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January is the typically the month that the cable channels pump up their coverage of weight-loss shows. The first month of the year coincides with both those extra pounds folks put on over the holidays and those New Year’s resolutions.
But this week the Style Network rolled out Ruby, a reality series about a Savannah, Ga., woman, who at nearly 500 pounds, realizes she’s got to lose weight or suffer serious health consequences.
Ruby is certainly TV-ready: She’s a lively, ebullient redhead with a domestic set-up that seems ripped from a 1980s sitcom. She shares her modest ranch home with her best boy-bud from childhood, her home-schooled, teen-age nephew who adores her, and two tiny terriers, who wear cute little outfits. Nearby, Ruby’s got a gang of friends, who all get together for awesomely delicious (bad-for-you) feasts of Southern comfort food.
Episode one takes care of introductions — not just of Ruby and her makeshift family, but also her doctor who declares her “a metabolic timebomb” and a passel of professionals — trainer, nutritionist, obesity doctor and shrink — who will help Ruby (hopefully) get down to 150 pounds. (Presumably, the show is footing these not-insubstantial bills for these helpers; Ruby lives on disability.)
No surprises for guessing the upcoming narrative: Will Ruby lose the weight? Will her friends stop making her pecan cheesecake? What new problems will surface? (The first visit with the shrink suggests unresolved trauma in Ruby’s early adolescence that — tah dah! — coincides with her rapid weight gain.) When and how will Ruby backslide? And, if she makes it, what new experiences and insights will open up for Ruby?
If you’re a vet of your own weight-loss struggles and/or a regular watcher of such shows, you can likely write out most of the season yourself. But it’s this familiarity that makes such shows watchable — these are windows into very real realities, and whether any viewer gets inspired may be less important than simply seeing similar struggles presented sympathetically. (I wonder, though, how many folks wish they were on the show: If Ruby has any advantage over the stay-at-home viewer, it’s that her weight-loss scheme is public. Knowing you’re on TV and millions (or at least thousands) are watching is a powerful incentive to stay on track, as is the supporting cast of pricey professionals.)
And while Ruby is taking the old-school route — diet and exercise — I think my favorite weight-loss show is TLC’s gastric-bypass celebration, Big Medicine. There’s been two seasons, and undoubtedly a third is on its way.
What primarily attracts me to Big Medicine is its concept which, even after all these episodes, never fails to blow my tiny mind. In the decade since they’ve debuted, we’ve become so inured to reality shows that it’s hard to stand back and see how bizarre the genre has become.
So imagine this pitch 10 years ago: We follow along with a father-son team of gastric-bypass surgeons in Houston, as they see patients, perform their signature operation — together, while squabbling! — and conduct follow-up oversight with a nearby plastic surgeon, whose job is to cut off huge flaps of excess skin from success stories.
But I also like this about Big Medicine: Given its subject matter and emphasis on unclothed obese folks, it’s low on exploitation; father-son doctors Big D and Garth are the sorts of caring, yet no-nonsense physicians you’d hope to work with (crusty old Big D, formerly of South Africa, is also given to frequent rants against the bullshit state of American health insurance); and — I know I’m in the minority here — I do find the explicit surgical footage fascinating.
I support Ruby, her quest and Ruby‘s producers, but the entertainment edge likely goes to Big Medicine, if only because that bypass procedure seems better suited for TV: You get the genuine drama of the surgery (potentially risky), with all its attendant medical info; tidy back stories; and — one can’t discount this when laying out a TV season — relatively quick and dramatic results.
This article appears in Nov 13-19, 2008.
08/02/09
I am watching Ruby at this very moment on Style. episode ‘ruby redecorating her bedroom’.I am in stitches, laughing so hard I am barely able to contain my bladder!
On the phone to Anthony ” she could turn on me now” This is the 1st time since Ruby was at 500 lbs. have i laughed SOOO Hard. I just love this woman. She is a Larve waiting to become the ‘Madame butterfly’ I wait each week, to see her success story unfold. I am NOT overweight, yet, each addictiom is a FIGHT. She deserves the ‘heavy weight Champ of the World’ belt! Good Luck and may God continue to Bless U and all that are supportive of you!! U Go Girl! Love karen M. Akana in Newport Beach, Ca.
I too am hooked on watching Ruby. She is so outgoing and southern. She says the funniest things…sometimes a smart butt. I feel like I know her personally. She has done such a great job losing weight. I think it is cool that she still lives with her friend from years ago. That’s a great friendship!
I am struggling sooo with my own weight demons and it really gives my heart some relief to watch this incredible struggle that Ruby is willing to take on publicly I keep reminding my self if she will keep fighting so will I but today I just feel fat and sad maybe I should start my own “Fat nite”
I’ve been watching and following your journey. My question is, the hour glass meals. I’ve asked my doctor about how to get on that program, but she she has never heard about them,and are they expensive. My daughter and I and both very overweight but our income is not anything to brag about. What can we do?
My daughter got me into watching Ruby. I am so PLEASED to see someone so opened and honest about a subject that is so true to my heart. I am a mother and grandmother and over weight. I want to know how she has lost so much weight and the foods that she likes the best. I really do hope she continues to keep up the great work. She has done so much for so many people by being a great role model(that she might even know who she has touched)such as myself so many miles away from her.