The National Organization for Women (NOW) is pushing for more fat, ugly women on TV. Their 2002 Feminist Primetime Report is bitching and moaning that over the air networks are featuring 134 more men than women, and that the women are mostly nothing more than eye-candy. [A quick look at the report shows that the variance for last season is 134 out of 688 (40/60 split), and this season is 125 out of 677 (41/59).]

The NOW report also states that:

We all know that women come in many shapes, sizes, ages and colors. In an extremely informal count, however, we found 140 women on TV who were model-thin and conventionally beautiful, versus just 31 women who appeared to wear a size 10 or larger.

It then goes on to unceremoniously list the fat people who are the "exception" to the "Jennifer Aniston Rule".

Lesley Boone (Molly) on Ed, Tyne Daly (Maxine) on Judging Amy, Loretta Devine (Marla) on Boston Public, Camryn Manheim (Ellenor) on The Practice, Melissa McCarthy (Sookie) on Gilmore Girls, Della Reese (Tess) on Touched By an Angel, and Countess Vaughn (Kim) and Mo'Nique (Nikki) on The Parkers.

There is little mention of how the standards were set up to figure out who makes the fat-cow list and who doesn't. I also didn't see any way for actresses to appeal their banishment to the list.

Staff writers at Ravenwood's Universe are skeptical at best. NOW wins the No Shit Sherlock Award by listing shows like UPN's "WWE Smackdown" as examples of the worst offenders, pointing out that there are more male 'superstars' than females. Meanwhile the cancelled "Ellen Show", "Girlfriends", and "Judging Amy" get the top nods for 'gender fairness'. Who the hell watches that crap?!

What NOW doesn't understand is that networks see only the color and shape of the almighty dollar. Their whole purpose in life is to make money for their shareholders. They do that by picking up TV shows that people will actually watch. Big surprise: People want to see good-looking people on TV.

NOW also makes this brilliant statement:

TV has the power to bring people together, to show viewers a full picture of our society.

[Bullshit Alert] Nobody wants to watch regular slobs sitting around living normal life. "Big Brother" ratings prove that. Why fill the air waves with boring everyday crap, when most people already get that at home? What would be the point of watching TV?

NOW also rates programs on "social responsibility," but since they give no quantitative criteria for that category, I'm going to ignore it.

They also misplace responsibility for the quality of TV programing by claiming that networks must be held "accountable to all the viewers who ultimately make them rich." Clearly they are only responding to what the viewers watch. NOW even admits that 40% of their 'favorable' shows were cancelled last year. If viewers were watching them, they'd still be around.

The bottom line is that TV shows are no different than commercials. Ask any advertising agent and they'll tell you that sex sells. "Friends" most certainly would not have been a hit show with six overweight slobs laying around some oversized NYC apartment.

Putting fat, ugly, cows on TV will only make people change the channel. Or worse, perhaps they'll turn it off and actually read something.