Nikki Blonsky takes on a “Huge” role

By Stacey Harrison
There’s not much shock value these days in a TV show that opens with scantily clad teenagers prancing about in the sun. But the teens in Huge aren’t the sort you usually see flaunting their physiques.
Set at a weight-loss camp, the ABC Family comedy/drama based on the novel by Sasha Paley premieres tonight. It follows a group of heavyset teenagers trying to get themselves healthy in both body and mind. Girth aside, they tend to fall into the usual high-school types — the pretty girl, the rebel, the shy one, the jock, the artsy outcast — and they often have to navigate the same kinds of cliques and social hierarchies that await them back in their everyday lives. As star Nikki Blonsky puts it, “Even at fat camp, some girls are bigger than others, so that separates them.” [Read more →]

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by Karl J. Paloucek

horts in a two-hour programming special on Dec. 2 at 7pm ET, with replays Dec. 18 at 10pm ET and Dec. 19 at 6pm ET. This is the first time that the legendary animation company’s short films have been shown on television all at once. It’s wonderful to look back at how brilliantly even the older films create such vivid and expressive characters — even out of normally inanimate objects — that we quickly relate to.
d on Nov. 10, 1969, and since then has continued to educate, inspire and entertain generations of kids through clever songs, animation and, of course, Jim Henson’s Muppets.
by Karl J. Paloucek