‘Beauty and the Geek’ May Soon Live Again

By Josef Adalian

The CW's "Beauty and the Geek" may live again—on another network.

The Ashton Kutcher-produced reality show wrapped its run on the network last spring. While CW executives have never officially said the show has been cancelled, the network has privately made it clear it has no intention of ordering more episodes any time soon.

That's allowed Fox 21—which produces "Beauty" with Mr. Kutcher's Katalyst and J.D. Roth's 3 Ball—to shop the program to other networks. And according to Gary Newman, co-chairman of Fox 21 parent 20th Century Fox TV, there's definite interest in the show.

"We’re in conversations about finding another home for it and producing new episodes," Mr. Newman said. "And I think that’s probably likely to happen soon."

Mr. Newman didn't specify which network or networks might be ready to greenlight new episodes. Repeats of "Beauty" have previously aired on MTV.

"Beauty" has also been a strong performer internationally, Mr. Newman said.

"It’s a format that sold in many countries around the world," he said. "It’s turned into a nice, profitable business."

Executives at 20th have a history of keeping shows alive even after networks have moved on.

The studio never gave up on "Family Guy," finding ways to keep the franchise alive even after it was axed by Fox—twice. The show is now the anchor of Fox's Sunday schedule.

More recently, 20th has been doing all it can to revive another animated franchise, "Futurama." Years after the show was canceled by Fox, the studio has begun producing new episodes for DVD audiences and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim unit.

(Editor: Baumann)