Last Thursday, the second season of "Beauty and the Geek" ended. It was a very bittersweet night for my roommates and I. Although the couple that we wanted to win did, it was hard envisioning a world without Thursday nights laughing at girls who couldn't identify John Kerry and guys who literally got nauseated when presented with a roomful of bikini-clad women.

"Beauty and the Geek" is based on the premise that socially inept geeks and airheaded beautiful women have a lot to teach each other. In the first week, a "geek" and a "beauty" are paired together and help one another through challenges that expose their weaknesses. One challenge, for example, had the girls put together a computer and download a song, while the guys had to decorate a room. The two couples that won the week's challenges would get to choose a couple to send to the elimination room, where the couples are quizzed on material they learned, and the couple that loses has to leave the competition.

It seems silly, but it's actually incredible trashy television. The characters on the show somehow find their way into your hearts. As the "geeks" and the "beauties" interact, the goofiness, awkwardness and genuine friendship that result are touching. And one realizes that, as cliché as it seems, the airheads aren't that much different from the geeks. The geeks are just as arrogant about their intelligence as the airheads are about their attractiveness, and both are just as self-conscious and doubtful about their weaknesses. In one challenge, the girls are asked to go into a bar without any makeup on and in their worst clothes possible and told to try to get guys to buy them as many drinks as possible. Suddenly, the girls become the socially inept geeks-and their realization of their dependence on looks and the ensuing depression is heartbreaking.

But of course, what we will miss most about this show are the one-liners. In one episode where the couples have to put on a show while singing along to "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner, Tyson, an Asian American contestant, says, "I really hope that people don't identify me with William Hung, because William Hung is tone deaf, and I have perfect pitch." In another, where the girls have to use a map to locate different stores, Jennipher consoles her partner after she wastes an hour simply flipping through the pages in the street directory and driving around in circles. "Cheer up, Ankur, we don't have cancer! We don't have AIDS!"

You can't help but cheer along with the characters as they start to change, and as the couples actually become friends. The characters on the show are just fascinating, and watching them break out of their comfort zones can be hilarious. One of the geeks, Josh, comes on the show as a 5'4", 104-pound geek, with a mass of curly hair probably about a foot in diameter. When he first walks into the room of beauties, he can't even bare to look at them, and spends the first night sleeping in the closet because he feels too uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as a beautiful girl. At the end of the show, a clear change is visible, as he jokes around with everyone, comes out of his shell and begins to be really comfortable with Cher, his partner.

Cher herself is an interesting character, as she shows early in the game that she is clearly more intelligent than the other girls and earns the resentment of other girls, who whisper that she is here only for the money. However, as Cher reveals that she is working three jobs to stay afloat and that her real dream is go to medical school you can't help but cheer for her too. And there are the little victories-the guys become more comfortable at approaching women, and the girls realize that they can put their minds to study.

The thing about "Beauty and the Geek" is that it makes you feel good about yourself and the world. You're glad that you're not as geeky as those poor guys and that you're much more intelligent than the girls. But it's also a place where the geeky guys finally get some game and where beautiful girls realize that appearance isn't all that matters. It's a happily-ever-after show, where you feel like the contestants' lives will actually be improved because they were on this show.

Next season, there are going to be geeky girls and hot, airheaded guys. I can't wait.