I've never believed in the Great New Year detox.
And beautifulpeople.com's expulsion of 5,000 members for putting on a few pounds over the festive period didn't change my mind. But I don't deny I could use a bit more exercise as could the kids in Generation XXL (9pm, C4, 4 January).
Was it crass or inspired to kick off a series focusing on fat kids just as people are feeling their guiltiest after the Christmas Binge? Either way, it was depressing. In the first episode of the series, which will return in future years with updates on the kids' progress, we met 10-year-olds Jake and Lauren and nine-year old Sabrina.
Jake was six foot and 18 stone despite his (not unlarge) mother's insistence they ate a healthy diet while Lauren was one of the youngest-ever members of WeightWatchers. And Sabrina was so partial to her mum's oil and salt-laced home cooking she scoffed the leftovers for breakfast.
None did any exercise and the girls in particular had an unhealthy relationship with food. But instead of offering the parents meaningful advice on how to help the children lose weight, the programme makers voyeuristically paraded the three in front of the camera, bluntly asked them how it felt to be so fat and sent them off to see the men in white coats who prodded them and waved the incriminating BMI data in front of their blubbering mums' faces.
It was hardly edifying, but you felt some sympathy for the kids. The same could not be said of Anna Richardson, Davina-lite presenter of My Big Fat Diet Show (8pm, C4, 5 January). If you're a fatty, do you really want to see a thinny banging on about her two-week mission to drop a dress size with her Chalfont Chubby mates? Thought not.
Richardson claims to hate faddy diets, and the curing of a chocoholic was genuinely interesting. Yet we were forced to endure her seeking 'thinspiration' down the aisles of a faddishly constructed supermarket containing only 100-calorie portions while lambasting the supermarkets and their junk food bogofing ways. And why wheel in celeb Matt Dawson to cook up a curry? "If you fail to plan your meals you could be planning to fail," she chirruped idiotically. Whether she planned it or not, this show certainly failed.
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And beautifulpeople.com's expulsion of 5,000 members for putting on a few pounds over the festive period didn't change my mind. But I don't deny I could use a bit more exercise as could the kids in Generation XXL (9pm, C4, 4 January).
Was it crass or inspired to kick off a series focusing on fat kids just as people are feeling their guiltiest after the Christmas Binge? Either way, it was depressing. In the first episode of the series, which will return in future years with updates on the kids' progress, we met 10-year-olds Jake and Lauren and nine-year old Sabrina.
Jake was six foot and 18 stone despite his (not unlarge) mother's insistence they ate a healthy diet while Lauren was one of the youngest-ever members of WeightWatchers. And Sabrina was so partial to her mum's oil and salt-laced home cooking she scoffed the leftovers for breakfast.
None did any exercise and the girls in particular had an unhealthy relationship with food. But instead of offering the parents meaningful advice on how to help the children lose weight, the programme makers voyeuristically paraded the three in front of the camera, bluntly asked them how it felt to be so fat and sent them off to see the men in white coats who prodded them and waved the incriminating BMI data in front of their blubbering mums' faces.
It was hardly edifying, but you felt some sympathy for the kids. The same could not be said of Anna Richardson, Davina-lite presenter of My Big Fat Diet Show (8pm, C4, 5 January). If you're a fatty, do you really want to see a thinny banging on about her two-week mission to drop a dress size with her Chalfont Chubby mates? Thought not.
Richardson claims to hate faddy diets, and the curing of a chocoholic was genuinely interesting. Yet we were forced to endure her seeking 'thinspiration' down the aisles of a faddishly constructed supermarket containing only 100-calorie portions while lambasting the supermarkets and their junk food bogofing ways. And why wheel in celeb Matt Dawson to cook up a curry? "If you fail to plan your meals you could be planning to fail," she chirruped idiotically. Whether she planned it or not, this show certainly failed.
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