It's a craze-while we're not watching the NFL Sunday Ticket, or cooking reality shows, or Lost, we watch or perhaps we gaze like voyeurs, the beautiful and the rich. Click on the satellite TV and you're bound to find some reality dramedy about absurdly rich women with too much time, too much money and not enough brains in their skulls. But still, the stuff is wildly addicting.

Now, we have another show to add to the already teeming line-up; this time it's on the CW and it's called 'The Beautiful Life'. TBL, in all its fantastic, HD goodness, brings us a glimpse of what it's like to be a model. Supposedly, it's not all glamour and fun-it can actually be hard, like trying out for some pro sports team, you have to be in top condition, both mentally and physically. It's not a reality drama, but it's not a far stretch from one. The Beautiful Life stars the OC's Mischa Barton and Ashley Madekwe as fashion models in New York.

The show delves into the fashion world and gives us exactly what we imagine-pouting models worried about putting on glittery eye shadow. In The Beautiful Life, the fictional Covet Modeling Agency is the main focus. Claudia Foster, played by real life supermodel Elle Macpherson is the head honcho with a commanding presence. The models themselves live all together in a model's apartment, not so much like the swank, luxurious house pictured on America's Next Top Model, but more like a college dormitory with a really expensive price tag.
In the first episode, a newcomer, Chris Andrews, played by Ben Hollingsworth, is discovered while he's on vacation with his family in New York. Chris is thus lured into the modeling world, where he has to assert his heterosexuality in the face of a rather scandalous agent.

Of course, everyone in the show looks drop dead, HD gorgeous. The models do have their personal problems though. Chris, for instance, is just a small town boy from Iowa and his family wants their son back; he however, has become entranced by the charms of another model and housemate named Raina.

Mischa Barton plays the head model Sonja Stone. She and Raina are best buds, until Raina wins a spot at a Zac Posen show. Sonja, meanwhile, has been abroad for a spell and is desperately trying to make a come back and claim her stake in the modeling world. The competition is fierce. What we learn is that it's not easy being a model. Beauty is a curse as well as a gift.

The show features several cameos by real life fashion personas and industry insiders like designer Zac Posen, Nina Garcia, Erin Featherston and even model Jessica Stam are slated to appear. Interestingly, Ashton Kutcher serves as executive producer of the whole outfit.

While the show will no doubt appeal to those who love a good look into the catty, but glamorous life of fashion, it's interesting to see how long this will last.