Lifetime Revamped

Throughout it's life time, Lifetime, the television network that markets women, has been known  as the "Estrogen Channel".Synonymous for depicting the 'scorned women', Lifetime's dramatic made for tv movies, although the target of many jokes, has been a staple for American television.

However, the emergence of other women targeted networks such Oxygen and WEtv, Lifetime's ratings  have been dropping for a number of years.

So what's a ailing network to do? Remodel itself of course.

Lifetime is no stranger to remodeling, below are tag lines Lifetime featured for the last 30 years:

"Lifetime Medical Television" (1984-1993)

"Television for Women" (1994–2006)

"My Story is on Lifetime" (2006–2008)

"Connect. Play. Share." (2008–2012)

"Your Life. Your Time." (2012–present)

The newest remodel "Your Life. Your Time", that launched May 2nd, in my opinion, has been the biggest programming revamp since 'Medical Television' was Lifetimes focus. In attempts to get the ratings up "Your Life. Your Time." claims to target the modern women, for which managing her time, has now become the biggest issue of her day. The message struck an immediate cord with Nancy Dubuc, network CEO, and the other women managing the network. Dubuc herself, who is currently juggling multiple television networks (including Lifetime and A&E) could definitely relate.

The new “L” logo (shown at top) is not the only change Lifetime has made, remodeling it’s entire line up of shows to include more racy, fast paced shows.

Shows such as the Client List, which stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, as a masseuse, whose clients expect more than just a massage

And their new reality show staring Bristol Palin, focusing on her life from the after math of being a teenage mother, and daughter of Sarah Palin.

Big names also involved in the shows relaunch line up include Queen Latifah, Courtney Cox, Renee Zellweger and Demi Moore. The shows in their line up (aside from the out of place America’s Most Wanted) do all sound promising. I don’t exactly love the logo, logo that instead of an L, appears to be a yin-yang sign gone wrong, however I can definitely say I am excited to see how Lifetime fairs with their relaunch, especially compared to their competing networks like Oxygen, whose Bad Girl’s Club, sadly, has attributed to much of Oxygen’s success. 

Can you be a fat actress? (part 2)

Fallen Chubby Champs (continued) 

FALLEN CHUBBY CHAMPS (CONTINUED) 

So I started this "Can you be a fat actress" post, with a specific structure in mind - Name the women that have succumbed to the pressures of the media to lose weight, then name those who haven't - "The Real Chubby Champs". But alas, my blog hit a snag when I realize there are no "Real Chubby Champs".... at least not anymore. Any women in television or the media that has made a name for herself, and at one point was considered chubby, has lost weight in order to fit in with what American society expects it's celebrities to look like. 

However in the middle of writing this blog I realize that I am not being fair. All these women I've listed below are amazing, and losing weight is not an easy task. Furthermore, I commend them for stepping into a realm bias for size two women, as themselves, and prevailing as full figured women.

The fact that they later lost weight does not diminish this accomplishment in any way. It does however speak to a bigger problem -A problem not with the women themselves wanting to lose weight, however a problem with society expecting them to. 

Every women wants to lose weight, in fact I'm on a diet at right now. This isn't a random fixation that we all have, but for most a need subliminally injected into our self-conscious. It's a poison imbedded in our minds -That we have to be thinner to be attractive. I'm not going to sit here and say this is "man's" fault for objectifying us and treating us like all were good for is sex, because at some point we have to take responsibility for ourselves. We as women feel inadequate because we measure ourselves up against other women. These other, thinner women do happen to be the object of a lot of men's desires and fantasies, but we helped put them there, by one day buying into the image of a skinny woman as perfection. We make the fashion and the trends and we determine what's sexy.

The kicker of it all is that the women that we have built up in the media as pictures of perfection and aspirations actually have to live up to these ideologies ( or attempt to),  a institution that has led to some adverse effects.  Cases of eating disorders and self esteem issues are all too common in TV land.

There are women in television that have spoke out about the affects of a life in the limelight and the pressure to be perfect (and thin).

Tracy Gold, of the hit 1980s Growing Pains, and Demi Lovato, of her own popular Disney sitcom Sonny with a Chance, both admittedly battled anorexia as a direct result of the pressure they felt from being on television. 

  

I'm not sure at what point we stopped believing that full figured women like Marylyn Monroe (who was a size 14) were sexy, but they do say that everything comes back around, in this case however I believe we're too brain washed to turn back now. I just find it a bit sad that most times we as women don't love ourselves for just who we are and that is what we truly need to get back to; A sense of self love.  

Jennifer Hudson

Queen LatifahAmerica Ferrera 

Kelly OsbourneStar Jones

Kristie Alley

Oprah Winfrey

Roseanne Barr