And now, on with the show! I’m very excited about the title, can I just say that? There will be singing! It’ll be just like Glee! Right?

The “previously ons” are extra exciting to me because I still haven’t seen the first two episodes so it’s ALL NEW INFORMATION. Will is wearing a cute owl shirt, and Will and Chris Sligh (whose name, I now know thanks to you guys, is Ian) have cute chemistry, and Gina Torres has food issues.

Who is Crying Shower Cap Girl? Did we see her last week?

“Can we skip the nightly ‘who’s fatter’ contest”? I continue to love Will.

Now there’s some backstory between Becca and Chloe (who I do not like). Oh, Amber was going to let Crying Shower Cap Girl into their talent show act, and Chloe rejected her. See, I was right about not liking her! She also said the more weight she lost last summer, the more people were jealous of her and disliked her. But we’ve seen her distancing herself from people (notably Crying Shower Cap Girl and her brother) not the other way around.

Gina Torres (Dr. somebody) seems so awkward standing up to talk in front of people. Why is she a camp director if she’s scared of all the kids? And Jillian Michaels continues to scare me. And Hot Buff Guy, whose name I have forgotten again, is charming. Was it George, or am I just thinking of George Clooney for some reason?

The kids are daydreaming about food whilst eating lowfat cheese popovers. Are they all going to be portrayed as junk food addicts? Hopefully not.

Jillian Michaels is named Shea. What are the odds I will actually remmeber this? And
she’s got it in for the dad/cook. I kinda don’t care about this plotline.

“Will’s the girl who likes basketball, right?”
“I have no idea what she likes, except being overweight. She loves that.”

Wow, way to care abut your campers, there, Gina Torres. “I have no idea what she likes”? And did you steal her journal, which is missing? DUH DUH DUUUUHHH.

A property line dispute. Whee. Scintillating. Bring on the talent show! TAL-ENT! TAL-ENT!

Oh my god, Chris Sligh is trying to write a song, and now he has found a journal! With lines of poetry in it that almost sound like… song lyrics!?

Yay, the owl shirt is back! I really want that owl shirt. Someone tell me where it comes from.

Chloe is mean to everyone who isn’t Trent. Boo. Hiss. (Not that she isn’t a prototypical Mean Girl, who probably only has the power to be a Mean Girl here at fat camp, but whatever.)

More about the property lizzzzzzzzzzz.

Will lost her journal and will die if anyone reads it. How about if someone takes it and turns it into song lyrics and performs them at the talent show? I mean, not that that’s gonna happen. But WHAT IF?

Property line dispute guy might have a thing for Gina Torreszzzzzzzzz.

Why is Amber so uncomfortable about that camera that they found in lost and found? And is the journal that Becca found really Will’s or is it someone else’s? So many questions!

Oh Becca, don’t read it. DON’T READ IT. It is a terrible idea.

She’s gonna read it.

She read it.

Will is now wearing a cute hat and playing ping pong with Ian. He should maybe tell her he ran across some potential lyrics in a journal, don’t you think? And also, Becca clearly did not enjoy whatever it was she read. I TOLD YOU SO, BECCA.

They’re watching fake More to Love and it’s called Love Handles! Okay, that’s hilarious.

Gina Torres is in some type of muffin-eating support group. I mean, that’s not a euphemism. Or… is it?

Is it OA? If so, why is everyone skinny? I mean, I didn’t freeze frame it or anything, but it looked like a bunch of skinny people.

That property line guy came over with some zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. THIS IS BORING, SHOW! How many times do I have to fake fall asleep before you psychically pick up on my boredom, go back in time, and make this more exciting? I liked it better when she had a Mysterious Romantic Past with the Rival Camp Director.

Amber is apparently played by Hayley Hasslehoff. Good for you, Hayley! I’m sorry your father is an alcoholic. That must be tough.

The camera plotline is now being resolved. It is Crying Shower Cap Girl’s camera. And she’s named Sierra? Maybe? And this is a whole lot of stupid drama about a camera when Amber could have just jumped in to say, “Oops, my bad, it’s not mine after all.” But instead, there is a whole dramatic scene with Chloe defending her.

