“My 600 Pound Life” reaches the obvious end point - Reality show “My 600 Pound Life” reaches the expected conclusion

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...-robert-buchel-dies-filming-article-1.3849820

‘My 600-Lb. Life’ star Robert Buchel dies during filming
BY RACHEL DESANTIS
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, March 1, 2018, 6:43 PM

Buchel — whose weight ballooned to 842 pounds thanks to a lifelong food addiction — made quick progress at first, shedding 217 pounds at a Houston hospital in preparation for lymphedema removal surgery.

Once Buchel had his surgery, however, his previously unacknowledged addiction to painkillers kicked in, and he grew depressed and struggled to make progress as his body deteriorated. In a desperate bid at scoring more painkillers, he tore his surgery stitches.

Buchel was forced to leave his rehabilitation center for a long-term care facility after it became clear he was no longer trying to stay active, and shortly after, suffered a heart attack and died.


His final moment on screen ended on a hopeful note, as Buchel expressed interest in making progress for the sake of his fiancée.

But not long after, Lemanski appeared on screen to recount their final night together, saying that Buchel told her he didn't feel well and didn't think he'd make it through the night.

"He told me, 'I don't think I'll make it through the night. I love you and I always will,'" she said. "I lost my best friend and the person I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with."

He’s dead Jim! Yeah, show of hands, who’s surprised at this?

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

It matters that the people in the show are dying while the network is making millions off of it - and as @Computery Guy puts it, they're not interested in helping at all, it's just drama. I don't watch the show but I wouldn't be surprised it the producers are hurting as much as they're helping.

Why does that matter?

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

It's his mortician I feel sorry for. I've just been reading a book about cremation and apparently fat people, if cremated, melt internally then burst and you get torrents of scalding hot liquid human fat pouring out of the cremation machines and down the floor drains. It stinks for weeks afterwards even if you pour a ton of detergent down after it.

That’s up there with the more horrifying things I’ve heard.

 

[Nacho Man Randy Salsa]

Yeah, we point and laugh at the freak shows here, but the difference between us and TLC, on a moral level, is that we don't make money off it.

 

[sperginity]

Yeah, we point and laugh at the freak shows here, but the difference between us and TLC, on a moral level, is that we don't make money off it.

There's a little more to it than that, I think:
1. Tlc actively fucks with people's lives to create content. That is discouraged here. We document people.

2. We are nobodies, while a major television network can influence the public. They have chosen to peddle freaks under the guise of compassion.


3. Even if someone here made money off KF, it would probably pay regular bills, nothing like television executive money. Execs could buy politicians or start foundations to solve the problems documented in their shows, but they don't. People here seem fascinated and helpless wrt cows. Predatory media people just see a profit to be made.

Does it really matter why they do it? They're still getting a chance to fix their fuck up they'd never normally have.

We don't really know how many people never got what they were promised and were never aired, NDAs keep it secret. I'm betting it's a fair amount. Those who get surgery get it at a terrible price, becoming a freak show, never being able to escape their past, being legally obligated to only say good things about the show so others can't be warned about anything shady.

If these people lived in almost any other developed country they could have quietly and privately had bariatric surgery way before ever hitting 600 lbs. That dead guy might have still been alive and getting married right now if he had gotten surgery a few years ago. TLC doesn't bring that kind of thing up, nothing is stopping them. It's the same way that Breaking Bad could never have worked anywhere else in the English speaking world, the premise requires people lacking access to desperately needed medical care (other than abortions obviously).

 

[Dysnomia]

I'd say the one difference for food addiction is you can't quit food. You have to modify what kind and how much. But yes this is the modern freak show. Tlc is a freak show with this shit. I admit I watch clips online and the fatties and hoarders fascinate me.


Every drunk and junky has an enabler. A codependent enabler.

It's just hard for a normal size person to imagine how anyone can get that big The size of these people and their disgusting lives becomes fascinating. It's the same with the hoarders. Somebody screaming about how they can't throw away some mold covered lump of garbage makes no sense to most people. Normal humans don't want to live in three feet of their own festering filth.

They try to help them by organizing piles for what to keep and throw out. And the hoarders want to keep everything no matter how moldy, broken or decayed. It's like that junk lady in Labyrinth. Just surround yourself in filth.

While these people are getting help it's at the expense of exploitation. Some of these people have some serious problems that might cloud their judgement when signing up for this. But those are the ones that make for the best television.

I mean, I don't have any problem with the idea of helping these people lose weight. It's just that from what little I've gleaned, at least one of the subjects outright refused to cooperate at all, but they still took a season's worth of footage of them not improving at all before throwing up their hands and leaving. It's a modern day circus freak show with a thin veneer of "education" because most consumers are very, very scared to admit they just like watching weird people do weird shit anymore.

