The Body Positive Dolly Parton-Produced Sitcom That's Impossible To Watch Today
It can be hard to see yourself represented on television when you're overweight, but the 1990 sitcom "Babes" did its best to change that. Fat jokes have always been an easy trope to lean on in sitcoms, and it's only been in recent years that we've seen real recognition for the harm they can cause. It's not easy being a heavy woman and seeing the jokes about Monica with Courteney Cox in a fat suit on "Friends" or Daphne (Jane Leeves) on "Frasier" having a nightmare where — gasp — she's fat and it's scary, but "Babes" is the perfect remedy for those feelings because it follows three fat sisters who are living their best lives. The only problem is that it's not available to stream anywhere, and it's not exactly easy to find on physical media either.
"Babes" was created by "The Golden Girls" writer Gail Parent and Hollywood newcomer Tracey Jackson and followed the lives of the three Gilbert sisters: divorcée dog groomer Darlene (Susan Peretz), makeup artist Charlene (Wendie Jo Sperber), and toll collector Marlene (Lesley Boone). The show was executive produced by Sandollar Productions, a production company run by Sandy Gallin and country music legend Dolly Parton. What is it with Dolly Parton and sitcoms that are now totally impossible to watch, anyway?
Babes was body positive and ahead of its time
"Babes" received a lot of flak when it first aired for being "nothing but fat jokes" without recognizing the fact that it was honestly pretty groundbreaking just to have a show about three women who weren't all size 0, especially back in the terrifying "heroin chic" days of the early 1990s. Not only that, but sitcoms are always going to rely on easy humor about their characters' perceived flaws, and the fat jokes are part and parcel of being fat in a sitcom, for better and worse. That would be like expecting "The Golden Girls" to never make jokes about the girls' ages!
Sometimes it matters so much to be represented at all that even flawed representation with heart is going to mean the world to audiences. "Babes" may not have always had the best writing or the most progressive jokes, but it starred women who would have been relegated to being the funny sidekick anywhere else and focused on their stories, and that rules. Though both Peretz and Sperber sadly died of breast cancer in 2004 and 2005, respectively, Boone continues to act to this day and is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as Rose Roberts on "Agent Carter."
"Babes" was way ahead of its time and cut much too short, but here's hoping that maybe one day we could see an updated version or something like it. It's way past time for a great sitcom that embraces women of all sizes.