Will and Ian are having a really nice moment. I’m sure nothing’s going to go wrong when he starts singing his song.

Gina Torres is giving an awkward speech about the origins of the word “talent” and property sign guy is listening. Why are you putting me to sleep at the talent show, plotline?

Poppy and Sierra. Poppy is the other adult, and has a ukelele. Sierra is playing the triangle.

Amber and Chloe are having a weird fight about the camera again. I’m interested in knowing what’s going on with Amber. And now they’re not on the stage, and Becca has to go up and dance. With that other guy, who is not Trent, singing. And that was very funny.

Now Trent is kissing Chloe on advice from George Clooney, even though he really likes Amber more. Well we all like Amber more! Then again, I don’t really care about Trent either. I’m all about Will and Ian.

Alastair seems to have some kind of thing for Trent. (Perhaps unconsciously so! Because we know sexuality is complex!) And now he’s turning the magic show into a comedy routine, and they’re laughing at him. And it’s cute.

Hahahaha Love Handles spoof! Hahahaha.

Ian sings the song! Finally. “This song is inspired by a poem I found. I don’t know who you are, but you’re out there somewhere, and you’re awesome.” Maybe Will won’t take it badly after all?

And, she ran out. Maybe she will. Maybe Will will. Her name is confusing me. It’s a good song, though.

Will Will come back? Will won’t!

Amber is poor and embarrassed by her poverty, and that was her motivation with the whole camera thing. But she seems genuinely happy for Chloe, that she got to make out with Trent. Because she’s sweet, that Amber.

Will and Ian are having it out about the journal. Noooooo. Don’t let this come between you, Will! NOooooooOOoooooOOOO! Okay, apparently I am more invested in this relationship than I thought.

And now it’s over! But next week, it looks there’s hope. And people are kissing, but I can’t tell who. Yay! See you guys here next week?

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.

[*Chamein also kindly stopped by the comments to post the text of the original article. Thanks!]

I read your article about the rise in the number of plus size people on television this summer. I noticed the same thing but I can tell you that not all of us are happy with the current offerings. As a full figured woman, I enjoy Drop Dead Diva, Ruby and I’m very interested to see what More To Love has to offer. I know this isn’t politically correct but I hate Dance Your Ass Off and The Biggest Loser. It’s not that I have anything against trying to become more healthy, I just can’t stand that it seems they find the most misreable overweight people in the world. Let me tell you for every one person with a sad story I know at least 20 plus happily full figured people. I consider myself to be one of them, but I learned to be happy in my skin the hard way.

You see I entered this world big from the beginning. I weighed in a few ounces shy of nine pounds and then I spent the rest of my life trying to live down a tiny three lettered word ‘big’. I hated being the big girl. At one point in my life I had so much black in my closet I thought I’d hear the voice of James Earl Jones as Darth Vader at any minute.

She goes on to talk about how her battles with cancer and MS:

I can’t tell you how many hours and days I was in the bathroom floor green with nausea wondering how on earth anyone could want to make themselves sick just so they won’t gain weight.

As horrible as it was Illness was a epihany for me. For the first time in my life I wasn’t focused on losing something, I was focused on gaining. I wanted more minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years to spend with my children. I was desperate to see my toddler sons grow up and to make it to my 30th birthday. It took a diagnosis of cancer to make me realize what truly counted in life and it wasn’t size; it’s love. During my treatment I met couples going through the depths of illness together and the love they showed one another touched me in the deepest part of my soul. I still get choked up when I think about it now. It was a real testament to for better or for worse. It was then I decided to forget my obsession with size.

Thanks for taking the time to make your voice heard, Chamein.

When we first heard about More to Love, meerkat said:

I expect that many of the women will eliminated for infuriating and anti-feminist reasons (if this works on the reality show model of eliminating a competitor every week). And I wonder how wide a range of body types there will be? And if there is a wide range, will the less-conventionally-attractive ones have a snowball’s chance in Hell?

