More About More To Love, Etc.
Everyone’s talking about More to Love! I’m going to need to set my DVR immediately. Kate Harding has an interesting review (bolding mine) that makes me curious to watch:
As to the specific shows, having watched 2 episodes of “Drop Dead Diva†and one of “More to Love,†I’d put the former at about 70% fat positive and the latter at about 20%. But shit, the fact that the 20% was even there in “More to Love†surprised me…in the introductory interviews, some of the women espoused basic fat acceptance principles. One talked about how she realized that she had to learn to love her body in order to be ready for a healthy relationship. Another one, identified as a fitness trainer, was like, “Look, some people just aren’t going to end up thin, no matter what they do†— and she said it in a very “whatever†way, not a “woe is me†way. HAES 101 might have just slipped into Fox prime time! Granted, more women than not cried about all the romantic disappointments they attributed to their weight, one wished she could lose 50 lbs., one said she rejects the label “fat,†one has some fucked-up antifeminist fantasy of being appreciated for her “wifey-mom skills,†and some of the ones who express confidence seem like they’re posturing. The flipside of 20% good is, of course, 80% suck. But I was so primed for 110% suck, the parts that didn’t make me cringe were actually impressive.
On TWoP, they celebrate the premiere with an article about their 10 favorite overweight characters on TV, including Hurley on Lost and Mimi on the Drew Carey Show. Not only do they leave out David Brent, they also throw in a tiny bit of, yes, gratuitous fat-bashing! (And it’s not even funny, but that… isn’t a big surprise in the new TWoP editorial content regime.)
Roseanne and Dan Conner (Roseanne)
It’s amazing to look back on this show and think about how, for a while, this couple played by Roseanne Barr and John Goodman represented the average American family. And how the series ended with Dan having a heart attack — how could America not change its eating habits after something like that?
Another thing worth noting in this list is that of the 10 characters listed, only three are women. It’s obviously more acceptable to be an overweight man on TV than an overweight woman. But then again, we already knew that.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Celebrities, More To Love, The Office, TV
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And they’re all characters from comedies too. Funny fatties are okay, serious fatties, no thanks! Someone mentioned Camryn Manheim in the comments, she was the first one I thought of.
Oh noes, how could we not suddenly become slim after watching a fictional representation of someone being sick! And lets all forget that the main thrust of Rosanne was that most of their problems, even their health problems, were caused by being a poor working family. It’s like asking, how could we suddenly not change our income habits after watching the show. “Git heltheee and rich nao or u diez!”
I just read that! I also noticed the dearth of women. But really, it’s not so much the editors of the list as it is the dearth of fat women on TV, period.
There are so many fat male characters that they left out many notables, including David Brent, Drew Carey himself, and Kevin James. I would have also thrown in a plug for Homer Simpson.
But aside from Camryn Manheim, can we really even think of any other obviously-missing fat female TV characters? I can’t really. I know Tyler Perry’s shows have some, but I don’t watch those.
Rosanne. Sookie. Mimi.
That’s honestly all I can think of off the top of my head. Sad!
Oh, and allow me to also say, that ever since Bravo bought it, TWoP sucks balls. ESPECIALLY the ‘blogs” section, which consistently has some of the worst writing on the Internet. The site used to boast some of the most interesting talented writers around the web, and was just about TV.
Now they cover pop culture, TV, movies (why?), and other inanery which muddles what once made the site must-read for me. Even the forums have gone straight downhill. As someone who was obsessed with TWoP from about 2000 to the Bravo purchase, I must say it’s VERY disturbing.
My point being, who cares what they think because they suck now anyway! Sars and Wing Chun would have never approved such a post. At least without giving props to Homer Simpson.
It’s interesting that a fat character like Randy on “My Name is Earl,” which is obviously a parody of poverty, is “adorable,” but “Roseanne,” which was supposed to be based on REAL poor families gets the “how could people not change their eating habits???” Indeed, why didn’t people change their eating habits after seeing Robert DeNiro in the last twenty minutes of Raging Bull, either? Or for that matter, stop beating their wives?
Ridiculous.
So with Sarah on the downfall of TWoP.
It’s nice to know, though, that someone – ANYONE – on a show with as pukeworthy a premise as More to Love has anything to say that isn’t entirely revolting to any thinking person.
I’m still not going to watch it, but it’s nice to know it’s not as entirely, horrifically sucktastic as I feared.
How could anyone have NOT mentioned the amazing Conchata Ferrell, “Two and a Half Men’s” acidic voice of sanity? Ms. Ferrell also did a one-or-two season stint on “L.A.Law” as a killer-shark attorney who’d put herself through law school as a stripper.
Then there’s Delta Burke. Her recent appearances on “Boston Legal” were grand…and not only is Ms. Burke looking good as a plus-size woman, she’s aging well: the lady is 50 and fabulous.
…and here’s another one: FOX’s “Bones” features a marvelous plus-size black actress (also no youngster) in the role of an AUSA. She’s familiar to Californians as the star of a series of commercials for California cheese.
“More to Love”? “Only 80% sucky…” Ladies – we won’t GET more until we DEMAND more! All those gals moaning about how their love lives have suffered because of their size? HOGWASH! We just have to keep putting the message out there: you are what you make yourself, and if you buy into what every idiot tells you about how you OUGHT to look, you may never find out that the way you DO look is absolutely fabulous. And just as an aside: the girls on “MTL” are all really stunning, and Mr. Bachelor will be a lucky fellow indeed if he can win the heart of any one of them.
I am not watching either show. I tried to watch Drop Dead Diva, just could not get into it. And More To Love, well dating shows of any kind are just a turn off. Really, honestly, if you are so desperate that you have to be one of 20 people competing for the attentions of a has been athlete, ewww. I can not ever see myself doing that kind of stuff, but more power to those who can.
“Doug fom King” of Queens, should seriously be on that list … even Camryn from the “Practice” … I was in love with that show!
How can anyone forget Nell Carter from Gimme a Break! Yes, she did a play a maid for a white family, but she loved the Chief and adored his daughters.
Then there’s Rerun and Shirley from What’s Happening! Rerun showed that fat people could bust a move, and Shirley was probably the smartest character on the show and took no crap from anyone.
Come on TWOP, you can do much better.
“Newman (Seinfeld)
Is there a more skilled character actor than Wayne Knight? The man makes us despise him in every role he plays…” What?? His character on “3rd Rock from the Sun” is one of the most endearing people I’ve ever seen on t.v. His character had a gorgeous girlfriend AND an alter-ego karoake star!
I haven’t seen More To Love. I just can’t do it. (Of course, this is what I said about I Love New York before I wound up watching the whole season in one weekend.)
The boyfriend and I watched More to Love–he loved seeing the “yummy” women, and I watched it out of curiosity.
Am I the only one who found it bizarre that they had to show each woman’s weight over and over? Yeah, we get the concept of the show from the name, the promos, etc. What does it matter if one gal is 205 and one is 235? Are we supposed to identify with them as women or look at them as a number?
I hate dating shows. We were simply happy to see some lovely fat women on the tube.