NBC’s ObamaVision: Viewers Are the ‘The Biggest Loser’

The NBC reality program “The Biggest Loser” has the potential to create a lot of winners. Aside from the obvious winners of the weight-loss competition, there are other opportunities for people to “win.” For instance, all of the contestants have a chance to leave the show as victors if they use the opportunity provided to lose weight and become healthier. Viewers have the same opportunity to win if they decide to change their lives because of the show. Without being overt, the show has a strong underlying message about weight loss and self-worth, but in a recent episode the underlying message about weight loss was overshadowed by a preachy and overbearing “green” campaign by NBC.

“The Biggest Loser” has a typical reality show premise. A large group of contestants starts out at the beginning and as the weeks go by contestants are eliminated until the end of the season. Unlike other reality shows, though, this show has an important message to send out to viewers about living healthy, taking care of your body and maintaining your self-esteem.

On last week’s episode though, the show’s message was overwhelmed by a push from the NBC network about staying green. During the ninety-minute episode that aired last Tuesday, there were numerous public service announcements about taking care of the environment. Those announcements tackled such issues as fixing leaky faucets, using less plastic and buying local produce. (more…)