User Reviews

I watched the first episode of this show to see if it made me feel as dirty as the commercials did and now I need a holy water cleansing.

Unlike "extreme makeover" which changes people physically in positive ways (teeth correction, sun damage), this show preys on the truly weak individual who's self-esteem is so low that they need counseling more than a new nose. Then, to exploit them even further, the plastic surgeons treat them like conquests, and even degrade them for not meeting expectations. If they are still not pretty enough they get to go home with their painfully obvious plastic surgery. The blonde named Kelly looked so weird that I felt bad for her. Overall, I think this show is one of the most negative damn things I have ever seen and encourage viewers to watch UPN re-runs rather than this pathetic attempt at 'good' reality television.

Chalk up another pitiful so-called "reality" show to the FOX lineup.

Scratch that. This is actually the epitome of an "UN-reality" show. We're already living in a plastic society and now shows like this are going to make low self-esteem women long to go under the knife with the expectations that a plastic Barbie-like appearance will change their lives. This show could cause as much harm as dozens of fashion commercials featuring abnormally thin models.

Did I say "commercial"? Indeed. That's really what this show is; a 60-minute long commercial for the plastic surgery industry.

This show just shows to what pathetic extent the entertainment industry has fallen in recent years. There are no redeeming qualities to this heap of banality.

This was a terrible show. Women who cuts and replace their faces just to fit into a society that has 'standards' on what's beautiful and what's not. The worst part is, even after being made 'beautiful', these most of these women are then told that they still aren't beautiful enough. All "The Swan" really is, is a big beauty pageant, where they take these "ugly" women and make a big soap opera out of it and place it on television for all to see. This show is not making these women more beautiful. The only message it's sending out to other females is that if we don't look like a swan, then we should all get plastic surgery to fix every "flaw" on our face.

for cash mentality. Fox must really need those ratings. This is literally the most morally bankrupt garbage ever (oh, except for "The Simple Life"). Reality TV has officially sunken as low as it can go.

The surgeons on this show are a disgrace. They certainly make enough money in Beverly Hills, and hardly need this PR. Another reviewer has delineated several participants- who one can only feel sorry for. Yes, by all means, get surgery. This doesn't mean we want to see it on TV, or hear about their trials and tribulations (yawn).

Remember the show where a contestant shot his friend-after being exposed on the Jenny Jones show? well- this show is damaging people's self-esteem; at the behest of "improving their lives". Do not buy into that manipulation. It is about money, pure and simple, making people feel worse about themselves, with no professional regard.The creator of this trash should be held liable for defamation of character.

At the end of the show is the real humor, where a collagen victim Nely Galan purports to have some kind of "advice" for the participants. Yeah, we want advice from a TV station manager- about real issues. It is utterly laughable. 0/10

OK so it is being screened in NZ in 2007 - 3 years later but it is still a superficial programme which focuses on beauty - not the inner person. Just another meaning less waste of time. Why do they bother to screen an American programe which has no relevance here in NZ and would not appeal to most of us. Mind you if you were shallow and focused on looks only it might be of interest. I would rather whoever purchases programes to watch in NZ might choose a programe where the majority of viewers were interested. Another option is that the money spent on this programe might be spent on people who were more deserving and in need of assistance.

This was a remarkable programme showing how dedicated the "professionals" actually are. Those people who have made negative comments are spiteful and jealous of the happiness of those who benefited from the surgeries and therapies. One can only assume they are jealous of those who were brave enough to show their "all" on international television; not to mention the surgeons and practitioners who put their professional names in the spotlight not knowing whether it would be for good or bad, however, in my opinion, they were all fantastic. The girls were transformed into self-confident, beautiful women. Well done to all those involved in the Swan programmes - they were truly remarkable and encouraging to those who believe they have imperfections and disabilities.

It was extremely sad that there were only two seasons as so many more women could have been involved in a life-changing transformation that they would not otherwise have been able to afford.

I long for a programme of a review of all the girls to show how the changes have affected their lives.

This is a reality show a tad similar to Extreme Makeover. Here, two women in each episode compete by giving oneself a physical makeover with plastic surgery. The winner of the two advances as to a beauty pageant competition.

The before and after transformation were breathtaking as you see the plain janes turn from, as the IMDb summary puts it, "ugly duckling" to a "beautiful swan." However, the entire process seems overly dramatic and degrading. Unlike Extreme Makeover where each individual going through their much-needed transformation actually leads to touching stories and hard work, this show delved too much on the women's personal lives and insecurities. And, for the pageant portion, points are tallied up after each "event," therefore, the TV viewer would easily guess who wins before the winner is even announced.

Much of the women had beautiful transformations, but a few others seemed to "strut" it out a little too much, especially contestant Gina Davis.

This show can be entertaining at times, but not as heartfelt as Extreme Makeover.

Grade C

Has Fox morphed into the Reality Channel?

It would seem that way. Every season Fox looks for ways to get more and more extreme with their primetime reality shows, not to mention more and more low-class. 'The Swan', Fox's newest reality endeavor, takes a group of women with no self-esteem and promises to make them beautiful. The ladies, who are in obvious need of more help than just physically, believe that their new beauty will fix their present lives and help them forget a lousy past. The idea is to select only a few of the most beautiful ladies from the group for a big beauty pageant at the end, to see who the ultimate Swan is.

In a society where self-respect is nearly extinct, shows like this only make the situation worse. The problem is seriously underestimated. I watched the first episode of The Swan the other night, and I was actually disgusted by the plastic surgery results. Ladies that look normal, healthy, and beautiful just the way they are, are being turned into plastic dolls with street-walker makeup. Many of the women on the show are wives and mothers, and I shudder to think what sort of example they are setting for their families and children. True beauty comes from the inside. Face lifts won't fix inner problems with self-esteem. These superficial women obviously have no clue.

I really don't know who is worse: the people who want to participate in this show, or the people who intend to keep watching it. I am sorry I wasted my time to view it, much less write a review on it. I keep hoping the human race will wake up and smell the coffee, but I guess it won't be happening anytime soon; at least not before the human race is given a face lift, a tummy tuck, and hair extensions.

This show was AMAZING! It took a dozen women who were unhappy in their lives and gave them a FULL BODY transformation FOR FREE! They had on average 100k worth of plastic surgery. These before and afters where INCREDIBLE! And yet the show got taken down because of OVERLY judgmental women who didn't like the concept of the show and probably never even saw a single episode. If you don't like the concept. don't watch the show. It had great ratings so obviously people enjoyed it. I was one of them.

When you feel bad on the inside, it reflects on your outward appearance. Nobody forced these women to become part of the show. They entered into it on their own accord and I doubt ANY ONE of them regrets it. Judgy people had this show removed but it was probably the same judgy people that gave those women their complexes in the first place. All this show did was show the world that you don't have to settle with what nature gave you. If there's something you don't like about yourself, we live in a world where we now have the technology to change those things. And THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT!

Great show, don't care what these haters say. They probably all live alone with their cats anyway.

If reality television wasn't sign enough that pop culture and culture within itself was dying out "The Swan" is further verification of that worry.

FOX decreases its credibility further by reaching new lows in a show that feeds off of women's insecurities for the sake of entertainment. Truly, a low point in all of television history.

Take a bunch of self-conscious women, give them loads of surgery and pit them together in a beauty contest. Low? Well, they'd have to reach up to touch the bottom.

Reality TV exposes the worst that humanity has to offer and "The Swan" is proof of such. FOX feeds off of women's self consciousness and insecurities like vultures and exploits them for entertainmnet.

The trailers alone will make you feel dirty and soulless but watch the show and you'll feel worse. Rather than providing counseling, therapy, inserting positive views to these women and getting them to appreciate their own image, they feed off of them and further lower their standards.

The premise for this show is gruesome and morbid, and the women's reactions to their makeovers are also chilling, and you wonder, how will they feel four months from now when the lights are off them?

I don't watch much TV, and I can't tolerate watching anything more than once, except for The Swan. I would love to see a reboot of this show. It is inspirational how the women change their lives. The reveal is a little dramatic, but the transformations are remarkable and leave the women better off, so I do not understand the hate that some gave this show.

There are very few television shows that uplift, strengthen, and help the participants more than this show. It is truly inspirational to watch. Most of the women were selected specifically because they are dealing with difficulties and trauma. The ones that can use it (which is most) are all helped through counseling during their 3 month transformation, while also supported in good habit formation (regular exercise when not recovering from surgery and eating healthy). The cosmetic operations are just a part of the transformation, but yes, an important part. Apparently people (at least during the time that this came out) do not want to admit that cosmetic surgeries can bring confidence, peace-of-mind, comfort, opportunities, and an overall better quality of life to those that get them, but it is just a fact. I would think that normal, compassionate humans would understand how awesome it is that the show gives the show participants, who are specially selected as people who have struggled, particularly with appearance, an amazing opportunity that transforms them in a way that can bring them more confidence and comfort. We need to see more television like this.

A group of woman with low self-esteem are picked to feel beautiful again. They are subjected to untold amounts of plastic surgery, makeovers, hairstyles, lyposuction, and God knows what else in order to feel beautiful again. Throughout the process, the women are unable to see their reflection until the very very end. Then the most beautiful of the bunch is the winner.

