With Nothing But Bonfires coming clean about her trashy reality show addiction, I thought I’d throw out some thoughts about my own.
Today’s topic: The Biggest Loser. Note: It is not possible to enjoy this show without TiVo, because there is so much damn recap after every commercial break. And then they give you all those intentionally misleading cliffhanger slo-mo facial reactions to the weigh-in before cutting to commercial.
My favorite thing, next to eating an ice cream bar while watching the show, is how they try to fool you into watching commercials by hiding them not at all subtly in the show.
“Hey, Trainer Bob, whatcha doin?”
“I’m just heating up a bowl of Quaker Weight Control oatmeal. This is what I eat every day to keep the calories down.”
“It keeps you full longer, too…”
Cracks me up every time. I thought Jay Manuel’s shilling for Cover Girl was badly acted, but I gotta wonder whether they script these little exchanges or just say, “Hey Bob, can you ad-lib a little about this oatmeal?”
And what if SPAM paid for some product placement? Would they be all, “Here are my favorite SPAM recipes”?
No, but it’s a good show, really. I cry almost every week. Not as much as those irritating brothers, but still.
Kari Neumeyer 