# Beautiful People (American TV series)

Beautiful People is an American drama television series about a family that moves from New Mexico to New York City to make a fresh start on their lives. The series aired on the ABC Family network from August 8, 2005, to April 24, 2006, lasting sixteen episodes. Its executive producer was Paul Stupin, who played the same role for Dawson's Creek.

## Plot

An academically gifted teen Sophie Kerr (Sarah Foret), her model-beautiful older sister Karen Kerr (Torrey DeVitto) and their newly single mother Lynne Kerr (Daphne Zuniga) leave small town New Mexico in search of a new life in New York City. After their father runs off with his teenage mistress, Sophie and Karen decide their family needs a fresh start. They convince their mother that the big city holds promise for all of them. Sophie has received a scholarship to a Manhattan private school, Karen can pursue her dreams of modeling, and Lynn can leave the painful memories of her failed marriage behind her, while reviving the ambitions of becoming a fashion designer which she put on hold to raise a family.

## Characters

* Lynne "Lynn" Kerr (Daphne Zuniga): Lynne leaves New Mexico after her husband leaves her for her daughter Karen's best friend. When she arrives in New York City she is a retailer at first, until she gets a jump start in the fashion world and starts working for a prominent sportswear designer. She bumps into her college sweetheart Julian Fiske, for whom she still has feelings.
* Karen Kerr (Torrey DeVitto): Beautiful and vivacious, Karen is an aspiring model who is usually confident, but she loses some of that confidence when she begins taking diet pills to be thinner at the suggestion of one of her agents. Her first modeling gig is when she poses for the cover of a Brighton School magazine in a school business competition. She also worked wearing a chicken suit, among other odd gigs.
* Sophie Kerr (Sarah Foret): Gifted and intelligent, Sophie is a talented photographer who wins a scholarship to the prestigious Brighton School, a hub for the children of Manhattan's elite. She meets her good friend Gideon Lustig, who ends up falling for Sophie and Annabelle. Sophie finds herself in a romantic dilemma between elitist Nicholas Fiske and artistic Gideon.
* Gideon Lustig (Ricky Mabe): Sensitive and adorable Gideon is a vulnerable artist who is constantly put down by his wealthy, world-renowned artist father. Gideon believes that just because he has money doesn't mean he's better than others who aren't as fortunate. He develops a crush on Sophie Kerr and is caught in a love triangle with her and long-time best friend, Annabelle Banks.
* Annabelle Banks (Kathleen Munroe): An aspiring photographer, Annabelle is in the shadow of Gideon, her long-time crush, when Sophie Kerr rolls into town. Her parents are divorced and both her parents left six months after it was finalized, leaving Annabelle with a babysitter. Annabelle explores her sexuality, ultimately realizing that she is bisexual.
* Nicholas Fiske (Jackson Rathbone): Charming and extravagantly rich, Nicholas is the heir to Fiske Publications and is a BP and captain of the JV lacrosse team at the exclusive Brighton School. He turns his back on then-girlfriend Paisley Bishop to start a relationship with new girl Sophie Kerr, whose heart Nicholas competes for with Gideon.
* Paisley Bishop (Jordan Madley): Wealthy, snobbish, and popular, Paisley is a BP and is used to getting whatever she wants, unless longtime on-and-off boyfriend Nicholas Fiske is involved. Her family owns the Empire State Building and she drives a silver Porsche.
* Chris Pritchett (Sean Wing)

## Episodes

| Season | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Season | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 8 | 8 | August 8, 2005 (2005-08-08) | September 26, 2005 (2005-09-26) |
| 2 | 8 | 8 | March 6, 2006 (2006-03-06) | April 24, 2006 (2006-04-24) |

