Why wasn’t “Huge” a huge ratings success?
This summer I watched a show called Huge on ABC Family. It was about teenagers at “Camp Victory,” a weight loss camp. Leads were played by Nikki Blonsky, who was previously Tracy Turnblad in the movie musical Hairspray, and Haley Hasselhoff, David’s daughter, who plays “the prettiest girl at fat camp.” The show was created by Winnie Holzman, the mind behind my favorite show of all time, My So-Called Life, and her daughter, Savannah Dooley. While the dialogue isn’t quite as memorable as that of MSCL, it’s still an amazingly interesting show with intriguing characters with fascinating inner lives.
Photo of My So-Called Life from Ew.com
Unfortunately, MSLC ended in its 19th episode of a planned 22, on a cliffhanger, and it looks like Huge may also end unresolved, since the final episode of the “summer season” took them only through parents’ weekend at the camp (which one might assume would happen halfway through a given summer), and introduced a new couple and some heartbreak for the lead.
Ratings were not terrible. ABC Family is not on all cable systems and I don’t believe that a large portion of the audience either knows they have it or would watch shows on it if they did. Secret Life of the American Teenager is by far the most popular show on that network.
You can watch at least one online episode here: http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/huge?cid=afm_psg_comsearch_Huge&kmed=ppc
Photo Credit: ABC Family. Huge
While some fictional shows have the occasional heavy character, and reality shows like The Biggest Loser (which I have never watched) have a large number of heavier people, it is really quite startling to see a show full of nothing but heavy teenagers. It simply doesn’t match the vision normally shown in teen shows or family dramas, in which nearly everyone is spectacularly beautiful, quite thin, and perfectly dressed and coiffed.
The director of the camp is played by the slender Gina Torres, and all the counselors are “normal” sized people who could appear on any television show, except for the camp cook, played by Paul Dooley, who as an older man can be heavier, and who has appeared on many TV shows including My So-Called Life, Ellen, Grace Under Fire, ER, and Desperate Housewives. He is married to Ms. Holzman and father to Ms. Dooley.
Photo Credit: ABC Family. Huge
Most ABC Family shows are run in mini-seasons, so that, for example, The Secret Life of the American Teenager (a show I loathe but watch for research purposes and because it is amusing to watch such a train wreck), runs around eight episodes in the summer, takes several month break, and then picks up again in the winter or spring. Huge ran for 10 episodes, and, although I’ve been monitoring web sites such as www.thefutoncritic.com and www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com, both places that would announce such a thing, no subsequent season has been announced, nor has the show been announced as on hiatus or canceled.
Most of the other shows on that network seem to at least make it through a 16 episode season, so I have to wonder if Huge is not getting renewed because people don’t want to watch fat characters. Despite the “obesity epidemic” we read so much about, is there really acceptance of different body types in our “escapist media”?
There might be other reasons it didn’t get a large enough audience for renewal. Way too much time was spent on the camp director and her eating disorder and issues with her father, Nikki Blonsky’s character was too angry, the show dealt with homosexuality and potentially transgender issues that might turn off some viewers or their parents. A lot of people found My So-Called Life too “talky” and the lead character too whiny, and this may have some of the same issues for audiences.
Blair Waldorf of "Gossip Girl". Photo Credit The CW.
However, it does seem as if we are probably used to watching pretty people on our TVs, particularly pretty young women. The cast simply does not look like the cast of Gossip Girl. Having the most desirable boy on the show be heavier than average, and the most desirable girl be at least a size 14 might just be too difficult for viewers to accept. I think getting audiences, especially young audiences to watch Huge could do a lot for the self-esteem of teenage girls of all sizes.
