For most subclasses of human, when they first get on TV, the focus is on how they’re different from everyone else. So, say, Billy Crystal’s character on Soap or Mister Humphries on Are You Being Served? were defined as nothing but gay (well, until they made Crystal not-gay), but eventually we get characters with a wider range of attributes.
The overweight never went through that path. Oh, there’s been one or two just-fat folks along the way, but we’ve had more Roseanne and Dan Connors, Nero Wolfes, and so forth. But now Mike & Mollie fills that historic void, with two lead fat folks who are about nothing but their desire to lose weight and be together. They each have jobs (both government employees – he’s a cop, she’s a teacher), but those are just frameworks for talking about their weight.
This is on right after Two and Half Men, which is convenient, because I’m about to dump that show as well; the end of last season showed that the show had ground down, with Charlie Sheen’s character in a constant drunk state. Add that it’s less fun watching Sheen when he’s proving to be an ongoing shmuck in real life. Gave it one last chance with the first episode of the new season. Now, it’s off the watch list.
