I remarked once, maybe here, that television entertainment is pretty much all about voyeurism and schadenfreude these days (or words to that effect). The glut of reality programming and things like America's Funniest Inguinal Hernias bears that thinking out, but I never thought I'd see a show that represented the theory as perfectly as The Biggest Loser.
Think of it as Survivor at fat camp. Two teams of overweight/obese individuals vie to see who can lose the most weight. One team each week has to vote off a member. I haven't been following the show from the beginning (in fact, last night's episode was the first I'd ever watched), so I assume there are various challenges and temptations thrown at the players, who run the gamut from merely plump to dangerously heavy. Voting someone off appears to be at least partially governed by how much weight that person stands to lose in coming weeks. The more flab shed, the better your team does.
I've witnessed some sadism in my time. In my more unpleasant years, I've even participated. But damned in NBC doesn't give my salad days a run for their money. No man boob, no ponderously jiggling thigh, no near-cardiac arrest is left without a close-up. The only rationale I can see behind putting something like this on the air without providing free hand sanitizer is that it gives legions of doughy Americans someone they, too, can point at and laugh.
Lording over all this, and doing her best Trump, is Caroline Rhea. Resplendent in pink sweater and Jane Fonda Klute hair cut, Rhea desperately wants to appear stern and Jeff Probst-like, but all I could think of were my shameful fantasies involving Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Aunt Hildy. I thought The Swan was pretty bad, and it is, but The Biggest Loser doesn't even give these poor schlubs the former's access to liposuction and tucks, just week after week of grueling calisthenics and dangling Krispy Kremes in front of their faces.
What the hell, pass the Cheetohs.
I thought along similar lines when I first heard of the show, and I still sort of do. But at the same time, I thought about how the contestants have probably tried many times to lose weight and failed. And that perhaps for this particular group of people going on TV may be the best motivation for them. I do think the temptations are mean and the workouts are too much. But in the end I am conforted by the belief that the contestants will leave happy even if they aren't the biggest loser. (perhaps this is because I am also trying to lose weight, though not as much as they are, but personally I would never go on tv to do it).
Want to know what fellow TiVoholics are watching? Via Mark Evanier, here are the Top 100 season passes. I'll stipulate......
| --Posted to Off the Kuff on Nov 10, 2004 3:57 PM:. |
If it's any consolation, I got law school credit today for watching it last night. Really.
That's no consolation at all, strangely enough.
We have Dish Netowrk's PVR, so such things are easily avoided. I think it was supreme fatigue that contributed to its presence on our TV. That, and we were waiting for "Scrubs."
TiVo can help you avoid the temptation to dive into this garbage, Pete.
I can't wait until the reality TV bug dies.