It’s kind of a shame that the brilliant new show Huge from Winnie Holzman (My So Called Life) and her daughter Savannah Dooley is airing during the summer when people are busy, outside, not watching TV and many of the targeted audience kids are at actually at sleep away camp.
But anyone not watching this show is seriously missing something special.
Every time I watch the show I feel my heart fluttering because the writers just get it. They get what it’s like to be a kid and not fit in. They get what it’s like to be an adult who has struggled her whole life to fit in.
The show takes place at a weight loss camp. All the kids are overweight. There are really heavy kids and not so heavy kids. The really fat kids hate the thinner kids who spend most of the year being the fat kids and don’t understand why people are saying they are skinny. The hierarchy of everyday life is screwed up and some of the kids have a hard times adjusting.
Honestly, this show is as good as Glee. The fact that Glee has taken off and Huge is still running under the radar just goes to show how big a bias we have against fat people on our TV screens. We can handle one of two overweight people, but a whole show?
We live in a society with a huge obesity problem and what the show illuminates is how hard it is to lose weight. The kids don’t even remember how they got fat. They just know they are stuck in this awful place and most want to get out.
So they go to fat camp that is run by Dr. Rand played with restraint by Gina Torres. It took a couple of weeks but we discovered that Dr. Rand is a formerly fat person and is a compulsive overeater. Who the hell says that on TV? What I love best about this character is that even though she is the leader and camp director she still has so many issues to deal with herself, especially interacting with other people including the kids she is trying to help.
One of the things I love best about the show is how the boys are allowed to show what they feel. We have come so far with girls onscreen but boys still need to be boys — tough and tougher. This show is different. These boys are different. They feel, they cry, they hate themselves and their bodies just like girls do. The show works so well because the boys are written as well as the girls.
The season is almost over. I hope more parents and kids get to see the show and use it as a topic of conversation and learning cause even though it may be about fat kids, it is really about everyone and all the struggles we go through to fit in at every age. It would be great if ABC Family or ABC re-aired it again ala Friday Night Lights so this show could get the audience it deserves.
Don’t miss it.
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Well, it’s not just fat bias here. Glee had an amazing push before it ever aired — they were all over social media, released their first show for free on iTunes and basically revved up a whole huge bunch of buzz before it ever hit the airwaves. Then they have catchy tunes. Huge has no dance numbers (I don’t think — I’ve only seen the first episode and yes, I liked it and as a fat feminist, I liked it more — I find Glee way more problematic).
TOTALLY agree that they should renew the show and re-run it on the main ABC channel. It’s a great show, so compassionate and real and thought-provoking! And a couple of fantastic young actors who I hope will get a big break from their performances here.
I agree with Dawn. While Huge may not be as successful as Glee (yet), I think it has far more to do with being on a non-network channel than with being about fat people. And if enough people like it, and watch it online, etc., then maybe ABC will re-air it on the main network. The good news is good TV shows are no longer distributed just once – on air. We can email/tweet about it, send links to websites that show the episodes. Talent will rise to the top. I believe the TV show The League is getting renewed more because it was popular online rather than on-air. (but I could be mis-quoting)
This is a wonderfully written show. Will gets all the best lines and it’s just a pleasure to watch the characters interact. Summer activities made me stop watching three episodes in, but I plan on getting all caught up now that it’s on Hulu.
And one thing about Huge that bothers me as a viewer (and not to say this is why others may not be watching), but some of the scenes could really be shot better. The camera angles aren’t anything special and the lighting in the night scenes are TERRIBLE. I haven’t seen later episodes, so I pray that they’ve improved upon this, but whoever is directing, needs to step their game up.
Thanks Melissa for a wonderful post on Huge!
We have to really send in our e mails and blogs to ABC Family right now so that they renew this for a second season. I feel the show has gotten so much better than episode 1 and agree with Melissa that one of the most lovely aspects of the show is the range and depth the guys get to share on screen.
If we as viewers really don’t rally for this – it will slip away like that other amazing teen show Winnie Holzman created…My So Called Life.
I don’t want that to happen again.
I love this show … and feel a little sad when it’s over every week. Because I want to see more. Rarely do we get shows like this … so it definitely needs to be renewed.
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