The list of “Fat TV” shows keeps on growing
A&E's "Heavy" is the latest show to join the Fat TV genre.
Reality TV is so passé.
Ladies and gentlemen, make room for Fat TV.
Granted, this post has been a long time coming, but as usual, the geniuses over at Jezebel finally prompted me to write it.
Yesterday, they blogged about the new A&E show, Heavy, which, unlike other shows, doesn’t involve competitions, makeovers, or the alarming brutality of Jillian Michaels. It’s simply a “docudrama” on people struggling with obesity.
As Dodai at Jezebel puts it, “Do we really need yet another show that reinforces the idea that the most important thing about fat people is not that they’re people, but that they’re fat?”
I don’t know — you tell me. Here is at least a partial list of the fat-centric shows that have recently filled up TV time slots: Huge, More To Love, The Biggest Loser, Mike & Molly, Ruby, Drop Dead Diva, I Used to Be Fat, Dance Your Ass Off, and of course, the upcoming plus-sized version of The Bad Girl’s Club.
In 2009, The F-Word.org cited a television study that found, “while some 60 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, only 24 percent of male characters and 13 percent of female characters were fat. And the roles are as token as the actors, especially for women and even more starkly, for black women. Fat characters are more likely to be in minor roles, less likely to be involved in romantic relationships, have fewer positive interactions than thin characters, and were often made the butt of jokes.” Continue reading
“The Bad Girls Club” goes plus-sized. Oh boy.
"The Bad Girls Club": A bad show just got much, much worse.
Reality TV never ceases to amaze me.
While extremes like Bridalplasty make me want to punch people, other, lamer shows like Real Housewives: How Can You Even Tell Which City They Are In Since They Are All Basically the Same Vapid People, can be entertaining, or just mildly sad.
So, hooray for Vh1 for taking an already suspect show, The Bad Girls Club, and making it even more ridiculous.
The Bad Girls Club, which is a show on the Oxygen Network, is getting a makeover and heading for Vh1. However, this time, lucky viewers, the girls are plus-sized!
Oh wow, what a great spin on the show!
Some former Bad Girls mug for the camera.
Ugh, when are we going to get past finding larger people hilarious to watch? I mean, fat jokes and the millions of weight loss shows are enough, but this?
This show is just saying, “Look! These people are already hot messes with stupid dramas. Let’s see what happens when we also add weight issues!”
Normally, I would champion having different sizes spotlighted in the media, but I draw the line when it’s added in order to mock or insult.
Reality TV has never been a bastion of culture, but come on guys, this old trope?
– Miriam
Miriam Traore is a San Francisco Mission District native with a degree in Global Literature from UC Santa Cruz. She currently works for a SF Bay Area child welfare non-profit. She is thrilled to contribute to About-Face and to have a forum to discuss representations of women in the media. When not dreaming about what her next meal will be, you can find her dancing all around the city and secretly nerding out with her fellow closet geeks.