I am – Hercules!! There’s no Richard Rubin-like standout among the geeks this season, but one does find one’s focus drawn toward two of the contenders: * Drew, a “Star Trek” fanatic who travels with his own Starfleet formalwear, likes to explain - to any of the pageant contestants and models who will listen – why the term “Trekker” is preferred to “Trekkie”; and * Nate, the bearded lead singer of a “Star Wars” tribute band, demonstrates laudable adaptability and an engaging knack for comedy. Also aboard: * Matt, a gooney MIT grad student who can recite Pi to 180 digits; * Niels, who thinks the girls might be interested on his take on the finer points of electrical engineering; * Sanjay, a virgin who can imitate household appliances but doesn’t know what “booty” means in his beloved rap songs; * Piao, a smiley little Asian fellow who has only kissed one girl; * Mario, a chubby guy who owns 25,000 comics; and * Scooter, who turns up in a bolo tie and red knee-socks. The same mansion from the previous seasons is utilized. The boys arrive there on scooters. The girls arrive via limo. Both genders have to pick their partners via group interviews, but for this third season they do not get to learn ahead of time what any given candidate looks like. The girls’ first challenge involves finding three library books using the Dewey Decimal System. The geeks then have to approach strangers and borrow a cell phone, get a female’s phone number and have someone rub suntan lotion on their back. Soon after, a sizeable cash bribe is offered to the first couple that drops out of the competition. (A strange coincidence: One of the first immunity challenges takes place at Hollywood’s Laugh Factory, and this year’s host of “Beauty and the Geek” is a fellow named Mike Richards!) Highly entertaining, substantially because the show is so well-cast. But what matters Herc’s opinion? TV Guide gives it an 8 (out of 10) and says:

… Third time is even more charming for this unexpectedly sweet reality game show …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… Who knew that Ashton Kutcher would become a social and ethical barometer of our time? … Beginning its third season on Wednesday, "Beauty and the Geek" is one of the most endearing and engaging reality programs, largely because of its core belief that people, even walking stereotypes, contain a capacity to transform.

The New York Daily News says:

… arrives with the same old tricks, tone and formula - but that's not a complaint. When something's this not broke, there's no need to fix it. … "Beauty and the Geek," in the end, is warmer than most reality competition shows. It's also effortlessly watchable, with more laughs than many of this year's sitcoms.

The Boston Herald says:

… unlike so many other so-called reality shows, “Beauty” is about genuinely improving oneself, about opening up to people one would never typically meet. Contestants don’t throw each other under the proverbial reality-TV grinder. The elimination is sad. Still, you could lose IQ points the way some segments drag on in the two-hour opener. When is the CW going to move on that long-talked-about pairing of himbos with female dorks? That could be a revolutionary hour.

8 p.m. Wednesday. The CW.





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