Model of jaded TV

THERE have been so many search-for-a-supermodel shows in recent years that it must be difficult for them to gain much of an audience beyond their main demographic of young females.

The godmother of all of them all, America’s Next Top Model (Monday, Living TV, 9pm) is into its 14th season in this part of the world, but Tyra Banks and Co barely register a blip in the mainstream these days, and RTE’s latest offering, The Model Scouts (Tuesday, RTE Two, 9pm), has reached its final stage also without making much of an impact. This is surprising, given the hype that The Model Agent generated last year.

As well as a somewhat jaded format that even location shoots in Paris and Sydney couldn’t rescue, the presenters of The Model Scouts also suffer by comparison with their predecessors. Jeni Rose and David Cunningham work with the fashion world’s leading agents, IMG, and they also manage to come across as decent, down-to-earth people in what must be an often vacuous industry. But they just aren’t as interesting as last year’s duo of Erin O’Connor and Fiona Ellis.