Early-2000s Fox was ridiculous. In 2004, a full decade before I Wanna Marry Harry, two especially bonkers reality shows debuted on the fourth-rated broadcast network (of four). Neither would make it more than one season.
The first was Playing It Straight, a dating competition in which gay men posed as heterosexuals alongside actual straight men in an attempt to win a bachelorette’s heart money. Our younger readers might need a moment with that one.
Somehow, it got worse. The Swan took self-proclaimed “ugly ducklings,” and, over the course of three months, attempted to make them… not that. The show gave women extreme makeovers via a team that included a personal trainer, therapist, dentist and multiple cosmetic surgeons. Whoever came out hottest was named “The Swan.” Congrats to her.
Together, Playing It Straight and The Swan made Fox’s The Simple Life, in which Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie bothered a bunch of farmers for five seasons, look like Twin Peaks.
Twenty-two years after The Swan was duck-hunted off the airwaves, Hulu has ordered a documentary film taking a scalpel to the series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. The untitled doc will be directed and produced by Erin Lee Carr, who is on a Hulu hot streak with recent docuseries Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini, Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari and Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara. Carr also co-created the streaming service’s scripted series Murdaugh: Death in the Family.
Colin Barr will executive produce the film for Expectation TV.
The Swan documentary will tell “the inside story of the most controversial reality series of all time, the people behind it and the women whose lives were changed by it forever,” the logline reads.
It is probably not going to come out especially flattering.
