TF1 Takes Fox Format

CANNES, April 17: TF1 will debut this fall a French
version of Beauty & The Geek, a format from Twentieth
Century Fox Television Distribution that first aired in the U.S. on The CW.

Production will begin immediately on eight episodes
of the local edition, Bimbo et Intello. The format
features eight attractive yet academically challenged women who are paired with
eight socially inept geniuses in weekly challenges. It has been renewed for a
fourth season in the U.S., where it has consistently ranked number one in its
time period among women 18-34 and teens.

To date 16 local productions have been licensed to
channels such as TV3 in Norway, Italia 1 in Italy, TVI in Portugal, TV Azteca
in Mexico, RTL in Germany, REN-TV in Russia, RTL Netherlands, VTM Belgium, and
E4 in the United Kingdom.

Announcing the deal, Denis Cantin, the director of
sales for Europe at Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, noted: “Beauty
and the Geek’s’ unique emotional and comedic chemistry plays
well across all borders and is attracting substantial audiences in every
territory. And this uniqueness is proving to be a real factor driving the
demand for subsequent seasons.”