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From: Pookie on 27 Oct 2005 08:03
Blaine's low-carb kitchen was a popular show among many but apparently not
popular enough to keep it from being renewed.

The forum at FitTV where folks could discuss the show was immensely popular
for a long time. Blaine announced he had lost fifty pounds and wanted to
lose fifty more. That was back in the fall of 2004. The shows were taped
during the Summer and Fall of 2004.

Blaine Jelus himself was a regular poster to the forums which really allowed
fans of the show to ask individual questions about his recipes and progress.
The show featured Blaine interacting a lot with friends and his family which
includes three small children.

Unfortunately, Blaine suddenly stopped posting to the forum in April 2005
without any explanation at all to his many fans. To this day no ones knows
how Blaines battle with the last fifty pounds he wanted to lose is going.
Even if the show was not going to be renewed by FitTV many posters to the
forum felt Blaine Jelus could still have posted to the forum and let people
know how he's doing. Some have reached the conclusion he just doesn't give
a hoot anymore about any of it. Perhaps we'll never know.

Blaine has done a disservice IMO to low-carbers everywhere (and potential
low-carbers) by not letting people know how he's doing when he obviously
has a mechanism to do so. The "first fifty pounds" came of relatively
quickly for a 300 pound man. Now the critical question remains: How does
Blaine fare when he continues to eat his delicious recipes paying little
regard to calories and still lose weight. To his credit, exercise was
always part of the show. But most so his recipes are loaded with calories
and he made it no secret telling audience he eats those recipes every day.

It was critical for people to see how he did when the going got rough. Every
weigh in for Blaine showed a weight loss although his very last show it had
slowed to half a pound a week. No problem but it would have been
constructive to see how Blaine handled a week where he lost no weight or
actually gained a pound or two.

FitTv runs this series two and sometimes three times a day. Repeats have
been going on for almost a year. Blaine has dropped off the face of the
earth with nary a word. Why? Did he stop losing? Did he decide the diet
was unhealthy? Did he have a heart attack? Was he just in it for the
money?

The show needs an epitaph as many low-carbers experience good weight loss in
the beginning but many of us have to use different strategies when weight
loss slows or stops.


From: trader4@optonline.net on 27 Oct 2005 11:32
Since you say the forum where Blaine posted is at Fit TV, it's entirely
possible that some portion of his contract and/or termination agreement
preclude him from posting on their website anymore.

From: Roger Zoul on 27 Oct 2005 12:22
Pookie wrote:
:: Blaine's low-carb kitchen was a popular show among many but
:: apparently not popular enough to keep it from being renewed.
::
:: The forum at FitTV where folks could discuss the show was immensely
:: popular for a long time. Blaine announced he had lost fifty pounds
:: and wanted to lose fifty more. That was back in the fall of 2004.
:: The shows were taped during the Summer and Fall of 2004.
::
:: Blaine Jelus himself was a regular poster to the forums which really
:: allowed fans of the show to ask individual questions about his
:: recipes and progress. The show featured Blaine interacting a lot
:: with friends and his family which includes three small children.
::
:: Unfortunately, Blaine suddenly stopped posting to the forum in April
:: 2005 without any explanation at all to his many fans. To this day
:: no ones knows how Blaines battle with the last fifty pounds he
:: wanted to lose is going. Even if the show was not going to be
:: renewed by FitTV many posters to the forum felt Blaine Jelus could
:: still have posted to the forum and let people know how he's doing.
:: Some have reached the conclusion he just doesn't give a hoot anymore
:: about any of it. Perhaps we'll never know.
::
:: Blaine has done a disservice IMO to low-carbers everywhere (and
:: potential low-carbers) by not letting people know how he's doing
:: when he obviously has a mechanism to do so.

I don't think he's done a disservice to anyone, really. He has a right to
his private life. Maybe FitTV has done the disservice....

:: The "first fifty
:: pounds" came of relatively quickly for a 300 pound man. Now the
:: critical question remains: How does Blaine fare when he continues
:: to eat his delicious recipes paying little regard to calories and
:: still lose weight.

I saw an espisode recently. While I enjoyed it, it was no suprise to me
that losing weight would become difficult eating the stuff he was making.
Sure, he may not gain weight, but losing beyond a certain point was
definitely going ot be a problem. Blaine's a big guy who likes to eat.
Anyone who gets up around 300 lbs really likes to eat and having all that
good food around is going to result in eating too much, even if it's low
carb.


To his credit, exercise was always part of the
:: show. But most so his recipes are loaded with calories and he made
:: it no secret telling audience he eats those recipes every day.

And there he made a huge mistake, since he didn't really know if a plan of
eating high calorie low carb meals would result in him losing the weight he
claimed he wanted to lose. It's one thing to adopt a plan and lose some
weight....it's quite another to adopt an eating style and expect your weight
to drop to a certain level without any effort to eat less. Sure, that may
work for some here and there, but for us "big" folks who like to eat, it
takes real work, ie, paying strict attention to what and how much you eat.

::
:: It was critical for people to see how he did when the going got
:: rough. Every weigh in for Blaine showed a weight loss although his
:: very last show it had slowed to half a pound a week. No problem but
:: it would have been constructive to see how Blaine handled a week
:: where he lost no weight or actually gained a pound or two.

