Reality Weight Loss Shows

[Lil Red]

+J.M.J.+
i'm specifically thinking of "Dance Your *** Off", but there's also "The Biggest Loser" (of course), "Celebrity Fit Club", "Extreme Makeover", others?

[CatherineM]

Losing weight is the easy part. It's maintaining the weight that is the really battle. Some are certainly exploitative, I'm think about Celebrity Fit Club. I've only seen a few of them, and it was the one with the Baldwin brother who was doing drugs. I saw him later on the detox show. Guess he's going to make a career out of reality shows.

[Nihil Obstat]

I've seen some very good shows that teach healthy eating habits, not just how to lose weight. So you don't see much of a chance in weight throughout the show, but the people go away having learned how to eat healthier.

In fact, this is the one I'm thinking about right this second.
[url="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/supersize-vs-superskinny"]Supersize versus Superskinny[/url]
British shows often seem better than their American counterparts.

[CatherineM]

The two best weight loss shows I've ever seen, was one on the Discovery Health Network that I can't remember the name of, and Kathleen Dahlman's cooking show on PBS.

[rachael]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1933131' date='Jul 27 2009, 01:24 PM']I've seen some very good shows that teach healthy eating habits, not just how to lose weight. So you don't see much of a chance in weight throughout the show, but the people go away having learned how to eat healthier.

In fact, this is the one I'm thinking about right this second.
[url="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/supersize-vs-superskinny"]Supersize versus Superskinny[/url]
British shows often seem better than their American counterparts. [/quote]
wow, i just looked that up.

why? geez.

[Nihil Obstat]

Didn't like it? I think it's a good show.

[Paddington]

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1933093' date='Jul 27 2009, 01:45 PM']Guess he's going to make a career out of reality shows.[/quote]

I would [i]so[/i] do that.

[jkaands]

Very vicious and exploitative. Also irresistible. When I stumble across one, I end up watching it until the brutal end. I am surprised that no one has ever died from all that exercise that they suddenly start and are whipped and goaded into.

I hate myself in the morning

[MB16]

I'm not suer what i think about weight loss reality shows. Some of them are ok, like the Biggest Loser, but for the most part some of them are a bit too exploitative

[Lil Red]

[quote name='jkaands' post='1934302' date='Jul 28 2009, 05:25 PM']Very vicious and exploitative. Also irresistible. When I stumble across one, I end up watching it until the brutal end. I am surprised that no one has ever died from all that exercise that they suddenly start and are whipped and goaded into.

I hate myself in the morning [/quote]
+J.M.J.+
So totally hear ya!

[rachael]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1934247' date='Jul 28 2009, 05:38 PM']Didn't like it? I think it's a good show.[/quote]
Well, I watched a preview of it. It's totally exploitive. It's going to make you feel like poo at the end of it...you're either too skinny or too fat.

[elizabeth09]

I am not sure, because I have never heard or seen one.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='rachael' post='1935583' date='Jul 30 2009, 11:06 AM']Well, I watched a preview of it. It's totally exploitive. It's going to make you feel like poo at the end of it...you're either too skinny or too fat. [/quote]
You should watch an episode all the way through. The entire show is about how to eat better, not how to look better. This is a show that everybody can learn something from.

[rachael]

you still feel like poo

[Nihil Obstat]

Some people feel bad no matter what they're watching.

[Saint Therese]

National Body Challenge on FIT TVis really good.

[Hilde]

I have watched many weight loss shows, the ones i watch most regularly are the biggest loser(the US and the Australian version) and supersize vs superskinny.

[God the Father]

I kinda feel like nearly all reality TV shows are exploitive, even going back to those game shows on Nickelodeon where they splatted the kids with gack. The model is:

"watch these (fat/ugly/uneducated/dorky) people do something unpleasant and bask in the schadenfreude! And while you're at it buy these products!"

sometimes reality shows have a positive message but I feel like weight loss entertainment is equal parts freak show (at the start) and guilt trip (at the end).

In every case, reality TV allows networks to abandon creativity (even [i]artistry[/i] in the best of cases) at the cost of....well at no cost.

at the [i]gain[/i] of enormous margins without the cost of writers, actors, sets, etc

but certainly it's the right of the "screen talent" to be exploited if that's what they want. Dignity's in the bargain bin these days.

Edited July 22, 2010 by God the Father

[Lil Red]

[quote name='God the Father' date='22 July 2010 - 12:44 PM' timestamp='1279827866' post='2146374']
I kinda feel like nearly all reality TV shows are exploitive, even going back to those game shows on Nickelodeon where they splatted the kids with gack. The model is:

"watch these (fat/ugly/uneducated/dorky) people do something unpleasant and bask in the schadenfreude! And while you're at it buy these products!"

sometimes reality shows have a positive message but I feel like weight loss entertainment is equal parts freak show (at the start) and guilt trip (at the end).

In every case, reality TV allows networks to abandon creativity (even [i]artistry[/i] in the best of cases) at the cost of....well at no cost.

at the [i]gain[/i] of enormous margins without the cost of writers, actors, sets, etc

but certainly it's the right of the "screen talent" to be exploited if that's what they want. Dignity's in the bargain bin these days.
[/quote]
interesting perspective. i need to think about that.

[sistersintigo]

One interesting development, over several years of television seasons, to point out.
That network show "Extreme Makeover" turned my stomach, with all the cosmetic surgeries and invasive procedures.
"The Biggest Loser," when it first aired, had the sales pitch that it got the results of "Extreme Makeover" WITHOUT going under the knife and having the liposuction and the nips and tucks, they did it all with exercise, athletic training, and better eating.
And today:
there is no more Extreme Makeover plastic surgery show.
I feel quite certain that "The Biggest Loser" people would LOVE to take all the credit for rendering "Extreme Makeover" obsolete!
(of course, Extreme Makeover Home Edition is still with us, and is a horse of a whole 'nother color.)