We've traded the side show experience for watching at home. It's all the same thing really. I remember on Celebrity Rehab when they had Steven Adler and Gary Busey on the same show. Two brain damaged guys with no idea what the hell is going on half the time who cannot stop themselves from talking for more than three seconds. There's no way they didn't sit down and think to themselves that this would be a great double feature.

They keep making these shows because we keep watching them. I just don't see that changing any time soon.

I imagine more people from My 600 lb Life are going to die in the future. The odds are seriously stacked against them. Even if they lose the weight their bodies are fucked from years of gorging and being bed bound. So many of them refuse to change and just keep eating.

 

[AnOminous]

It matters that the people in the show are dying while the network is making millions off of it - and as @Computery Guy puts it, they're not interested in helping at all, it's just drama. I don't watch the show but I wouldn't be surprised it the producers are hurting as much as they're helping.

The show isn't "Down from 600lb" but "My 600lb life". The difference is subtle but telling.

They do that on Hoarders, too. This "reality TV" shit isn't really reality and directly affects what you're supposedly watching as people change their behavior for the camera. However, they're being compensated for it, and especially if they're not very well off, they're getting an opportunity for legitimate medical treatment that might save their lives.

It's really still up to them what they do with it. I think at least some people might be more motivated to improve if they want to impress the audience (and maybe get invited back as a success story), if they have a Team Whoever of fans rooting for them, or even to spite people who talk shit on them. It seems some other people (FatBoyGetDown) actually take the opportunity to act even more like a heel because they get off on the hatred itself, though. But he's a complete fucking prick and I don't care whether he lives or dies.

It's the same way that Breaking Bad could never have worked anywhere else in the English speaking world, the premise requires people lacking access to desperately needed medical care (other than abortions obviously).

Spoiler: spoiled for off topic

That premise was actually a bait and switch because it looked like it could be a critique of that fact, which was essentially dropped. After the first season, he had no financial need to do what he was doing and kept doing it anyway.

Also:

 

[Maxliam]

It's just hard for a normal size person to imagine how anyone can get that big The size of these people and their disgusting lives becomes fascinating. It's the same with the hoarders. Somebody screaming about how they can't throw away some mold covered lump of garbage makes no sense to most people. Normal humans don't want to live in three feet of their own festering filth.

They try to help them by organizing piles for what to keep and throw out. And the hoarders want to keep everything no matter how moldy, broken or decayed. It's like that junk lady in Labyrinth. Just surround yourself in filth.

While these people are getting help it's at the expense of exploitation. Some of these people have some serious problems that might cloud their judgement when signing up for this. But those are the ones that make for the best television.

We've traded the side show experience for watching at home. It's all the same thing really. I remember on Celebrity Rehab when they had Steven Adler and Gary Busey on the same show. Two brain damaged guys with no idea what the hell is going on half the time who cannot stop themselves from talking for more than three seconds. There's no way they didn't sit down and think to themselves that this would be a great double feature.

They keep making these shows because we keep watching them. I just don't see that changing any time soon.

I imagine more people from My 600 lb Life are going to die in the future. The odds are seriously stacked against them. Even if they lose the weight their bodies are fucked from years of gorging and being bed bound. So many of them refuse to change and just keep eating.

Of course. You're not going to get viewers with people being rational and healthy. That's boring to your average viewer. We want a freak show, we crave one. We love watching people crash and burn. This very forum is a testament to that. Chris and other lolcows are so fascinating to watch because something misfired and didn't set itself right and now we have a freak show there for our amusement.

When I see hoarders, I immediately want to throw out things I haven't used in a while or give them to charity. So in a sense it might have a positive role too.

 

[neverendingmidi]

Remember when TLC was “The Learning Channel”?


Pepperidge Farms remembers...

 

[Maxliam]

Remember when TLC was “The Learning Channel”?


Pepperidge Farms remembers...

I remember back in the 90's in school when we would watch TLC material and learn things about immune systems, genetic disorders, cardiology research, etc. and as a kid if you told me it'd become the freak show it is I'd look at you like you were crazy. I wouldn't even dignify that with a verbal response other than a scuff.

History and Discovery Channel too. Back in the day they had some rather good quality programming. I just think we're becoming more and more like Rome on a global scale. We want the cheap, stupid, and violent stuff. Granted that can be fun sometimes but now with the internet we can have unlimited amounts of stupid entertainment. That's dangerous. We humans are still infants playing with a handgun. We don't understand the awesome power that can be used for good or evil.

To paraphrase the Last Crusade "We are meddling with powers we can't possibly comprehend."

 

[AnOminous]

Remember when TLC was “The Learning Channel”?


Pepperidge Farms remembers...

I remember when they did shit like re-air James Burke's absolutely brilliant The Day the Universe Changed. Burke made Bill Nye the Gender Guy look like an absolute fucking clown in comparison.