Earlier this year, the Weather Channel had an odd and surprisingly spirited dust-up with DirecTV over the network’s ratio of reality shows to weather reporting. DirecTV felt the ratio was too high and refused to carry the Weather Channel unless it devoted less of its time to programs like “Iceberg Hunters” or “Coast Guard Florida,” and more of it to, you know, the actual weather.
In April, the two entities reconciled, and the network agreed to more daytime meteorological reporting. It is not abandoning the reality biz, however. Mere months after this tempest in a tipping bucket, the Weather Channel gives us its most provocatively titled program yet: “Fat Guys in the Woods.”
One could compare the show to many things — “Survivor” meets “The Biggest Loser” might work — or nothing at all, which is probably safest. In each hourlong episode, survival expert Creek Stewart takes three endomorphic men into Tennessee’s Appalachian wilderness, where, armed with only the most basic tools, he teaches them how to survive for five days. On one of those days, each man must go off on his own.
While everyone else might chortle away at the title and the initial sight of three hefty guys in snow hats trundling through the frigid undergrowth (for the rest of the country’s added enjoyment, the first participants are from Los Angeles), I was mourning what I felt was an opportunity missed.