Like ABC's "The Bachelor," which spawned a
spate of reality dating shows, NBC's "The Biggest Loser" has hatched
a ton of weight-loss look-alikes.
There's "Celebrity Fit Club" on
VH1, "Too Fat for Fifteen: Fighting Back" on Style, "Obese"
and "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" on ABC and
"Thintervention" on Bravo. All feature contestants sweating, whining,
quitting and reflecting. And in a nod to "The Honeymooners,"
"Roseanne" and more recently "The King of Queens," the new
TV season brings us "Mike & Molly," a Chuck Lorre sitcom on CBS
that features plus-size stars Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell as regular
(read overweight) people who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting.
"Nobody cannibalizes better than Hollywood," said J.D. Roth,
co-creator of "Biggest Loser" who also produces "Obese" and
is prepping "What's Eating You" for E! "As soon as something is
working, there has to be 40 of them immediately. More is better."
"Thintervention," a recent entry into the weight-loss sweepstakes,
garnered a respectable 1.2 million viewers in its premiere Monday. The show
stars Jackie Warner, the high-powered fitness trainer from another Bravo show,
"Workout." Like "Biggest Loser," "Thintervention"
follows real folks who work out with Warner and attempt to lose 25-100 pounds.
"I think all these weight-loss shows are great," Warner said. "I
love (Oxygen's) 'Dance Your Ass Off.' Those people have such joy in what
they're doing. I think America has to have the information. I can't believe how
confused America is about weight loss." Dave Ehlers, managing director of
branded-entertainment outfit ZenithOptimedia, said all the weight-loss shows
provide "excellent vehicles" for advertisers targeting individuals
who seek a healthier lifestyle.
Roth said "Biggest Loser" proved a hard sell at
first.
"I had people say that fat people aren't attractive
and that nobody wants to see fat people on television," he said. "I
said, 'Well, do you know anyone who is fat?' 'Oh yeah,' they said, 'my mother
is, my sister and brother is.' So, I told them that if everyone in this room
knows someone who's in that situation, isn't that your audience?" Roth
knew what he was talking about. The National Center for Disease Control reports
that 17% of kids and 34% of adults in the US are overweight.
Despite the glut of similar fare, the popularity of
"Biggest Loser" hasn't waned, and the show holds up when facing such
ratings juggernauts as "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can
Dance." The eighth cycle premiered with 10.4 million viewers, its best
performance to date.
"I do think that more and more people are focusing
on weight as an issue and walls are being torn down; ratings have something to
do with it," said Chad Bennett, vp brand development and production for
"Biggest Loser" producer Reveille.
"Too Fat for Fifteen," which focuses on
overweight teenagers, has attracted an average of 215,000 viewers, 50% more
than Style's primetime average. The show stems from a documentary the cable
network ran last year about Georgia Davis, dubbed "Britain's fattest
teenager," and her attempt to shed serious pounds at Wellspring Academy in
North Carolina.
"The way we tell these stories about real kids who
have these weight issues is realistic. You're not going to see an immediate
result," said Katie Buchanan, vp programing at Style. "The viewers
can relate to the length of the journey and the highs and lows. Our network is
all about transformation." McCarthy, who spent 10 years on "Gilmore
Girls," said she signed on for "Mike & Molly" because she
was intrigued by the script's humor and its realism.
"It flips it back to the shows I grew up with like
'All in the Family' and 'Barney Miller' that all had people that looked like
you," she said. "Everything wasn't so bionic. I liked this script
because it allowed you to lose yourself in that world, because it was so real.
Everybody didn't have a brand-new coat everyday or talk about having no money
and walk in with a brand-new Mark Jacobs bag." Mark Roberts, who executive
produces "Mike & Molly" with Lorre, said the show is not
necessarily about two overweight people - it's about an ordinary couple who
fall in love and the obstacles they confront each day.
"I wanted to do something with real people," he
said. "People in most sitcoms live very unrealistic lives. Back in the
days of Norman Lear, you had real people on television. We're hoping that real
people with real issues are going to come back in style." Despite the
plethora of these shows, make no mistake: In Hollywood, thin always will be in.
"People in the movie business still want actresses
who are idealized versions of women," veteran casting director Jane
Jenkins said. "I think that adage that you can never be too rich or too
thin still applies in Hollywood. The plus-size actress today would be a size 6
or a size 8." Said Warner: "It's heart-breaking because everyone ends
up succumbing to this overly thin image. The Kardashians were these voluptuous,
curvy sisters who ended up succumbing to the image and losing weight."
