More to Love
Star Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Stars: Former college football player Luke Conley and 20 full-figured women

The Big Idea: No pun intended there, trust me, especially since more troubling than anything I saw on the More to Love premiere is the plethora of pre-show reviews and critics musings I read that didn’t miss a single opportunity to crack a joke about weight.

The show is essentially The Bachelor, with both a bachelor and a group of bachelorettes who are plus-sized.

To Watch or Not to Watch (Again): Yep, I’m in, for at least one more episode. Okay, honestly, I’m probably hooked for the whole season. Why? Because the good outweighs the bad. And I do mean that figuratively and literally, as the previews hint that there is going to be cattiness from some of the women, but a lot of the kind of romance and feel-good moments we see on the other reality dating shows, too.

But the More to Love premiere wasn’t perfect, with one particularly galling aspect.

The bad:
– Along with the name, age and hometown of the bachelorettes, their height and weight is also displayed on screen. Really, is this necessary? We know they’re plus-sized – it’s the premise of the show. Does it matter who weighs more or less than the others (again, that’s something that’s evident). They don’t show the height or weight or bra sizes of the women on The Bachelor (and I doubt those size 2 contestants would want their stats flashed on screen, either). Nor do they list names, ages, hometowns and details of whatever emotional baggage they’re carrying. I feel certain that we will never see this contestant on The Bachelor: Kerry, 23, Chicago, Has Been Cheated on So Many Times That She May Stab You in Your Sleep If You’re Too Nice to the Waitress at Dinner. Again, everyone, male and female, on both sides of the dating game, has issues, and we don’t need to know the exact digits for these voluptuous women to know that their weight factors in to their dating lives.

– He giveth the ring, then he taketh the ring away – All 20 women were given diamond rings to wear, as a “promise ring” that Luke would take the time to get to know their inner beauty, as well as their outer beauty. Okay, good. But then, before the equivalent of More to Love‘s rose ceremony, the women had to give the rings back, and wait to see if they’d get one again if Luke chose them to stick around. It was an unnecessarily cruel stunt, especially since the women seemed so joyful to get the rings, and since a couple of them had mentioned their fear of being asked out by men who were only playing a prank on them. I know, I know, the intentions weren’t the same, but still … just unnecessarily mean. The Bachelors and Bachelorettes don’t have to give the roses back at any point of the competition. And yes, obviously diamond rings are pricier than roses – well, maybe not at 5PM on Valentine’s Day – which means the whole ring thing might not have been the best rose substitute to begin with.

– Just like on The Bachelor, the More to Love women were ridiculously excited about Luke before they’d even gotten to know the most basic info about him. It always amazes me on these shows that the women automatically put themselves in the position of, as George Costanza would say, not having any hand. Why put all the decisions in the dudes’ hands? Why does it never occur to these women that the bachelors may not necessarily be all that? Exhibit #1: The cheesy Alex Michel. Exhibit #2: The cheesy Jason Mesnick. I could go on …

– Host Emme. The graceful, positive, famous plus-size supermodel’s participation in the show was actually one of the reasons I didn’t totally write it off when I first heard the concept. But from her matronly hair and outfit to, more importantly, her wooden interactions with Luke and the women, Emme only made me have a whole new level of appreciation for how effortless The Bachelor host Chris Harrison makes his job look.

Okay, so that’s quite a lot of things to not like. But there’s also the good, and it’s what’s really important: The show is giving these women, and bachelor Luke, a sincere opportunity to make a love match. And this is key, because many of the bachelorettes told heartbreaking stories about their past experiences – boyfriends who were embarrassed by their weight, never having a date or boyfriend and fearing they might never find anyone who would take the time to get to know them and what they have to offer.

The naysayers – and just from some Twitter posts I saw during the broadcast, I can say that there are some nasty naysayers – will see every aspect of the show as negative, right down to those who will say (as several Twitterers did) that More to Love is helping to promote the obesity epidemic, diabetes and high blood pressure and cholesterol in America.

