Fast-forward some centuries and formulaic romantic comedies later, and we've got an onslaught of the one story that never fails to bring about gasps of happiness: the ugly duckling turns into a swan; the slightly frumpy but adorably awkward misfit brushes her hair, takes off her glasses and voila! She's completely "transformed," although she was never direly unattractive to begin with.

So goes the premise of another program making its small-screen debut this summer (on The CW), aptly titled Plain Jane and hosted by none other than The City guest star, Louise Roe. Louise is an English transplant, which renders her effortless charm completely unsurprising. She smiles, she squeals, she sagely tells her makeover subjects which pieces in their wardrobe make them look like a four-year-old and must be disposed of immediately.

Cristen Penn, a music biz assistant from Los Angeles, is the first one to offer herself up to be dissected of all her deeply embedded insecurities concerning her appearance and approach to men. By the show's end, Cristen will have had a crash course in the art of flirting, know how to dress in flattering clothing and be confident enough to confess her six-year crush on one of her best friends who she's scared just sees her as "one of the boys." A blind date on a dimly lit rooftop location is set up for this very occasion, and the boy in question, Thai, is left to wonder who his secret admirer could possibly be. The fact that the producers really expect us to believe that he has no idea who is behind this planned spectacle, as the cameras catch his profile gazing so pensively into the fading sunset, is kind of cute! So we'll overlook the insult.

A show like this could easily sink into gag-me cheesiness -- and sometimes does -- especially with the grand unveiling of Cristen 2.0 to the eagerly awaiting Thai, in which she performs the customary staircase descent that starts off with a shot of her slender ankles and slowly pans up to showcase...the same face, with more makeup. Oh, and her hair's all straight and dyed and stuff. (Full disclosure: I'm actually quite the sucker for said movie montages where the girl goes on a shopping spree and is primped and plucked until she emerges a vision of radiance and beauty, after which she promptly falls flat on her face to cut short our awe and remind us that she's still the same goofy, uncoordinated person inside -- just hotter.) No such comedic tactics are pulled here, however, and Cristen and Thai's happy reunion is as sweet and gushy and perfect as you would expect any final scene of a romance-laced reality show's series premiere to be. And for some reason, we're okay with that.

Maybe it's because Cristen's shy, quirky demeanor isn't played up or down for the camera -- that's really who she is, and her appeals to Louise to help a homely sister out are refreshingly sincere. Louise dubs herself Penn's "fairy godmother" for the journey, and she fits into the role with ease, expertly stalking Thai at a park and then deciding that the best way for Cristen to get over the nervous anticipation of a date with her crush would be to confront her most chronic of phobias: snails. What ensues is my favorite part of the episode, involving Cristen hilariously hyperventilating next to a bucket of the slimy creatures and egged on by Louise to reach inside among them and extract a $1,000 gift card to Bloomingdale's. We end up witnessing a very funny, very human scene of facing one's seemingly silly but terrifying fear, and feel the build-up of tension and astonished relief right alongside our faint-hearted heroine.

There will most certainly be detractors of this whole set-up, angrily questioning why a woman would need to make herself over to appeal to a man. Does character and it's-the-inside-that-counts mean nothing anymore? Of course it does, but that point becomes moot when you see the obvious delight and satisfaction Cristen has with herself by the end of the show. It's a natural biological chain of events -- looking good undeniably leads to feeling good and that confidence, in turn, helps you conquer anything that dares to cross your newly empowered path. Boys and gooey invertebrates be damned.

For another take on the show, check out this video from our vlogger Sean Crespo: