‘Swan’ debut tops ‘Bachelor’

It was a matchup between romance and plastic surgery, and guess which won? Fox’s Wednesday premiere of “The Swan” -- an unscripted series in which 17 women get cosmetic surgery as prep for a beauty-pageant showdown -- swam past the debut of ABC’s new “The Bachelor,” which this time features New York Giants backup quarterback Jesse Palmer as the title Romeo.

“The Swan” rounded up 15 million viewers, compared with 10.9 million for the two-hour “Bachelor.” Of course, “The Swan” got a lot of help from its lead-in, “American Idol” (19.9 million viewers), and the fact that the competition aired mostly repeats didn’t hurt, either. But Fox didn’t hesitate to tout the premiere as among the season’s best debuts in the key young-adult audience, and that augurs well for “Swan’s” move to 9 p.m. Monday starting next week. (Wednesday’s episode repeats at 9 tonight.)

“Bachelor” was down from the two-hour premiere of the show’s previous cycle in September (12.5 million viewers), but the show nevertheless remains one of ABC’s few bright spots in prime time.

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Scott Collins