But will there be a rose ceremony? “Mean Girls” goes reality TV.

I like reality TV as much as the next person. But I can’t decide if I love this or hate this: It’s a “reality with morality” show (their words, not mine) called Queen Bees. The premise is that “mean girls”—young women in their late teens who have been nominated by friends or family—vie for the title of “most reformed mean girl” in a presumably life-changing eight-episode experience. The girls are coached by a psychologist; the contestant who shows the most improvement wins $25,000.

The reality-TV-lover in me can’t wait to set the DVR. The aggression researcher in me is less enthusiastic. Are we really to believe that these young women, who have been using mean behaviors effectively for years (everything from self-centeredness to downright nastiness, according to the press release), will suddenly see the damage they’re doing and vow to redeem themselves? Will any change we see be real change, or clever positioning for the cash? Are the producers truly shining a light on meanness in the hopes that viewers will reconsider their bad behaviors, or are they celebrating it by featuring attractive, socially prominent women who may have gotten that way to begin with by being, well, mean?

Can true change even happen for these girls, or are their behaviors too deeply ingrained? Many of the behaviors we think of as “mean girl” behavior peak in adolescence, middle school in particular. Such behaviors don’t disappear, of course, and occur regularly even among adult women, as most people can tell you. But for most young women, there is a decrease in these behaviors across adolescence and into adulthood. (The film “Mean Girls” – which I really liked, by the way – depicts high school aggression among girls who don’t show the typical trajectory. Well, that or they were “Really Mean Girls” in middle school.) Given their levels of meanness and how long they’ve gotten away with it, I wonder how effective a short-term intervention would be, even one led by a famous TV psychologist. These girls have been getting their way for a long time.

Still, I’ll probably tune in, just to see.