There is a trend on your television that you might have noticed: heavier is better. It seems that Hollywood is bucking the long standing trend of getting only thin, attractive people to boost ratings. Now heavier people are shouldering the load. This is a fairly new trend and what you are seeing is something entirely different. It’s not just people playing the parts that are heavy, but rather the shows subject matter as a whole is getting bigger and going bigger.
It turns out that heavy people spike ratings. Show’s like The Biggest Loser and Kirstie Alley’s Big Life are putting the lives and the struggles of heavy people front and center. There has also been an influx of shows where people with weight issues(varying in degree) have been made the star. Shows like Sherri, featuring the views Sherri Sheppard and Ugly Betty with the once chubby American Ferrera have enjoyed successful runs on television. Even a newer show like Drop Dead Diva has a heavy set star front and center. So what is it about heavy set people that Hollywood finds so marketable? It would appear that the most appealing part of heavy set people is showing their struggle against weight loss.
For years in Hollywood heavy set people have been shown on TV. It was usually as a supporting character where their obesity was never mentioned or used as a part of a story line. Or, in the case of a show like Rosanne, the main characters were heavy set but only exploited. Their struggles with food was used as fodder. It was rarely tackled as a serious issue.
It appears that today Hollywood is realizing that most people struggle with weight. Talking about their weight loss struggles isn’t a hindrance to ratings but rather a way to draw audiences in and keep them coming back.