And in our discussion of Dance Your Ass Off based on the previews, Bethany said:

On one hand, I love that there are fat people in hot, tight dance outfits shaking their groove thang for all to see. At least some of them seem to be sexy and talented and comfortable in their own skin. But at the same time…with all that focus on weight loss it takes it into “Biggest Loser” land where the bottom line is always losing pounds. And that’s an oppressive message.

It’s like with one side of their mouth they want to empower fat people to enjoy embodiment as they are, and with the other side of their mouth they want to make sure they know they will never fully be acceptable until they can lose the weight.

The Fatistician railed against the weight loss component of the show (there is a clip there also):

So essentially, no matter how well you dance, if you don’t lose weight you won’t win. Let’s totally ignore the fact that you’re working out constantly and potentially gaining muscle which weighs more than fat. But if you don’t lose lose lose you’re just LAZY. Nothing beats starving yourself while simultaneously working your ass off and causing injuries Healthy Weight Loss UR Doin it WRNG.

I also can’t decide if they think fatties are HILARIOUS or pathetic victims of their own gluttony, or really, anything? I mean, I guess I will never know because I will not be watching this show. (If I could get Oxygen taken off my cable, I would.)

It’s also been described as a new wave of “fatsploitation” television:

The appetite for “fatsploitation” entertainment isn’t yet sated. Earlier this month in the US, a new sitcom, Drop Dead Diva took the controversial step of casting a US size 16 (UK size 18) actress in the lead role. The series, in which skinny model Deb dies in a car crash and is reincarnated as plus-sized Jane, drew record audiences and has been applauded for showing a larger woman in the main role. Rosie O’Donnell, Liza Minnelli and Paula Abdul have signed up for guest appearances and the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times gave it rave reviews.

Earlier in the summer, reality shows More to Love (a plumper version of The Bachelor) and Dance Your Ass Off (a super-size Dancing With the Stars) were also hits. Although Drop Dead Diva goes some way to redressing the fat phobia balance, it still employs stereotypes to explain Jane’s obesity. The character drools over doughnuts and in a moment of despair, finds solace in a mouthful of squirty cream cheese straight from the can.

Well I’ll watch out for the donuts and cream cheese on Drop Dead Diva, and report back. In the meantime, are you watching More to Love or Dance Your Ass Off? What do you think?

For six years it’s been skinny-minis and good-looking bachelors, and that’s not what the dating world looks like,” Fox president of alternative Mike Darnell said. “Why don’t real women — the women who watch these shows, for the most part — have a chance to find love too?”

The project has a similar format to “The Bachelor,” where a group of woman compete for one man (producers describe him as a “Kevin James-type”)

There’s that “real women” label that we all are kind of starting to hate. Skinny women are “real women” too, no matter how much Boxox and silicone they have going on. Anyway.

“More to Love” was inspired by the recent ratings success of “Bachelor” and the popularity of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” which Darnell credits with shattering an industry assumption that TV viewers only wanted to watch highly attractive people.

“This show is going to get a lot of people talking,” Darnell said. “It may be a little controversial, but I think it will mostly be positive. This is so simple and so obvious, yet it has never been done.” Broadcast reality-dating shows such as the CW’s “Beauty and the Geek” and NBC’s “Average Joe” have featured less-than-handsome men but paired them with model-esque women.

“Most of the country isn’t a Size 2,” Fleiss said. “It’s the dating show for the rest of us.”

Contestants will do the sort of activities seen on “Bachelor,” but producers suspect Jacuzzi or massage dates will take on a different perspective. “More to Love” will have makeover aspects — when contestants wear ballroom gowns, for instance — but Fleiss said the focus will not be on physical improvement. “We want to send the message that you can be the size you are and still be lovable,” he said. “We aren’t going to thin these girls down so they can find love — that’s a backwards message.”

But Fleiss has left open the possibility of twists. “

I don’t know about you, but given the “twists” and the “makeover aspects” and the “new perspective” of scenes in the Jacuzzi, I’m scared. I’d rather watch Jessica Biffi on Project Runway Canada. Let me tell you how refreshing it is to see a genuinely plus-sized girl on reality television. It is SO GREAT. (Here is the first episode, and you can see Jessica at 2:17.)

Via Defamer.