From left, Melody Thornton, Kimberly Wyatt, Ashley Roberts, Nicole Scherzinger, Jessica Sutta and Carmit Bachar, of the Pussycat Dolls at the Grammy Awards last month. The girls start a search for their seventh member tomorrow on the CW network. Scherzinger was born in Honolulu. Matt Sayles • Associated Press

They finally get their own primetime TV show — sort of — with the launch of the CW network's "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll" (Tomorrow, 8 p.m. on digital channel 93).

Lead singer Nicole Scherzinger, 28, was born in Honolulu and is of Hawaiian, Russian and Filipino descent.

A descendant of "American Idol," "America's Next Top Model" and other talent and reality-show battles, "Search" focuses on young beauties who will sing, dance and prance for a seventh slot in the six-member girl group. The current Dolls appear regularly in MTV-style video snippets and to infuse young Doll wannabes with advice and inspiration.

Tomorrow's premiere, hosted by Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath, may offer a bit too much reality for some viewers. Just before the dancing and singing numbers that will winnow 18 competitors to nine finalists, several are stricken with stomach flu. The bug's fallout is shown often and in vivid detail.

"It was insane when it happened. At first I thought one of them was faking it, and then I got sick and I was curled up in the bathroom for 24 hours," says choreographer Robin Antin, who created the Pussycat Dolls in 1995 and serves as one of the show's judges, mentors and executive producers.

First-show jitters and sour stomachs aside, the show's pace and tone are determined by Antin and executive producers McG ("Charlie's Angels"), who is Antin's boyfriend, and Ken Mok, who also produces "America's Next Top Model" for CW.

Feminists might object to the Pussycat Dolls' overt sexuality, and music critics may snipe at their music. But the group has come far since Antin launched it in the garage of actress and former roommate Christina Applegate.

Gwen Stefani, Charlize Theron, Brittany Murphy, Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra have all performed with the band. "PCD," the Dolls' 2005 double-platinum album, produced a Grammy nomination and five hits, including the catchy "Don't Cha," still in heavy radio rotation. Meanwhile, the Dolls currently are on a 40-city concert tour opening for Christina Aguilera and will be recording a follow-up album later this year.

The Dolls also have their own apparel and makeup lines, a self-named Las Vegas casino as well as a lounge inside Caesars Palace, and advertising deals with mainstream marketers such as Cingular.

Antin had been contemplating a Dolls TV show for years, "something that would combine female empowerment with what it means to find your inner Doll," she says. While early concepts focused on the group itself, adding a competitive element makes it more appealing to viewers, she says.

Nearly 8,000 women tried out for the show in nationwide auditions.

"For most, this is the most incredible opportunity they'll ever have," Antin says. "I look at it as a platform for young women who want to learn how to be stars and how to work hard to get it."

"Literally, it's the ultimate Cinderella story," CW entertainment chief Dawn Ostroff says. "It's a fairy tale to be picked for a group that's at the height of popularity. It's instant stardom for these girls. It's fun, sexy and aspirational."

A LOOK AT THE PUSSYCAT DOLLS

The Pussycat Dolls were formed in the early 1990s by dancer/choreographer Robin Antin. The group has undergone several lineups since. The current incarnation: