Series shows it's not easy being beautiful

If you don't believe that it's tough being thin and gorgeous, check out "The Beautiful Life: TBL," debuting on The CW tonight.

It's a glossy soap opera about young fashion models - a perfect fit with The CW's "America's Next Top Model."

It turns out that beautiful people don't have beautiful lives in the back-stabbing predatory world of New York modeling as depicted on "The Beautiful Life."

It's a world where anorexic women wear more eye shadow than Alice Cooper and they live in fear that even a whiff of a Big Mac would put them on the fast track to becoming an unforgivable size 2.

The principal models here are played by Sara Paxton ("Last House On The Left") and Benjamin Hollingsworth ("The Line"). Also in the cast is former model Elle McPherson as the ruthless owner of a modeling agency. Nice touch.

Hollingsworth's Chris Andrews is an innocent Iowa farm boy who's "discovered" on a family trip to New York and thrown to the wolves. The show's creator, Ashton Kutcher, also was an Iowa boy who, according to legend, also was discovered as a model when he came to the Big Apple.

Paxton is Raina Marinelli, an apparent runaway who has been hardened by life experiences but quickly warms to Chris.

Mischa Barton ("The O.C.") plays Sonja Stone, a fading supermodel who is aging out of the game because she slipped up and had a baby. Poor thing must be all of 24.

LENO SCORES: The first installment of "The Jay Leno Show" may not have been as funny as his best "Tonight Show" efforts but it got big ratings locally and nationally.

The debut Monday night had been promoted for months and there was the added attraction of the disgraced Kanye West, making more excuses about his rude behavior to singer Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The overnight Nielsen Media Research numbers indicate Leno drew nearly 18 million viewers and 18 percent of the televisions in use at 10 p.m. Monday were watching.

In the Tampa-St. Petersburg market, Leno killed the competition with nearly a 12 rating and a 21 share, which way outdistanced all rival stations. That translates to 222,000 homes and more than 335,000 total adults viewing. And Leno drew in high numbers in all demographics.

That is way better than NBC has done at 10 p.m. in a long time. Can Leno hold the audience? In addition to the heavy promotion, Leno benefited from following "America's Got Talent" which has a large fan base. Also, ABC and CBS were not much competition because their seasons start next week.

GRANNY JOKES: Tonight is a big night for 75-year-old comic Grandma Lee who lives in Jacksonville. The winner of "America's Got Talent" will be revealed (8 p.m., NBC).

Her real name is Lee Strong and she started performing about a decade ago after she retired from Southern Bell.

A widow with 10 grandchildren, she has cleaned up her somewhat sassy R-rated club act for television and still managed to make it to the top 10.

Lee has continued to win over the judges and audiences. She says the $1 million prize is not as important as being named the most talented person in America.