I found it humorous that for the majority of Tyra Banks’ first season of her talk show, she told young women that they were beautiful just the way they are and then gave them head-to-toe makeovers. Makeovers is the focus of Plane Jane, a new 6-episode reality series, premiering tonight on The CW. The makeovers aren’t as extreme as Extreme Makeover but delivers results just the same. British fashion expert, Louis Roe, who strikes a small resemblance to the equally gorgeous Kat Deely of FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance, hosts this series taking Plain Jane’s and helping them build confidence to confess their true feelings for the one they admire.
Plane Jane takes their Janes’ and puts them through a boot camp of sorts, going through different steps before the final transformation. Among the steps in the pilot was a flirtation test in which our first Jane is let loose in a dog park to see if she can successfully get the attention of a guy enough to get his phone number. This bit was entertaining as she was hooked up to an electrocution band and given a shock by the onlooking Louis every time she slipped back to her old Jane ways. Another step was having “Jane” face her fears, in this particular episode, her fear of snails. They use the Maurie Povich-style tactic by taking what a person is afraid of, and putting it right in their face. While Maurie does it purely for exploitation, these Jane’s get rewarded with gift cards to which they’ll later use for their shopping spree.
Plane Jane isn’t anything groudbreaking but it is worth checking out just to see beautiful Louis Roe work her magic.
Let me get real for a second: This pilot ended well with the Jane’s secret crush having mutual feelings. Me, being a gay man, immediately had strong suspicions that this man is gay. This Jane has been friends with him for six years and seems to be oblivious to this guy’s homosexuality, like Will & Grace when they were in college..six years! If a boy and a girl are close friends for that long without it escalating into anything more, chances are they are – as we say – fag and fag hag. I’m guessing the show needed a happy ending for this pilot and he was asked to play along.
Other than that, I’ll be tuning in weekly to check out this show. It has a certain charm in it that is lost in other makeover shows.
Plane Jane premiere’s tonight at 9/8c on The CW. Click here for a sneak peek!