### Season 1 (2005)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code |
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | Dennie Gordon | Michael Rauch | August 8, 2005 (2005-08-08) | 101 |
| When Lynn Kerr's daughter Sophie wins a scholarship to an elite school she must pack up her two daughters and move from New Mexico to New York City. As Sophie starts school she quickly finds out the school is run by the "beautiful people" and they aren't too impressed by her. |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Point and Shoot" | Dennie Gordon | Michael Rauch | August 15, 2005 (2005-08-15) | 102 |
| Nick and Gideon 'apologize', clearly just for the girls' sake. Nick joins the advanced photography class to be with Sophie, but she reproaches him 'taking' a really interested kid's place. Would-be model Karen develops anorexia and becomes a cocktail waitress in a nightclub, not listening to her mother's objections. She discover Tommy is the barman, and like her hid that lowly status, but they still end up together. Lynne is engaged at Toby Sayles's sports boutique, but resigns as soon as she realizes Julian's influence secretly got her the job. Paisly plays it cool when Nick dumps her, but is jealous enough to steal Sophie's camera, a gift from her dad. Nick helps her, leaves the class, but still learns about photography. Sophie fails to match her mother and photography teacher, David Stein, at the dinner her mother throws to 'make friends'. |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Reload" | Ken Girotti | Vince Calandra & Michael Rauch | August 22, 2005 (2005-08-22) | 103 |
| Sophie and Nicholas get competitive for their mid-term project as Sophie challenges him to acknowledge their kiss and not to be embarrassed in front of his friends with her. Meanwhile, Karen makes a drastic decision about her job. |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Over Exposure" | Mel Damski | Elizabeth Davis | August 29, 2005 (2005-08-29) | 104 |
| Gideon's painting talent gets him an advantage at the Brighton Academy's 'white part', where boys paint T-shirts on girls, which are then handed over for charity auction. Nicky is delighted Sophie partakes and solves her unease to be 'handled' by painting hers himself. Jealous Paisley spills the boys' annual seduction bet. Enraged by receiving her long overdue divorce papers, Lynn scolds neighbor Joe Seplar for everything males ever did to females. Later she apologizes by offering the NPD detective a dinner, in order to end 20 years dating drought. She seduces the perfect gentleman onto her bed, then turns frigid again. Karen sleeps with fashion executive Kevin Strong. When he can't make their next dinner date, she lands him with a monster bill and rages when they meet, ending up with egg on her bitching face. |||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Dark, Room, Chemicals" | Milan Cheylov | Jennifer Glickman | September 5, 2005 (2005-09-05) | 105 |
| Karen grumbles the girls have no time for her. Her boss sends her to Chicago to run a fashion show, but her luggage gets lost. Only Julian can help, yet the ingrate keeps very distant. Sophie is facing a bad grade in chemistry. Karen, on diet pills, calls her away from study group after getting robbed and lost in the Bronx. Their ride home from a nightclub proves too adventurous. Gideon worries about Sophie, Nicky finds out and actually gets them looking, but gratitude is barely flimsy there too. |||||||
| 6 | 6 | "F-Stop" | Patrick Williams | Deborah Joy LeVine | September 12, 2005 (2005-09-12) | 106 |
| Lynn, Sophie, and Karen are invited over to the Fiskes' home in Hamptons for a weekend. While there, a game of "Truth or Dare" gets a little out of hand. Meanwhile, Sophie encourages Annabelle to tell Gideon how she feels about him. |||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Blow Up" | Robert Berlinger | Michael Rauch | September 19, 2005 (2005-09-19) | 107 |
| Lynn creates a new design for her company's fashion launch and she asks Karen to model her design for her. |||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Photo Finish" | Kelly Makin | Michael Rauch | September 26, 2005 (2005-09-26) | 108 |
| Karen eventually faces up to her personal problems. Meanwhile, Sophie and Lynn both have difficult decisions to make as Lynn's ex-husband Daniel turns up and wants Sophie and Karen to come back home with him. |||||||

### Season 2 (2006)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Prod. code |
| 9 | 1 | "Flashback to the Future" | Ken Girotti | Anne Kenney | March 6, 2006 (2006-03-06) | 109 |
| Daniel decides to fight for custody of Sophie. Karen gets a new agent and accepts some unpleasant assignments just so she can move up in the modeling world. Meanwhile, Lynn and Julian's relationship takes to take its toll on Sophie and Nicky. |||||||
| 10 | 2 | "It's All Uphill from Here" | Chris Grismer | Lisa Albert | March 13, 2006 (2006-03-13) | 110 |
| Sophie upsets Lynn by skipping school and then enrages her more by inviting her father Daniel to Brighton's Parent Night. Meanwhile, Karen gets a job working as an assistant to a famous photographer, thanks to Julian. Elsewhere, Gideon and Annabelle's attempts to get closer fail at every hurdle. |||||||
| 11 | 3 | "A Tale of Two Parties" | Ken Girotti | K.J. Steinberg | March 20, 2006 (2006-03-20) | 111 |
| All of the Kerrs get to experience their first snowstorm in New York all apart. Lynn is with Julian, Sophie and Nicky go to a party, and Karen uses Ben's invite to a party for her own use to meet agents. |||||||
| 12 | 4 | "Das Boots" | Patrick Williams | David Goldsmith | March 27, 2006 (2006-03-27) | 112 |
| Lynn is under pressure as she faces possible eviction as well as the custody case with Daniel. Meanwhile, Karen discovers a secret. |||||||
| 13 | 5 | "Black Diamonds, White Lies" | Ken Girotti | Michael Rauch | April 3, 2006 (2006-04-03) | 113 |
| Lynn finds out that Karen's new boyfriend Luke Dalton is the venture capitalist that is potentially financing her new fashion line. |||||||
| 14 | 6 | "Where Are We Now?" | Mel Damski | Elizabeth Davis | April 10, 2006 (2006-04-10) | 114 |
| Karen and Ben take their relationship a little further and Sophie and Chris share their first kiss. |||||||
| 15 | 7 | "Best Face Forward" | Michael DeCarlo | Story by : Anne Kenney Teleplay by : Lisa Albert & Anne Kenney | April 17, 2006 (2006-04-17) | 115 |
| Karen competes with other models for a spot in a national advertising campaign; Lynn grows less secure about the age difference between Jeremy and herself. |||||||
| 16 | 8 | "And the Winner Is..." | Chris Grismer | Story by : Lisa Albert & Anne Kenney & Michael Rauch Teleplay by : Michael Rauch | April 24, 2006 (2006-04-24) | 116 |
| Karen awaits the results of the modeling contest; Lynn takes control of the showcase; Sophie tries to come to terms with Chris. |||||||

## Reception

Common Sense Media gave the series 3 out of 5 stars, and wrote: "Drama best for teens and up lacks sizzle."
Michael Ausiello writing for TV Guide was disappointed by the season premiere, saying "it reduced Daphne Zuniga to a glorified extra". He felt it was trying to be a big-city Gilmore Girls and was ready to write off the show but his interest was piqued by the season finale which cast Zuniga's former Melrose Place costar Grant Show, as her character's ex-husband.

## Home media release

The series was released for region 1 on August 8, 2006.