Losing Interest

Last night, I watched "The Biggest Loser" for the first time in several weeks, and it reminded me of my own TV-watching transformation, something that's happened almost without my noticing.

It used to be that, when "The Biggest Loser" first started, I watched the show by myself, then George started watching it with me. We watched the past couple of seasons together pretty religiously, though we both got pretty irritated by one of last season's contestants, Vicky. We started watching again this season, but then realized that spending two hours watching TV on a "school night" felt like a big chunk of time, when we both had other things we'd rather be doing. So, we started taping the show and watching it on the weekend. THEN, our weekends started getting busier, so we recently missed watching about a month's worth of episodes! Well, last night I happened to have the TV on, listening to more than watching the local news, which has a 7 PM edition, and "The Biggest Loser" started right after the news. I'd forgotten it was coming on, so it took me by surprise! (I used to put it on my calendar!) George didn't even have any interest in watching it with me, and didn't ask me about it as we got ready for bed.

Watching the episode last night wasn't as satisfying as it used to be. I didn't feel really motivated or inspired afterward, like I used to, and I've been trying to figure out why. It was kinda nice to see the progress the remaining contestants have made, but it didn't leave me looking forward to next week's episode at all.

I think part of it is that I've realized (again!) how unrealistic the show is. Few people have the time to take off several weeks to months from their lives to exercise, work with trainers, and eat healthy meals in a constrolled environment. Then, there was last season's player of players, Vicky, who so blatently "played the game" that it was a distraction from some of the good things happening on the show. Of course, there was this season's flub with contestant Dane, who was taped at home (once he got eliminated) finishing a local marathon, when in reality, he was picked up several miles from the finish line and driven to the end of the course, where he was taped crossing the finish line. Only when viewers balked did the show and Dane come clean about really happened with the race. (Apparently, Dane wasn't going to finish before the race officials closed the course, and the segment producer wanted to have him crossing the finish line with the finishing clock running for the benefit of showing at the end of the episode. When that episode aired, no one in front of the camera mentioned the pickup, and we were left with the impression that Dane had finished his first marathon in a great time! The story now goes that he returned to the course later in the day to run the miles he'd missed for the taping of the episode. ) Being a slow runner myself, that whole thing was a turn-off.

So, I think I'll probably just catch the recaps online for the rest of the season, but maybe I'll watch the season finale. I'll find other things to do with that two-hour chunk of time!