I don't see why it was so critical....he lost some weight. But expecting to
lose down to a certain number by simply cutting carbs without cutting food
consumption is unrealistic. But more importantly, it's a TV show done for
entertainment and one shouldn't attach any more importance to it than that.

::
:: FitTv runs this series two and sometimes three times a day. Repeats
:: have been going on for almost a year. Blaine has dropped off the
:: face of the earth with nary a word. Why? Did he stop losing? Did
:: he decide the diet was unhealthy? Did he have a heart attack? Was
:: he just in it for the money?
::

Could be a zillion things. It certainly won't be the first time someone
backslide on a diet (if that's what happened) and it certainly won't be a
surprise if he just stopped losing because he was eating too much. It
certainly would be understandable that he got busy worring about his next
paycheck, either. As to whether the diet is unhealthy, surely you won't
leave that up to Blaine to decide for you? I'm sure he was in to for the
money, though I'm sure he enjoyed what he was doing.

:: The show needs an epitaph as many low-carbers experience good weight
:: loss in the beginning but many of us have to use different
:: strategies when weight loss slows or stops.

Well, I suspect Blaine with eventually surface and if he's not lost weight
or has gained, it will be known.

In the meantime, Pookie, you have us! :)


From: Pookie on 27 Oct 2005 13:20

<trader4(a)optonline.net> wrote in message
news:1130427175.283166.5460(a)g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Since you say the forum where Blaine posted is at Fit TV, it's entirely
> possible that some portion of his contract and/or termination agreement
> preclude him from posting on their website anymore.

I checked with the moderator of the forums and he said Blaine has not
checked in because he doesn't have the time. In 9 months he can't find two
minutes to speak to hundreds of people who religiously watch his show and
like his style and attitude towardst the low-carb plan? Sounds fishy.


From: maxlharris on 27 Oct 2005 14:02
Let's do a thought experiment.

You are large (300 lbs). You decide to lose the weight, and find a way
to get paid to do so, like get a TV show that will follow you around
while you lose, and you can make it a cooking/health show. One of the
terms of your contract is that you have to post regularly to a bulletin
board and be nice to the posters there. You do it for the run of the
contract, and get paid while doing so. The people who are paying you
don't feel they are getting the return on their investment they would
like, or they feel the show doesn't fit strategically with their plans.
Whatever. They decide to let the contract end. You probably feel a
little crappy about their decision, especially when you were getting
such great feedback from a few loyal viewers. So maybe you don't want
to do it anymore, since you're not being paid. Since your a little
p.o.ed about the whole deal. Thus, no reports.

My former SO worked at a wrestling league for a while. The wrestlers,
as part of their contracts, were supposed to interact with fans on the
league's message boards. When the show got cancelled and the league
folded, very few of the wrestlers remained on the message board, while
remained active, even without a league. A lot of them felt bitter about
the whole experience (a lot of work goes into TV, regardless of
content). A lot of them would have done it if they were getting paid.

Deep down, I wonder if a LC cooking show can work on a commercial
channel. It's not just about drawing an audience. LC has that. It's
about maintaining an audience. It's about lead in and follow out and
retention. If Stella gets the axe, I will believe that part of it is
that he is sandwiched between two LF shows usually ("30 Min Meals w/
Rachael Ray" on the front and "Calorie Commando" on the back). If
you're doing LF, and into cooking shows, you don't want to watch George
Stella cook fatty steaks with butter. And if you LC, you don't want to
watch the Juan-Carlos Cruz cook mac and cheese (with flour, processed
american cheese, non-fat cheddar and panko) and tiramisu (lady
fingers). Yet these two shows are even listed as related on Food TV's
site. It's like someone there said, "Well, dieting is dieting, so we'll
lump all the diet shows into an hour." Later they will ask why they get
no audience carry into Calorie Commando.

If they wanted to rationalize it, they'd stick a "Good Eats" in the
middle to transition the audience better. Or a Bob Flay show. Neither
is really LC or LF, but has stuff that's applicable one or both ways,
and could carry some audience, making the whole network better. I think
that's part of the Blaine problem on Fit. Everything else there is LF
or exercise. Doesn't build.

For an example of this working, think of NBC back in the Must See
Thursday era. Friends into something else into Seinfield into something
else into ER. They managed to get 20% of the TV's that were on to watch
Just Shoot Me and News Radio as the something elses, just to keep from
missing the starts of Seinfeld and ER.

But I think most programming execs are a little vision impared, or
they'd figure that Stella doesn't belong with Cruz. It doesn't answer
the question of whether you can keep your lead in from a normal show
into a LC (or LF) cooking show. Though Rachael Ray continues to go, but
she's not billed as LF, just as fast (though most are in the LF mold).

Hollywood

Pookie wrote:

> I checked with the moderator of the forums and he said Blaine has not
> checked in because he doesn't have the time. In 9 months he can't find two
> minutes to speak to hundreds of people who religiously watch his show and
> like his style and attitude towardst the low-carb plan? Sounds fishy.

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