There’s no mistaking Disney’s days at TV Press tour. The place is festooned with beefy, clean-cut guys, in suits and little wires curling from their ears into their jackets, stationed in hallways and doorways, watching carefully.
Security is tight on Disney’s days, even when the most clear and present danger would appear to be the TV critics who are also “One Life to Live” fans. They descended on “The Revolution” Q&A session.
More from Lisa de Moraes
Pulitzer Prize winner, Peabody recipient, Medal of Freedom honoree -- Lisa de Moraes is none of these, but she is an authority on the bad direction, over-acting, and muddled plot lines being played out in the TV industry's executive suites.
(Craig Sjodin/ABC) - ABC is promising that Jennifer Ashton, from left, Tim Gunn, Ty Pennington, Tiffanie Davis Henry and Harley Pasternak will help women stuck on the hamster wheel of life get “unstuck.”
Last April, Disney-owned ABC announced it would cancel “One Life to Live” after nearly 44 years to make way for “The Revolution,” which debuts Monday.
Each week on “The Revolution,” some woman’s five-month weight-loss journey will time-lapse in just five days; her final transformation will be revealed on Denouement Friday.
The new weekday show, ABC has promised, will help viewers complete transformations in all areas of their lives, including physical and emotional well-being, family, fashion, home design, personal finance, food, jobs — and more!
The Revolution-aries include celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, ob-gyn Jennifer Ashton, carpenter-turned-“design expert” Ty Pennington, fashion guru Tim Gunn and therapist Tiffanie Davis Henry. On Monday, they came to Winter TV Press Tour 2012 to take questions.
“One Life to Live” fans are very angry and deeply committed to bringing down this new show, one “OLTL” fan-cum-TV critic announced dramatically at the start of “The Revolution” Q&A session.
“Any words for these people?” the critic asked. Then, she added: “I’m sure you people are really nice.”
Pennington noted that “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” on which he starred, also was canceled, so he should get a pass.
“Well put,” Gunn told Pennington graciously. “We’re not trying to replace anyone.”
“Speaking for me, but I know for all of us, it’s just a great joy and a great privilege and honor to be part of ‘The Revolution,’ because we are helping change lives,” Gunn added modestly.
The Revolution-aries proceeded to give critics an earful about their mission: They represent Hope — the same Hope that “elected our last president,” according to show executive producer J.D. Roth.
Roth is a one-man fat-farm industry. He also exec-produces ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition” and the NBC series “The Biggest Loser.”
Women are sitting alone in the dark, the panel said. They’re on the hamster wheel of life. They need help getting “unstuck.” And it’s not just about losing fat — although losing fat is what Denouement Fridays are all about, because fat is usually connected to other issues.
As we wiped away tears, “OLTL” fans/TV critics in the room were sisters and brothers united against “The Revolution.”
“Wouldn’t the first step be turning off daytime television?” asked one TV critic and suspected “One Life to Live” fan.
The Revolution-aries pretended to not understand the question. Or they’d been put through Art of the Interview 101: Don’t answer the question you were asked — answer the question you want to answer. Because they started repeating their message about this show being sooo much better than all of those other fixing-women TV shows, because they are a virtually mini-mall of experts in all of the various ways that women have fat-producing problems.
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