“She's Got the Look” demonstrates a lack of progress on two fronts: feminism and, more crucial to the show's future, development of the reality-competition format. Everything about this new series on TV Land feels second- or third- or 12th-hand, stamped from a template that was locked in somewhere between the first seasons of “America's Next Top Model” and “Top Chef.” Three-judge panel (campy, scary, female). Poker-faced host. Funny-sad auditions. An initial “challenge” with a jealous-making prize followed by an elimination round with a nasty catchphrase. In “She's Got the Look,” even the premise - a modeling competition for women 35 and older, run by Wilhelmina Models - is old. That agency has conducted the More/Wilhelmina 40-plus Model Search for eight years. (Its partner in the reality show is Self magazine.) Not that this show is unusual in its adherence to the formula. At least 10 reality competitions will have their debuts or season premieres this week or next, and it's a good bet that they'll be practically indistinguishable. With “Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods,” which began Monday night on MTV, they're already one for one. But “She's Got the Look” could still have tried a little harder. The host, Kim Alexis, is in every sense a pale imitation of predecessors like Tyra Banks and Padma Lakshmi. The judges - the stylist Robert Verdi, the Wilhelmina president Sean Patterson and the model Beverly Johnson - are a likable but unexceptional bunch. At elimination time, “You're off the board” is a long way from “You're fired” or “Pack your knives and go.” As to feminism: You can make all the post-this-or-that arguments you want, but “She's Got the Look” remains a show in which women are supposed to redeem or repair themselves by winning a beauty contest. After, of course, being picked apart by a wolf pack of other women and utterly feminine men. There's some condescension in the air as the auditions begin in the premiere: Verdi refers to the “friendlier beauty” of the 35-and-over woman. But the 10 finalists are not only a stunning (and preternaturally tall and thin) group, they also know their reality-show cues. Diva-like behavior draws the same rolled eyes and are-you-kidding-me looks as it would from a twenty-something cast. In the second episode, Paula, an inked and ripped 37-year-old who's the token outsider, has a meltdown worthy of “The Real World,” after which several of the show's good girls ask, what was that all about? Paula's complaint is that “life stories” ought to count for more than beauty. We know where that argument will take her, and it's not the pages of Self magazine. But combined with her truly amazing cheekbones, it might get her to Episode three. - NYT __
