rejuvenate the series in some way, the reality show could be back sooner than later. One possibility that’s been considered is to change the show’s concept to focus on age differences rather than beauty and “geekiness.”
For now, it looks like the series’ final episode will air on May 13, 2008. Stay tuned! 
6. Matthew said,
Oh no! I can’t believe this. It’s the only reality show that is worth watching. I guess not enough people have brains of sufficient intelligence to appreciate the show.
It’s appeal: everyone can feel smarter than the beauties . . . and many people can identify with the geeks’ ineptitude and yet feel superior. Why why why. It’ll be missed.
5. Michael said,
I am not surprised. Indeed, I am pleased.
The current format pertaining to the elimination process left
much to be desired. Eliminating unsuccessful couples
in the quiz round is most inappropriate in the reality programme
of this nature.
Beauty & The Geek should be more about couples that
have potential to help one another partner to change and be
changed in the process. It should be about contestants who
are able to “gel” together(compatible) as a couple,
such as “Tony and Amanda” in Season 4.
Instead, they were eliminated early and fans were unable
to see how far their compatibility and potentiality for change
developed,
4. K. F. said,
This is REALLY sad news - it is the only reality show that I watch. I like it because it is about people learning from each other and challenging themselves rather than SOLELY focused on winning (and doing anything to win - like Big Brother and shows like that which encourage lying, cheating, etc.). You can tell from so many of the seasons that winning is not what people really take from this show. I will miss it soooo much!
3. Franko said,
What I hate is when they cancel a show like this one that gets good viewership, a lot of people enjoy, has a good following, and replace it with something that is totally Seriously, how does this show compare to other shows in the CW lineup? What crummy new show are they going to replace it with? Or maybe they can just run some more George Lopez or *** and the City reruns.
2. Amy said,
I agree with Simon one hundred percent. My roommates and I absolutely love this show. It’s the only reality show we watch! I would be so sad to see it go!!
1. Simon said,
WTF??? This (and the apprentice) IS THE ONLY GOOD REALITY SHOW. YES, LETS CANCEL THAT ONE TOO. GOOD call!
I so ******* can’t believe how stupid people masses keep watching all those really bad reality shows, bad series (CSI etc) and great awesome stuff gets no viewers. What a shame.