New Series “HUGE” Tons OF Fun?
by Oscar on Jul.07, 2010, under TV Reviews
LAUGHING WHILE AVERTING OUR EYES
With all of the talk about the “obesity epidemic” that is supposedly sweeping the country ABC Family network has come up with a relevant and topical new series, called “HUGE”, that chronicles the travails and exploits of teenaged “campers” at an exclusive “fat camp”.
My reactions after the first episode:
Maybe it sounded like a good idea at the time, but the truth lay in the execution of the idea, and the execution turned out to be fairly brutal. In fact, if this were an execution on death row the Supreme Court would put an immediate “stay” on it.
Why doesn’t this episode work? Well, the reasons I have are balanced between a personal bias against trivializing a real problem and my desire to be entertained while watching TV.
Hayley Hasselhoff as Amber, the cute chick
I guess that what the producers are hoping for is that the viewers will latch onto one or two personalities thus encouraging them to tune in regularly. And maybe that is one reason that they have cast the lovely Hayley Hasselhoff (yes, her father’s name IS David) to play the envied and despised “thin” cute fat chick, Amber, who is actually serious about losing weight. Unfortunately, so far the other campers are nothing more than unattractive “fat” props for the rest of the show. I’m just hoping that there will be more character development coming because this was just a depressing affair.
But what is puzzling to me is why the star of the program, Nikki Blonsky’s character, Willamina (Will), is such an unsympathetic camper. From the very beginning “Will” tries to alienate and offend everyone she comes in contact with, snitching on campers who cheat on their diets, getting in the face of the camp director in front of the whole assembly, all the while saying that she is there because she wants to GAIN weight. Her attitude is beyond apparent reason, making her more cartoon-ish than real. Hopefully this behavior will change, allowing her to become more sympathetic.
After the second episode:
Ian mooning over Amber
Ah! What a difference a second episode makes! As distressing as was the initial showing, the second offering was that much better. Will’s behavior was indeed toned down, finally giving her moments of revealing self examination, and the writers have begun to develop some of the other campers characters into three dimensional kids rather than cardboard cutouts. And love, or rather HOPING for love, is beginning to form as Will is becoming attracted to Ian as Ian moons after the camp “hottie”, Amber, while Amber is actively pursuing the activities director, George who, in turn is ambivalent about allowing himself to get “closer” to a camper. Also a bit of intrigue is injected into the mix as it appears that campers Alistair and Chloe just may be brother/sister separated by divorce.The prospect for some delicious situations may be enough to keep people watching.
Camp Director Dorothy
The staff, too, is starting to be revealed as imperfect counselors, having their own issues dealing with self confidence and ambivalence over their own former “weight problems”, such as Director Dorothy Rand, whose maniacal adherence to her own weight control regime, plus her fear of offending her mother while, at the same time, hiring her father who had abandoned them to be the cap cook, makes for a tasty sub plot. This just may turn into a decent ensemble of characters whose stories are worthy of following from week to week.
So I guess I’ll give “HUGE” another try and, just maybe this promising series will make it past summer re-runs on the ABC Family channel.
