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Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009
How TLC's tear-jerking ultra-reality shows, in which ordinary folks give birth, go on blind dates and undergo cosmetic dentistry, became the hottest thing on daytime cable.
Mar 21, 2002 | For a programming block that calls itself "the comfort lineup," the daytime schedule on TLC (formerly known as the Learning Channel) features epic discomfort all day, every weekday. You might, for instance, catch a woman who has elected to deliver her baby at home with no painkillers while roaring like an injured lion -- a spectacle somewhat reminiscent of those old movies where somebody downs a bottle of whiskey, bites down on a leather strap and has his leg sawed off.
Sure, I laughed, especially during the underwater wedding ceremony of two scuba divers in love, in which the bride and groom nodded their vows and risked pulmonary collapse for that one, ever-important kiss. But mostly, I cried. Think what you want. The snot flowed freely five times yesterday and I'm not ashamed to admit it. The first time I lost it was upon hearing that single, agonized child-birthing howl. (Can you blame me?) The second time was upon watching a father meet his newborn daughter and whisper, "I've waited to see you for you for so long," before breaking down and weeping openly.
Then I choked up at a couple of weddings, and white-knuckled it through a few drastic haircuts. Things got plenty blurry during one scene in which a woman whose teeth brought to mind a miniature model of Stonehenge (thanks to radiation treatments she'd received for Hodgkin's disease as a teenager, resulting in massive bone loss in her jaw) got a set of porcelain veneers installed and was finally able to smile without covering her mouth. Even the dentist was moved. That she was 39 and lived with her parents ("Even though she's adopted," her mom gushed, "we love her the same as our other kids") didn't help matters. The fifth time I cried was during a Slim-Fast commercial.
That's what a whole day watching TLC will do to you. Every weekday, "Personal TLC" runs back-to-back episodes of its hit series -- "A Baby Story," "A Wedding Story," "A Dating Story," "A Makeover Story" and, most recently, "A Personal Story" (which might have been more accurately titled "A Surgical Story") -- in an uninterrupted block from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. That's when the insanely popular "Trading Spaces," in which neighbors trade houses for a weekend and completely redecorate one of the rooms, comes on. (I watched that, too, but just because I'm addicted to it, like everyone else.) I'm not the only one losing it, either. Earlier that day, a book editor I know in New York admitted, "You know, I'm not a very emotional person, but I watch it and I just can't help tearing up." My sister in Georgia, who just had a baby, told me, "I used to watch 'A Baby Story' every day, but I had to stop because I got so scared I thought I was going to upchuck the fetus."
The "Trading Spaces" phenomenon can be largely attributed to its suspenseful format. Will the couple across the street like their daughter's room transformed into a Moroccan-themed fantasy? Will unsuspecting friends appreciate the new medieval castle thing in the master bedroom? It isn't as easy to pinpoint the appeal of "Personal TLC," with its documentary-style segments following the lives of real people during what Jana Bennett, TLC's executive vice president and general manager, calls "life-defining moments." The shows began to be developed about three years ago, when Bennett first came to the Discovery Channel Networks, TLC's parent company, as head of programming. They were in large part the creation of Chuck Gingold, who was head of daytime until he recently retired from the Discovery Channel. One by one, each of the shows became a hit.
"I think it's because they're quite intense," Bennett says of the shows' somewhat surprising popularity. "There's an idea of jeopardy. Having a baby is a really big deal. Getting married is a big deal. I think every person [who gets married] wonders, 'Is this person going to turn out OK?' And there is that moment on the altar -- wherever that altar may be -- the question of, 'Are we going to have a runner? Is this going to be a runaway bride situation?' There's jeopardy there.
"Also, people are baring their souls," she adds. "There's a kind of sudden death of your ego that happens on a date, agreeing to go out with someone you don't know. You could just be crushed by it. They are exposing themselves and the audience can see it. Same with the makeovers. People are thinking, 'I may be destroyed by this stylist!' It's risky. Same with the personal story and the surgical risk. There's true risk in these shows; although they are very happy shows and joyful and life-affirming, they are not without grit and realism. Also, they deliver a story."
Three years ago, Bennett launched TLC's "Life Unscripted" branding campaign and redefined the network's overall mission. The tagline, which was created in response to what she considered to be the strengths of the channel, inspired the daytime team to take the channel further in a "factual entertainment" direction. The idea was, Bennett says, "to connect the daytime viewer to human experience. We were looking for something personal. Also, we're a nonfiction network and we didn't want to rely on dramas or documentary reruns."
TLC's daytime shows certainly are consistent; watching all seven hours can make you weep from exhaustion, if for no other reason. Watch enough of "A Baby Story" and the miracle of birth will begin to strike you as an exercise in self-indulgence. Watch a few installments of "A Wedding Story" and you remember Tolstoy's remark about all happy families being the same. Doesn't anyone have a drunken uncle making inappropriate toasts anymore? (Personally, I've attended two weddings where somebody threw up, and on one occasion it was the bride.) Furthermore, there is nothing really all that remarkable about most of the subjects' lives, unless you find it remarkable that anyone can even afford a wedding these days. If anything, they are touching in their ordinariness; watching "Personal TLC" is a little like watching home movies, down to the low production values and narrative lags.
