TVSquad

Craig Harper has written an interesting article about how to lose weight while watching TV. We are becoming a more sedentary society; Harper says that within a few years some of us will have movement patterns and daily activity levels of an oak tree. In the words of Chris from So You Think You Can Dance, "I'm not a tree." Chris isn't a tree. And you don't have to be one either--even though this fitness guru says so.

Here's how not to be a tree in a few years. The average American spends three hours a day watching TV (mostly in the evening). Harper says that roughly forty-five minutes of that block is spent watching commercials. And who wants to watch those? Most commercials suck. So, during each commercial break, you get up and do some step-ups (stepping up and down off a box, platform, step).

Harper even gets into the nitty-gritty math stuff. I don't speak math, but basically he says that a 150 lbs. person can potentially lose 48 lbs. in a year. I'm no expert but I think "potential" is the operative word in that sentence. Do you still get to eat the whole year? Still, Harper does put a good idea out there. Use your commercial time wisely.

I know, I know, you're thinking, "Whaaaaaa?"

Bravo's Queer Eye For The Straight Guy was cancelled a while ago, but there have been ten episodes of the show finished for quite some time now, and Whitney over at USA Today has found out that the last season of the show will start airing this fall.

Interesting how this show just completely fell off the radar, eh? People talk about this show the way they talk about "The Macarena." But it was a fun show there for a while. Oddly, the Bravo web site doesn't even have a page for it anymore, though they do have one for Queer Eye For The Straight Girl.

In a scene from one of my favorite shows, Newsradio, Dave (Dave Foley) makes a comment to Bill (Phil Hartman), saying something about "you're like Andy Rooney, only without a sense of humor." And Phil retorts, "Andy Rooney is Andy Rooney without a sense of humor."

It's a lame, inaccurate joke, the only one I can think of from this great show.

(S01E10) "Acceptance" and "love" were two major themes of this latest episode. Margene, feeling a bit unwanted and unappreciated, is having thoughts of leaving the Henrickson home(s) and heading out on her own, mostly due to the fact that she was accepted into the family by a 2-1 vote and not unanimously, with Nicki casting the dissenting vote. One definitely gets the feeling that she is still maturing and married Bill and had two babies before she knew it, and at 23 years of age and a polygamist, it could be that she still needs time to grow and find herself.

We are introduced to Barb's sister Cindy, who is obviously disapproving of Barb's situation and is doing all she can to ingratiate herself into the family so she can "educate" the kids about "choosing the right path" and not becoming like their parents. Her involvement leads to a huge scene when she enters into Barb's home and Nicki angrily confronting Cindy and throwing her out. It'll be interesting to see if Cindy continues trying to influence Ben, Sarah, and Teenie away from acceptance of their parents' lifestyle.

So what do real-life polygamists think of HBO's Big Love? Today's New York Times features an interview with some women who have been or currently are "sister-wives" and gauged their opinions on how people like them are portrayed in the show.

For the most part, they thought the show seemed to cast them in a fairly positive light, although they weren't thrilled with the sexual content, saying that they would never put that type of pressure on their men. What was surprising was their take on Bill Henrickson--they all thought he was not "standing up" to his wives and not taking control of the family dynamic.

The women expressed concerns that the show will give viewers a more negative impression of the Church of the Latter-day Saints, and they want to make a more concerted effort to educate the public about their lifestyle. (Good luck on that one!)

According to the story, Big Love is not drawing a large audience (3.4 million last week), and the producers are determined to portray the more "darker" aspects of the polygamous lifestyle, so get ready for some serious plot twists in the next few weeks.