It can be difficult 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 a trope to rely on in sitcoms, and it’s only in recent years that we’ve seen a real recognition of 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 in “Friends” or Daphne (Jane Leeves) in “Frasier” having a nightmare where – gasp – she is fat and it is scary, but “Babes” is the perfect remedy for these feelings as it follows three fat sisters who are living their best lives. The only problem is that it’s not available to stream anywhere, nor is it exactly easy to find on physical media.
“Babes” was created by “The Golden Girls” writer Gail Parent and Hollywood newcomer Tracey Jackson and followed the lives of the three Gilbert sisters: divorced dog groomer Darlene (Susan Peretz), makeup artist Charlene (Wendie Jo Sperber) and toll collector Marlene (Lesley Boone). The show was produced by Sandollar Productions, a production company run by Sandy Gallin and country music legend Dolly Parton. What is it about Dolly Parton and sitcoms that are now completely unwatchable, anyway?
Babes was body positive and ahead of her time
“Babes” received a lot of criticism when it first aired for being “nothing but big jokes” without acknowledging the fact that it was honestly pretty revolutionary to just have a show about three women who weren’t all size 0, especially in the terrifying “heroin chic” era of the early 1990s. Not only that, but sitcoms will always rely on easy humor about the perceived flaws of their characters, and the Fat jokes are part and parcel of being fat on a sitcom, for better and for worse. That would be like expecting “The Golden Girls” to never make jokes about the girls’ ages!
Sometimes it’s so important to be represented that even an imperfect, heartfelt performance is going to mean the world to audiences. “Babes” may not always have had the best writing or the most progressive jokes, but it featured women who would have been relegated to funny sidekicks elsewhere and focused on their stories, and that rules. Although Peretz and Sperber sadly passed away from 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 in “Agent Carter.”
“Babes” was way ahead of its time and way too short, but we hope that one day we might get to see an updated version or something. It’s high time to create a great sitcom that embraces women of all sizes.
