Fact: I'm excited that they're replaying Season Four of Beauty and the Geek.

I missed it the first time because I didn't have a TV, but I fondly recall Season Three from that fateful year in which I traded Spider Solitaire for reality TV as my mindless homework distraction of choice. I even watched like one (or two or three) episodes of I Love New York, mostly for New York's mother, who is scary, but fascinating.

I started developing reality TV theories and becoming very interested in the idea of editing reality television so that real people, who are boring, can eventually become fake people who sound stupid, via the magic of snipping film and technology.

Fortunately, that level of reality TV-watching was very shortlived, but I retained a soft spot in my heart for Beauty and the Geek.

Anyway, I watched the third season. I think I cried--joy, not sorrow--at Nate's makeover. I mean, here we have a Harvard student... who is a consummate geek... but in a cool way... and now he expresses his style in a way that makes me go a little crazy. The ties! The stubble! Ok. Ok.

And I always thought his band was cool... but anyway.

Like most of the population, I am too dumb and socially aware to be a "geek," but I am not pretty enough to be a "beauty." And I hate that I can think of myself in those terms because our culture is that stratified. I want to say real life is not high school, but it sort of is. So a show that kind of slaps us in the face with our own high-schoolness is not, on the whole, a bad thing.

Furthermore, a show that teaches guys to not wear socks with sandals is undoubtedly a good thing.

And it seems like people really do learn something and grow from being on the show, as cheesy as it sounds. Niels Hoven was on season three as a prospective engineer, and now he is... get this... a social coach. He may not have a PhD, but he is branching out and I'm sure that if he wants to go further with his engineering track in the future, the communication skills that he is developing now will help him in any case.

(I liked Niels, too.)

Everything I've heard about Season 4 makes me believe that I may not like it as much; it's certainly got a lot of changes... but it's also got a lot of heart. (Cue the barf.) Which is what I like about the show... it's like entertainment plus pocket protectors plus nice. And I love entertainment.