2005 American television sitcom
Starved
|
---|
The main characters
from left to right: Billie, Dan, Sam and Adam
|
Created by
| Eric Schaeffer
|
---|
Starring
| Eric Schaeffer
Laura Benanti
Del Pentecost
Sterling K. Brown
|
---|
Country of origin
| United States
|
---|
Original language
| English
|
---|
No.
of seasons
| 1
|
---|
No.
of episodes
| 7
|
---|
|
Executive producers
| Eric Schaeffer
Dan Pasternack
|
---|
Producer
| Daniel Hank
|
---|
Production locations
| New York City
,
New York
|
---|
Editor
| Ken Eluto
|
---|
Running time
| 21-31 minutes
|
---|
Production companies
| Five Minutes Before the Miracle Productions
Carsey-Werner Productions
|
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|
Network
| FX
|
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Release
| August 4
(
2005-08-04
)
?
September 15, 2005
(
2005-09-15
)
|
---|
Starved
is an American television
sitcom
that aired for one season on
FX
for seven episodes in 2005. The series was about four friends who each suffer from
eating disorders
, who met at a "shame-based"
support group
called Belt Tighteners. Its characters included those with
bulimia
,
anorexia
, and
binge eating disorder
.
Eric Schaeffer
created the show as well as writing, starring in and directing it, based upon his own struggle with eating disorders. In addition to his own life experiences, Schaeffer also drew upon the experiences of the other members of the principal cast, each of whom coincidentally had struggled with food issues of their own.
Starved
was the lead-in of FX's hour-long "Other Side of Comedy" block with
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
.
[1]
FX executives wanted to use the two series to begin building comedy programming and broaden the network's demographic. The series debuted on August 4, 2005 to poor critical reviews and was cancelled in October 2005, when FX picked
Sunny
over
Starved
for renewal.
Characters
[
edit
]
- Sam (
Eric Schaeffer
) is a commodities trader who suffers from anorexia and compulsive overeating. His interests quickly turn into obsessions. Despite being with several different women during the series, he is secretly in love with Billie.
- Billie Frasier (
Laura Benanti
) is an anorexic and bulimic who also has issues with alcohol abuse. Billie is bisexual and was raised by two gay fathers. Formerly a ballerina, the original impetus for her eating disorders, she is now a moderately well-known singer-songwriter.
- Dan Roundtree (Del Pentecost) is a novelist and compulsive overeater. The only married person among the main characters, he worries that his weight will lead his wife to leave him. He continually schedules and then cancels
gastric bypass
surgery.
- Adam Williams (
Sterling K. Brown
) is a police officer with bulimia. He abuses his authority to extort food from restaurants and delivery people, which eventually costs him his job.
- Belt Tighteners Group Leader (
Jackie Hoffman
) leads the support group that the friends attend. Sarcastic and abrasive, she constantly berates the four friends for their failed attempts at dealing with their food issues. Following her tirades, she leads the group in a chant of the support group's slogan, "It's not OK!"
Production
[
edit
]
Series star Eric Schaeffer created
Starved
. Schaeffer, who is in recovery for alcohol and drug addiction and describes himself as having "anorexic thinking,"
[2]
drew on his own experiences with eating disorders and the experiences of other people he knew in creating scenarios for the series. Other cast members also struggled with food issues. Benanti spent three years fighting anorexia while she danced on
Broadway
. Pentecost, who weighed 310 pounds at the time of filming, contributed stories from his own life to the series, including a scene in which his character weighs himself on a
postal
scale because he is too heavy for a conventional bathroom scale.
[3]
Brown was fat as a child and describes himself as being "haunted by the 'fat kid mentality'." Producers only discovered that each of the principal cast members had food issues after the casting process was completed.
[2]
Starved
and
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
were developed for FX under the auspices of FX president
John Landgraf
, who sought to expand the network's viewership by providing a wider variety of programming. The shows were the network's first attempts at sitcoms following the short-lived 2003 series
Lucky
.
[3]
FX at the time was known primarily for its edgy dramatic series. Bruce Lefkowitz, then executive vice president of
Fox
Cable Entertainment, outlined the strategy: "We kind of staked out a unique space in dramas that are very different from everybody else’s, so the next natural evolution is to do something in the comedy space."
[4]
The network ordered seven episodes of each series.
[5]
Starved
was shot in the spring of 2005 in
New York City
using a
single-camera setup
and without a laugh track.
[2]
It and
Sunny
were the first shows that FX produced inhouse.
[5]
Episodes
[
edit
]
Reception
[
edit
]
Starved
generated controversy even before its premiere. A number of specialists in the treatment of eating disorders expressed concern that the program would either make light of or glamorize eating disorders. Others, however, felt that
Starved
might focus attention on eating disorders as a serious medical condition.