Five minutes was all I could take. I actually felt my IQ drop.

At this point, I am conviced that TV has lost all it's dignity. Jeez, and I thought "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionare" and "The Littlist Groom" were terrible. Whats next? "Who wants to re-marry Scott Peterson"?

Grade: F

I have to agree with what the other person who commented. This is just disgusting. It's clear to anyone who watches these women for five minutes that they all are dealing with some serious underlying mental issues that no surgery will fix. These problems cannot be fixed with a new nose or a chin implant.

Self esteem cannot be attained in this manner either. True self esteem rises above all of this meaningless nonsense. A new nose will not truly make you confident...that comes from an attitude that has nothing to do with how you look on the outside. If it did, all beautiful people would be confident- but, they're not. Everyone with a big nose and bags under their eyes would have no confidence, but that's not the case either.

This is just the lowest of what TV has to offer, and it's no shock that it's being brought to us by Fox, who keeps going lower and lower, scraping the bottom of the garbage can for ideas for ridiculous, shameless programs like this.

Not only do the women competing in this show need mental help...but, the creators and execs at fox need it just as bad.

The Swan was so bad that I couldn't stand to watch the entire show. Fox is known for pushing the envelope and providing us with entertainment that is right on the edge of being tasteless. The Swan not only crosses the line it is light years beyond it. To take women who are starting out with low self-esteem and tell them that you are going to make them beautiful but they have to be good enough to win a beauty contest is the very definition of bad taste. This show is setting a dangerous example for teenagers with self-esteem issues and should be pulled immediately.

If the FCC is to investigate any show for being offensive this is the one.

I won't say the typical things about this show such as "it's revolting!" and "how horrible" and "society is awful" and all those things that everyone wants to say because everybody's already said those things. This show is awful on several levels and I don't say that with my nose turned up in the air saying how wonderful I am b/c I'm against plastic surgery. Some people will truly never change unless something physical is changed and only then will they allow themselves to be happy. Maybe that's because of society but it doesn't change the fact that sometimes plastic surgery is a good thing for some people. This show pulls those type of people on and makes them feel better (a change that will probably stay). But the way it is presented and what the moronic doctors say makes it awful and a total mind f***. You are nothing unless you inject your a** into your lips! They don't just adjust and lift to bring out the beauty of the girl, they reconstruct some of these girls and make them look like cats (best example is the girl who won the first season - looks nothing like herself and looks like a plastic mold). No one in their right mind would have anything against making a persons teeth white and straight so I don't know why they would have a problem making the bridge of a nose a little skinnier, but my god! They actually make the effort to make every girl look the same! It's hilarious.

Case in point: the story of a woman who decided to get skinny, she did and was left with HUGE over flow of skin that looked pretty awful really (and I think taking away skin like that is a healthy sugery - giving you rewards for getting healthy) but just as she lost all the weight, she tragically lost her husband. The theripist (OF ALL PEOPLE!!!) says "how ironic that she is left with all that skin." (!!!!!!!!!!WHAT!!!!!!!!) The woman lost her husband after she lost weight for him - that's irony. Later in the show, one doctor tells her to her face how difficult the surgery will be for him, and that he's never had to do so much work. Not only a personal display of great tact but way to send a message to anyone that thought the lady looked pretty (such as I did, she really did) about how awful they must look. I just hope little teenage girls are more intelligent than we all give them credit for when we are getting mad at this show. It could all also fit into an easy 30 minute show but they have the contestants say things about what is wrong with them and they replay it after every commercial. You see everything but the reveal just at least twice. It's a piece of crap show.

I am a new member to this web-site, and I have to make a comment on The Swan. All right, This show reminds me that we are one step closer to the TOTAL destruction of the human race as we know it! Yes, these women all have a low self-esteem problem. So, yeah, why not have a so called expert tell them they need 5,000 things done to them to make them "Patchent Worthy". Who the HELL are they to judge? What ever happened to the saying, "It's what inside that counts!"?

Anyone who doesn't find this show repulsive, or even finds it funny, should really re-examine themselves. Maybe the women on the show aren't the ones with the problems!

this is a sad commentary on tv audiences in the us. I have read that the program's ratings are through the roof! This is a tacky show with no soul. I am afraid for the effect that this program will have on its contestants (and audience) in the future.

IS the FCC monitoring the program? Although I do not believe in censorship, I do believe in maintaining a certain standard in what is transmitted through our air-waves. Especially if children and young girls are watching.

Do people realize what these contestants look like without make-up and lights, and what happens to them when they return to their "reality?

