Fly Girls Reality Show

Jam-packed planes. Security checkpoint lines. Waiting on the tarmac for over an hour. Yep, that's what springs to mind when I think about flying.

So it's hard to picture that time, back in the '60s and '70s, when the skies were friendly. Well, at least they were for men: Young, attractive, high-heeled stewardesses (they had age and weight requirements) served up drinks and a fantasy of the perfect woman.

The CW's new reality series, Fly Girls (premiering Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. ET), seems out to recapture that image of flight attendants as glamorous party girls. "When we put on our uniforms, the world is our playground, and anything can happen," says a voiceover early in the pilot episode.

Cameras follow five air hostesses, all with long manes and longer legs. Also, breasts you can't miss. (The buttons of their uniforms are under constant strain.) When these single ladies aren't a mile high (aboard Virgin Airlines planes), they share a Marina Del Rey, Calif., apartment they call the Crash Pad. Aside from Nikole, the designated villain (which seems to have become a reality TV prerequisite), they're all very nice. Granted, a lot of their dialogue feels scripted, but at least the writers are clever. Mandy, the girl next door type, describes Nikole as someone whose "personality arrives five minutes before she does."

As the Transport Worker's Union has pointed out, glam jet-setting is hardly the "reality" for actual flight attendants, who work long hours for low wages and deal with increasingly irritable passengers (see my complaints, above). But the Fly Girls are part of Virgin's promo team, which means they're not just flight attendants. They also serve as eye candy at parties to launch new airports and publicize the brand. Maybe for that reason (and also because they're on a reality show), they appear to work only nonstop flights to big cities like Vegas, New York and San Francisco. No layovers in Wichita for them. Most of the scenes in the first two episodes take place on the ground, at clubs with lights and music.

The story lines are typical reality fare: roommate squabbling, dating, partying. They address the flight attendant clichés right out of the gate. When Tasha, the single mom, complains about the buffoons that hit on her in the air, Nikole shrugs and says, "It's the flight attendant fantasy." Chin in hand, Tasha coolly replies, "It probably is, but I don't want to fulfill it with a douchebag."

Apparently, life as a flight attendant can still feel tedious, even when it's glammed up for TV.

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Do you feel like Fly Girls is a reality show catering to a dated stereotype or just fun?

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Fly Girls