TCA '09: Like It or Not, WeTV Introduces Healthy Programming Alternative
'I Want To Save Your Life' Series Features Diet Guru Platkin
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 1/8/2009 9:37:00 AM
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Los Angeles—WeTV had a tough job Thursday, kicking off the cable portion of the Television Critics Association meeting here by selling writers who normally subsist on energy drinks, cookies and fatty snacks from the mini-bar on a show devoted to healthy eating.
Channel General Manager Kim Martin said she understood the critics often gained weight during the multi-week, twice annual meetings with network talent, so the low-cal lunch (naked salad, grilled chicken, brown rice and veggies, fresh fruit) was designed to help.
"I can tell everyone is excited," she quipped to laughs.
The healthy food was a prelude to a pitch for the channel's latest original, I Want to Save Your Life, featuring diet guru Charles Stuart Platkin. But it didn’t stop writers from wondering if the "ambushes" in the show were more an example of "humiliation TV’ than self-help substance.
The issue was raised because clips show Platkin stalking subjects before he introduces himself to them. In one instance, he follows a subject through a burger drive-through and then orders the same fatty meal as his subject. In another, he confronts the woman he will counsel coming out of a Starbucks and throws away her whipped cream-topped treat.
Platkin stressed that the participants in the show have applied to be featured in the series so the "ambush" is not a surprise, a fact that was affirmed by participants on the panel including someone named Micah who has already lost more than 70 pounds from his starting weight of 400 pounds.
Support for the series, set to debut April 25 at 10 p.m., includes Web exclusive content at www.wetv.com/saveyourlife.
Martin also told scribes that if they were tempted by treats at subsequent panels, writers could send an e-mail to calories@dietdetective.com to find out the calorie count in their sweets…and how many miles they'd have to cover to walk it off.
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