There is nothing wrong with fantasy and realism, but this show is just blatant irresponsible bad taste!

I am not a reality TV person. Mostly can't stand any of them, except for American Choppers, but then I love seeing metal being bent. So it came as a surprise to me that having heard all negative about this I got sucked into an episode. There is one thing that is not emphasized on the show, but apparently these women get pretty extensive counseling along with all the other physical transformations. These women all have emotional scars that would probably never be addressed out in the real world, but here they are getting many hours of free counseling every week. I find nothing wrong with that and I only wish the producers would spend more time portraying what results they get from this time spent with psychological staff. Plastic surgery is very, very common and its portrayal on TV should come as no shock to anyone.

As for being the "bottom of the barrel" I'm thinking folk are barking up the wrong tree. Seems to me there was a show called 'Temptation Island'. Never saw it but understand the object was to steal partners or some such. Seems to me much worse than women with problems, who want to change themselves, finding free help.

I may as well add my two cents into this discussion of the Swan and laugh if you want cause I don't see nothing wrong with this show. These women are just like everyone else who have gone through major tramas in their lives and for so long been trying to find the right people to help them. This show perhaps is the cure of it all and it certainly made a big difference on some of them. I watched the Swan the firt time last week and immediately fell in love with the show. These women have a lot of courage to go on national television and tell their stories which may be moving for some people that have been through simularities themselves but never had the right people to direct them. This show as fore mentioned can make a difference and each and every week these ladies go through the training & plastic surgery just to look good. The work may be tough but like troopers they really pull through to make it. Can't wait to see the Swan Pageant.

I love the overly dramatic music they play at the end of the show just before they put the contestants in front of the mirror for the first time. At first I thought this show might be stupid, but oddly enough I find that I can't wait until the next show. It is one of the most talked about shows at work.

I like this show much better than Extreme Makeover because there is much less actual surgery shown which I think is the worst part of these types of shows. Plus the women they've selected to be on this show are really ugly and in need of the surgery. The one woman in the second show had a severely stretched stomach due to the birth of her child. Now I'm trying to figure out how much $$$ the producers are spending on each contestant. So far the guesses are between $20,000 and $50,000.

OK, so you have to have a sick sense of, humor.....but the cheese factor is VERY VERY HIGH on this show. The women are pathetic (not really, but the producers make them look pathetic). They never are seen with makeup before the "REVEAL" and never seen without makeup after the "REVEAL." The show is done in PURE FOX style, with pseudo-suspense and dramatic music and "will she or won't she make it" commercial break cliffhangers. And to top it all of, you have the cheesily dramatic REVEAL, in which the women usually touch their face, cry, turn around and ask if this is real, and then cry, and then laugh hysterically. IT IS PRICELESS..........don't listen to these people commenting on this show. They are too uptight to breathe.

On this board I been hearing negataive things about the Swan which I don't find nothing wrong with this show. This show is about real people not wannebe types that's out there to make a fool out of themselves. These are brave women that's willing to make a change for themselves to become beautiful which is the only way they're willing to make a difference. Some people may find this show to be another failure of reality television are missing out on something that's very dear to some people. If you really don't like this show I'm sure UPN will find a re-run of the Mullets that'll make enjoyment for your entertainment pleasure. I been watching this show for the last three weeks and these women have very interesting stories to tell which they have the courage to tell to millions. These women have been through rough times some people aren't capable to make it but in the end they look like a million bucks. Some of you people should gve this show a chance. You'll be glad you did

When I first saw the commercials for this show, I could hardly believe it. I actually watched the first episode and was even more shocked. Just when I thought this modern fad of "reality TV" was as disgraceful as it can get, I was wrong. What kind of message is FOX trying to send with this show: "If you're depressed with yourself, go spend thousands of dollars on plastic surgery and everything will be better?" Several people who commented have said this before and I agree: The problems these women have are mental and emotional and need to be solved with therapy, NOT with changing their whole appearance with plastic surgery.

If you haven't seen "The Swan" yet, I don't encourage you to do so. The main idea of this show is to take 16 ugly women, give them all plastic surgery to make them look better, and then have the final 8 compete in a beauty pageant. What makes the show even more sickening is that these women, after months of recovery from surgery, having a personal trainer help them lose weight, and getting a makeover, STILL half of them won't have "made a good enough transformation" to continue in the pageant? And, I wonder, what's going to happen to them when they realize they've all been idiots and, despite the fact they now have gorgeous bodies and beautiful faces, they're still not happy?

Even though this show is so sickening, FOX still has enough viewers to watch this trash? It's these kind of shows that make me realize how stupid TV and society can be.