• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 16, 2023

Usually, the TV Blog would never focus on anyone’s weight, particularly if they are overweight, but in the case of Whitney Thore, it is OK to make an exception.

Thore, 39 (pictured above), has made a career out of owning her fatness -- a word that is permissible to apply here because the word “fat” appears prominently in the title of her TLC series, “My Big Fat Fabulous Life.”

The show is an unscripted “real person” reality show. It is scheduled to return with new episodes on Tuesday, September 5, at 9 p.m. Eastern, TLC announced earlier this month.

In announcing a new season of the show, the TLC press release did not mention how many seasons there have been.

Wikipedia puts the count at 10 seasons amounting to 137 one-hour episodes, starting in 2015. The show is evidently a hit.

Thore reportedly weighed 380 pounds at the outset of the show, which she earned after gaining fame for YouTube videos in which she proudly danced and in the process, gave hope and an injection of self-esteem to millions who struggle with obesity, particularly women.

Her efforts to lose weight are part of the show, but the show is also about how she lives a life just like everybody else -- thin, fat or in between.

According to online rumors, Thore may now be down to around 190 pounds, but online information on her weight past and present is not definitive.

In the upcoming season, Whitney’s life does not seem very fabulous, but this has nothing to do with her weight struggles.

Instead, the new episodes will deal with dramas in her personal life in the aftermath of the death of her mother, Barbara “Babs” Thore. 

“In this new season, the Thore family is grieving the devastating loss of Whitney’s mom, Babs,” said a TLC press release. “Whitney is desperate to help her father [Glenn Thore] find joy in life again and helps to create a bucket list for him. 

“But a long-held secret from the past emerges -- Whitney has a sister she never knew about. Is this the beginning of a new, expanded family dynamic?”

Or more to the point, will the news that Whitney Thore has a long-lost sister drive viewership for the new season?

Like other unscripted, real-life shows, “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” has cultivated a vast community of like-minded fans who take to social media. “Join the conversation using #MyBigFatFabLife,” says the TLC press release.

TLC often uses the two-word phrase “fan favorite” to describe its shows. I will take their word for it.

“My Big Fat Fabulous Life” reminds me of “Fat Actress,” the amazing self-deprecating one-camera comedy in which the late Kirstie Alley played herself -- an actress who had gained weight and struggled for employment and attention in Hollywood.

Consisting of just seven episodes, the show came and went in the blink of an eye on Showtime in March and April 2005, never to return.

Despite its short lifespan, “Fat Actress” was one of the unsung gems of the 2000s -- brave, self-aware and funny as hell. I wonder if Whitney Thore, then 21, ever saw it?