The Beautiful Life: TBL

From the look of the new teen soap-opera, TBL looks like a hit. But sometimes a success with a wide audience has to be on the cost of good taste, which is the case here.

The pilot episode takes place in NYC. Farmboy Chris from Ohio is enjoying his last days of the holiday, when he is accidentally spotted by a modeling agent, Simon. And throughout the rest of the episode Chris rams himself into more than enough drama, considered it only is supposed to show the first 42 hours of his modeling career. From the agency, to the photo-shoot, to the model-house, to the party.

This is basically the over-the-top drama from 'Americas Next Top Model' fusioned with the glamour of the hit show 'Gossip Girl' and on top of all this there is a bit of bad social realism (Drugs etc.).

But even though the first episodes' storyline is poorly written and most of the camera-work is very amateur, it somehow works. The young cast of the show saves it (especially Sarah Paxton as Raina). They make all of the trashy drama in some way believable. Because they are trashy actors portraying trashy people in a trashy world.

I hope we, in the next few weeks, will see that this show weren't a waste of our time and CW's money. But i doubt that.

UPDATE: Apparently the show was a waste of our time and CW's money. The show has now been cancelled. I'm not the least surprised.

A LOT LIKE GG!!! The new show about models, model wannabes, model has beens and model directors...basically about people who breathe & live for fashion...boyfriends, girlfriends, intrigues, cheating, fighting...you got it all....maybe a few moments of bad acting but i think that fact can be overlooked considering the whole show stands on the ground of people who are young, a bit unexperienced..but overall if you watch it believe you won't demand your 45 minutes of your life back....that i assure you... rate it, comment it...me? i liked it...wanted to see more but the show was canceled...for everyone who did like it let's put it back in filming....I WANNA SEE THE END OF THE SEASON!!!

Claudia Foster (Elle Macpherson) runs a modeling agency in New York City. Her models live in a co-ed residence. Sonja Stone (Mischa Barton) is her top model returning after a mysterious 6-months absence in which she gave birth. Raina Marinelli (Sara Paxton) is an up-and-coming model who is getting noticed. Chris Andrews (Ben Hollingsworth) is an Iowa farm boy who gets dropped into this world. Successful child model Isaac Taylor (Corbin Bleu) is struggling as he grows older. Marissa Delfina (Ashley Madekwe) is a reckless model embittered by her lack of success.

I remember some of the ridicule as the show got canceled after only two episodes. Ashton Kutcher is the big name behind the scenes. He probably opened a lot of doors for the show, but he's not the best person to sell the show's substance. He contributed to the show's superficial reputation. The title doesn't help. I don't think that I saw it at the time although I doubt that I could remember only two episodes from fifteen years ago.

After watching all five episodes, it's not the worst show in the world. It is just a night-time soap with young hot people. That does sound superficial, but it's not all like that. There are some interesting stories and some bad ones. The melodrama walks the line between realistic and sensationalism. I don't hate it.

So i randomly caught the pilot episode of this while surfing around on Youtube and followed up with the other remaining episodes just to see what all the hype was and possibly deteremine why this show got cancelled. After watching a few episodes I really didn't see much difference from any of the other CW teen/young adult dramas like 90210, Gossip Girl, and Melrose. Bare in mind that I haven't really seen much of those other shows but from what I have seen they are all very formalic and simliar in overall content and context. The idea of The Beautiful Life is still an interesting one though with its setting in NY and the Fashion World, and could really lead to some interesting story lines and overall television. I wont comment on the overall performances or characters within the show but will say that they are done well and underapreciated by many of the shows critics. However, this show is ultimately flawed in its being structured for CW audiences and having to stick within the guidelines of a TV14 rated network. CW already has its pick of dramas from those mentioned above and another such as TBL was overkill to an extent and with its similarities between GG being in NY and all it was setup to fail based upon comparison alone.

With its premise of the aspiring models trying to make it in NY's Fashion World the show could have been the NY version of Entourage if done correctly. Throw in some more adult sexual situations and occasionally nudity, more fashion celeb cameos, and overall sexiness whle focusing on the NY setting and fashion world/nightlife and the story lines become compelling. I don't know that using the original cast of the show and just throwing it on another network would have worked but the overall premise and concept for the show would really work better in a more adult oriented setting. Unfortunately it appears that wont be the case, which is unfortunate because the potential was there.