I guess I missed that part of the show … 

What I did see, and what I think makes the series worth watching (or, at least, as worthy of our viewing time as any other reality dating competition), is that More to Love is a positive attempt by Conley and the women to find love. They’re putting themselves, and some very personal aspects of their lives, out there, all for the chance to find love.

Sure, some of their stories are sad, and some of their attitudes about their likeliness of finding love are sad. But they’ve taken a leap and decided to go for it anyway. The message of the show, however clumsily executed it may be sometimes, is that these people deserve romance and love and companionship as much as anybody who wears a smaller suit or dress size.

How can you not root for them to succeed?

TV Screener Tidbit: The preview of coming attractions for the season suggests Conley does propose to one of the women in the season finale.

More to Love airs Tuesdays, 9PM ET on Fox

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All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– Mad Men, season three, August 16 at 10PM ET on AMC. Be there, or be somewhere else, somewhere where people don’t knock back three vodka gimlets before lunch, aren’t nearly as dapperly-attired as Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and don’t have offices that are bigger than my entire New York City apartment. Yeah, not sounding nearly as much fun as Mad Men, right?

– Is designer Vera Wang going to be competing on the next season of Dancing With the Stars? And if so, does that mean we can count on less cheesy costumes?

– Plus-size model Emme has been hired to host Fox’s More to Love, the reality dating show that will feature “average-looking” people

– Discovery Channel’s 22nd annual Shark Week kicks off on August 2.

– Matt Mitovich at TVGuide.com says Rick Springfield will play, fittingly enough, Rick Springfield, when he guest stars on the new season of Californication, but he’ll be a naughty Rick Springfield, one whose sex play makes David Duchovny‘s Hank “look like a Jonas brother.” Not that I’m buying that whole purity ring business about the Jonas Bros. …

– In celebration of its 15th anniversary, TCM has created its own social network site, TCM Classic Film Union, for movie buffs.

– Gordon Ramsay has apologized for, well, basically, for being a tool. You can watch the apology here.

– I reeeally want to like Dr. Drew and trust his motives, but a real doctor prolly should offer to help Lindsay Lohan, or a less-famous addict, whether or not she accepts a reported six-figure offer to appear on his reality show, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, right? Of course, the story seems to be originating with Lohan’s dad, so, grain – no, make that rock, huge, ginormous rock – of salt on the whole thing.

– The Shield creator Shawn Ryan is going back to FX with a comedy about private detectives, called Terriers.

– Futurama‘s back! With 26 new episodes in 2010!

– Good news for David Letterman: He, with guest Julia Roberts, beat Conan O’Brien‘s Tonight Show on Tuesday. Worse news for Conan: His ratings keep dropping. Don’t count him out tho; remember his first years as Late Night host?

– More ratings wars news: Judge Judy beat Oprah. Whoa.

– ABC’s getting a jump on the competition by announcing its fall premiere dates.

– The ratings for the Nurse Jackie series premiere were so good, Showtime’s already greenlighting a second season, so go ahead and get hooked.

– Heidi Pratt‘s launching her own line of dry shampoo, after her shampoo shenanigans on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. I’m sure Oscar Blandi is shaking in his celebrity hair-cutting boots.

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• Tags: Californication, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, Conan O'Brien, Dancing With the Stars, David Duchovny, David Letterman, Discovery Channel, Don Draper, Dr. Drew, Drew Pinsky, Emme, Futurama, Get Me Out of Here, Gordon Ramsay, Heidi Pratt, I'm a Celebrity, Jon Hamm, Jonas, Judge Judy, Julia Roberts, Lindsay Lohan, Mad Men, More to Love, Nurse Jackie, Oprah, Rick Springfield, Shark Week, Shawn Ryan, TCM Classic Film Union, The Shield, Tonight Show, Vera Wang