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Next on TV: A family of 300-plus folks, heavy girlfriends and, yes, Ruby

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Move over, Ruby. New television shows on obesity are coming to town.

TLC has ordered six episodes of a show titled, ‘One Big Happy Family,’ chronicling the life of an obese North Carolina family: dad, 340 pounds; mom, nearly 400 pounds; and two teenagers, 330 and 340 pounds each.

Reuters fills in the details, including the fact that Mike Duffy, the show’s creator, says the program won’t exploit the family: ‘This is a very loving family. They are dedicated to losing the weight because they communicate as well as love each other so much.’

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On the lighter side, Fox debuts ‘More to Love’ next Tuesday, a dating competition show from Mike Fleiss, the guy who brought us ‘The Bachelor.’ Viewers will see 26-year-old former college football player Luke Conley (6-foot-3, 300-plus pounds) date ‘real women’ as the website puts it. And by ‘real women’ they mean ‘not size six.’ Large-size model Emme hosts. So far this seems to be one of the few weight-centric programs featuring heavy people not trying to slim down. Do overweight people date any differently than their slimmer counterparts? I guess we’ll find out.

The shows carry on reality TV’s love affair with fat people. Ruby Gettinger is currently in the second season of her eponymous show ‘Ruby’ on the Style Network. She’s already lost more than 100 pounds via diet and exercise, but struggles to lose more as she looks for her first job in 10 years and ponders her ex-boyfriend’s motivations. ‘The Biggest Loser Couples’ comes back in September, and you can still catch ‘Bulging Brides’ on the Fine Living Network and ‘You Are What You Eat’ on BBC America right now.

So grab an apple -- or a doughnut, we’re not judging -- and stay tuned.

-- Jeannine Stein

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