Reality T.V. was never bigger

Reality television has had great success in recent years, thus creating a steady influx of new trends within the genre. Fox's news reality series, "More to Love" is the product of a growing trend of weight loss shows featuring the overweight. However, this show also takes from the likes of "The Bachelor," featuring plus-size contestants vying for love.

In the show's premiere season, the 300-pound Luke Conley, a 26-year-old real estate investor and contractor, will take center stage as a bundle of heavyset women battle it out for his affection. Conley says that these women aren't like the decadently shallow women we have seen in past love shows, but are genuinely looking for love. Some, he found out, have never kissed a man before, or have had trouble finding a date. Conley admits his love life hasn't been the best either, not because of his weight but because he has put his career first.

Conley and the contestants of "More to Love" represent the population as a whole better than the stick-thin models that usually dominate these types of shows. Statistics show that half of all adults in the United States are overweight, making the proliferation of shows about weight loss or that star people closer to the average sized man or woman a viable option for programmers like Fox.

The success that shows like NBC's "The Biggest Loser" have had proves that people want to see stars that look more like them, ones that they can relate to. Other series experimenting with the trend are Oxygen's "Dance Your Ass Off," Style's documentary series, "Ruby," and Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva," which premiered to 2.8 million viewers, the channel's largest audience for an original series in two years.

"More to Love" debuts this Tuesday at 9 p.m.