[6]
The
National Eating Disorders Association
called for a boycott of the show and claimed that
Diageo
(makers of Tanqueray) and
Nautilus
agreed to pull their advertising.
[7]
Schaeffer responded to the controversy, saying "there is some difficult stuff to watch. But I know my spirit and intention are good."
[3]
Starved
premiered to an audience of 1.54 million viewers, scoring a
Neilsen
rating of 0.8 and a 2 share among adults 18?49,
[8]
the network's target demographic.
[4]
Reviews were unfavorable.
Variety
echoed the slogan of Belt Tighteners in dismissing the series as "not OK."
[9]
Noting the series' edgy content,
Variety
allows that "Pushing the envelope in terms of standards is all well and good, assuming that series earn the right to do so."
[9]
Starved
, it says, did not earn that right. The series' "stabs at poignancy feel unconvincing and forced"
[9]
and "from an emotional standpoint there's seldom a truthful note."
[9]
The Washington Post
concurred in this assessment, describing the premise of the show as "Hey, what happens if you take the characters from
Seinfeld
and give them eating disorders?"
[10]
While crediting
Starved
for "a few inventive laughs,"
[10]
the language and sexuality of the show are described as "exceptionally coarse"
[10]
and "outrageous for cable television, even later at night."
[10]
Worse than these issues, the
Post
felt that Schaeffer neglected to develop the characters in favor of coming up with contrived situations for them. "[T]his failure to build understanding into the show dooms it to emptiness, with a sour aftertaste. As if you had just, you know, hurled."
[10]
The New York Times
credited the series for its bold premise and noted that the show provided some insight into eating disorders while offering "a few flashes of clever dialogue and satire."
[11]
Ultimately, however, the
Times
found that "
Starved
relies too heavily on sight gags and gross-out farce."
[11]
The
Los Angeles Times
found the show "vexing" for being "at once assured and shallow, accomplished and unconvincing, well-acted and empty."
[1]
The review singles out Schaeffer's character Sam as "especially unappealing"
[1]
and points to Schaeffer's roles as creator, producer, writer and director as "an object lesson in the wisdom of a system of checks and balances."
[1]
Perhaps most damningly, in noting Schaeffer's experiences with addiction, the reviewer writes that "just because you’ve had an experience doesn’t mean you have anything interesting to say about it or are able to articulate whatever interesting thing you have to say."
[1]
New York
called it the Best Show You Probably Never Watched.
[12]
NBC used a clip from the second episode in "
The Most Outrageous TV Moments
".
FX canceled
Starved
in October 2005. FX president
John Landgraf
told
Variety
, "The show had a lot of fans, so it was tough to choose [between it and
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
]. Ultimately, we felt that we're just not in a position to spread our resources. We launched our dramas one at a time, and launching two [comedies] like we did this summer just didn't work out as well."
[13]
As of 2023,
Sunny
is in its sixteenth season on sister network
FXX
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Lloyd, Robert (2005-08-03).
"
'Starved' for substance"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
2008-06-28
.
- ^
a
b
c
Gold, Matea (2005-07-31).
"Eating disorders, the comedy"
.
Los Angeles Times
. pp. E-1
. Retrieved
2008-06-28
.
- ^
a
b
c
Oldenburg (2005-08-03).
"FX puts comedy back on table"
.
USA Today
. Retrieved
2008-06-28
.
- ^
a
b
Downey, Kevin (2005-04-14).
"FX: Looking to comedy for new edge"
.
Media Life magazine
. Retrieved
2008-06-29
.
- ^
a
b
Martin, Denise (2005-02-17).
"FX building a laffer block"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
2008-07-15
.
- ^
Osterwell, Neil (2005-08-04).
"FX Network's "Starved" Cooks Up Medical Controversy"
.
MedPage Today
. Retrieved
2008-06-28
.
- ^
"National Eating Disorders Association calls new TV sitcom Starved "No Laughing Matter"
"
(Press release). National Eating Disorders Association. 2005-08-01
. Retrieved
2008-06-28
.
- ^
The Futon Critic Staff (2005-08-05).
"Breaking News"
. The Futon Critic
. Retrieved
2008-06-29
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Lowry, Brian (2005-07-31).
"Starved"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
2008-06-28
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Gerhart, Ann (2005-08-04).
"FX's 'Starved' Is a Bit Too Much To Stomach"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
2008-06-28
.
- ^
a
b
Stanley, Alessandra (2005-08-04).
"Looking for the Humor in Americans' Struggle to Become Smaller"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
2008-06-28
.
- ^
Leonard, John.
"The Best in TV"
.
2005-12-11
. New York Magazine.
- ^
Gans, Andrew (2005-10-07).
"
"Starved" Sitcom ? with Broadway's Benanti ? Canceled"
.
Playbill
. Retrieved
2008-06-28
.
External links
[
edit
]
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