“More to Love” “Drop Dead Diva” “Dance Your Ass Off” “Ruby” “Bulging Brides” “The Biggest Loser” “Celebrity Fit Club” are all names of shows that we have been seeing all over the television lately. I have wondered from the beginning are these shows trying to make a difference or just exploiting a section of the populace.
The answer to that question is clear to me and the answer is yes. I came to that conclusion after reading this statement. Though it does not apply to every show on the air today, Ruby and Drop Dead Diva are good but there is one that stands out as being simply horrible and it hasn’t even aired yet.
TLC just ordered a new documentary series trailing the life of a morbidly obese family called “One Big Happy Family” (Source) I mean I cannot see anything that can be considered positive from airing a show about an obese family with a title that plays into the stereotype that all fat people are happy.
I thought that it could not get any worse that the pitiful depiction of fat life than what FOX is doing with More to Love. It is so bad that most of the critics are spending so much time talking about the cast of ladies they are completely ignoring the fact that the show is about a MAN finding his mate. The problem is television executives think so lowly of the fat community they think we will stand for anything in terms of entertainment.
The Johnson Family
In the above picture my family and me are having fun after my recent college graduation. I make no bones about the fact that I am a big man married to a big woman. We have the same ups and downs as any family in the world, but I am not willing to agree to have television cameras in my home with scripts written depicting me as the representative of a happy fat person complete with most of the camera angles of me and my wife talking while eating.
Like the over the top sizism that spews from the mouth of critics like Meme Roth, shows like this do damage that cannot be measured. What makes some of the shows in particular One Big Happy Family a problem is that they silently mock the fat community while at the same time attempt to profit from the abusing the same group. What do you think about the direction of fat tv today? What would you do differently?
Hey Glen, I can’t say for sure what their intentions are but I have a suspicion. Let’s say their intentions are good and they just want to show that fat people are normal just like everyone else, the problem with that is regardless of the “good intention” I think it’s most likely going to have a bad result.
I would hate the result to be that viewers just think of it as a carnival freak show.
Bobby,
That is my thought that it will be reduced to the level of a freak show. I will suffer through the pilot so I can report on it. A bloggers work is never done!