FX controversial show called "Starved"

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2004
FX controversial show called "Starved"
4
Thu, 08-18-2005 - 9:50am

http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/starved/main.html


Not quite how I feel about this but I will definitely check it out because I like to think Im a pretty open minded person.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-18-2005 - 12:42pm

This is not appealing at all. There might be a slim chance if it was a serious show, but serious does not sell. Making light of what millions of people suffer with daily however is a seller.


I believe that the people who watch this show without a problem will find it funny and it will cloud their thoughts on people who are dealing with a problem.


For example it depicts the overweight man as a compulsive eater who goes so far as to harrass people for food. It is certainly not unlike the way "Hollywood" has depicted overweight people all along. I remember movies where the overweight person in the group is always in search of the next meal.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
Fri, 08-19-2005 - 10:32am

Oh my goodness, I was flipping through the TV channels last night when I stopped on FX. I rarely ever watch that channel, but sometimes they have good movies on, so I thought I would see what was playing. Well, I watched about a minute of the show and realized that it was the show you were talking about, Starved. I watched the last part of that episode, then watched another episode that was playing an hour later, and I have decided that that show is MESSED UP! It's just plain wrong, or something. It has these four people that seem to be the main characters--3 guys and a girl, and they all have some kind of eating disorder. They go to support group meetings, but their meetings aren't like Overeaters Anonymous or something, they are just plain messed up. In one of the meetings, the therapist uses shock therapy on them to make them avoid their trigger foods. It shows two of the guys getting colonics as weight loss tools, and it shows this one very buff guy throwing up, and you actually see throw-up! I realize that a lot of these things occur in real life for people who have eating disorders, but they didn't show them in a realistic light. It was almost like these people were cool or special because they had these problems. I also didn't think that the acting was very good--or maybe it was the script, but there didn't seem to ever be a real, evolving story behind most of it.

I think it's horrible the extremes TV stations will go to these days to get viewers and ratings.


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2004
Fri, 08-19-2005 - 10:38am
Well dang!
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
Fri, 08-19-2005 - 10:54am

That was the thing, it wasn't even funny! I think it's supposed to be more of a drama than a sitcom or something, or at least that's the way it came out. It was all very serious like and there was little humor to it, but it also didn't portray the reality of eating disorders, either. I think the most real character on there was the one girl who was a recovering anorexic, and you saw very little of her in the episodes I saw. One guy was severely overweight and was a compulsive overeater, another guy was very athletic and buff and a bulemic, and the other guy, I think was a binge eater. Like I said, the show brought all of them together in "therapy" sessions, but other than that, it seemed that none of the guys had a life to follow other than their eating disorders, and that just doesn't seem very realistic. I guess my feelings on the show are that if they are going to bring eating disorders to the limelight, they need to still portray the characters in their current life situations (work, family, friends, etc.) as well so that their can either be 1) more drama and plot or 2) more plot and room for comedic relief at times.

Since these were probably 2 of the very first episodes, I will try to watch another one or two to see if it does improve, because sometimes it just takes time for shows to work out and fit their audience.


 


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