Planet Utah

Question for fans of "24"

Courtesy of Netflix, I've been watching old seasons of "24." Until now, the only complete season of the show I had watched was the most recent one--the final season of the series.

So, here's my question: Does Jack Bauer ever get in trouble for stuff like kidnapping the president, killing people out of anger, torturing detainees, etc.?

In the real world, this would be enough to get a guy locked up for multiple life sentences. On the show, I've never even see him get reprimanded.

Footnote: At least they could throw me a bone--something along these lines: "Jack, the president may not approve of your methods, but he's immensely grateful for the results. You've been granted a full pardon..."

More to Love

Anybody else watch the premiere of "More to Love" tonight? It's basically "The Bachelor," but with overweight people. One big single guy, 20 big single girls, and a combined weight of about 300 stone.

So, honestly, this is the first reality TV/dating show I've watched since "Average Joe," which was five or six years ago. To a certain degree, I'm sure that these shows manipulate the contestants (by inciting drama, crazy behavior, displays of emotion, etc.) and the audience (through artful editing). But let's assume that everything on the show tonight was at least broadly accurate.

If that's the case, here's my question: What do overweight guys do for dates? Stick with me here. All of the women talked about how miserable their social lives were because guys only want skinny girls with big boobs.  Accordingly, guys never give heavy girls a chance, or a second look. Many of the women discussed this in a way that suggested they were close to giving up on the idea of a meaningful relationship with a man.

Now, it's probably true that most guys do want skinny girls with big boobs. But so what? There's a natural sorting process that takes place in the dating pool, whereby people of roughly equal physical attractiveness end up together.* Recognizing the existence of this sorting process, I have to ask: Why aren't heavy guys dating and marrying heavy girls? I could spin five or six theories off the top of my head, but I have no idea which one--or combination of them--might be right. (Actually, one of them isn't even a theory. It could just be that the girls on this show are atypical, and were chosen for that reason. Maybe outside of reality TV, heavy guys and girls date and marry all the time.)

Anyway, if you want to weigh in with thoughts of your own, please feel free. (See what I did there with "weigh in"?)

*This is a classic "ceteris paribus" situation, though. If Mick Jagger were a shoe-shine boy, he'd be lucky to date a woman who looks like Keith Richards. But because Mick Jagger is rich, and famous, and creative, and a rock star, he dates women who look like Denise Richards.