The original post: /r/television by /u/ex1stence on 2025-08-19 17:26:21+00:00.
How tf do “documentaries” like this even get made? Literally everything they mentioned in all three episodes was a complete nothingburger, and it was honestly sad to see how deep the producers were trying to dig to find anything even remotely interesting to put in the doc.
Danny gaining the weight back after the show? Wow yeah, turns out people who have a bad relationship with food before the show didn’t magically rewire their entire brains after leaving TBL. Not sure how that’s NBC’s fault or even a controversial thing, but man did they soak up about 20 minutes just repeating the same thing over and over again.
Bob said a mean thing to Joelle one time (which did inevitably get her to finish the 30-second treadmill run)? DUN DUN DUNNNN. Dramatic music and another 15 minutes over the fact that yes, every trainer yells at you when you try to give up during a workout because that’s literally the job you are paying them to do.
Jillian gave…you guys it’s so bad, it’s terrible, I’m trembling and shaking even as I type this…CAFFEINE to contestants??? Holy shit ya’ll, NBC is basically the devil incarnate let’s spend another 20 minutes talking about it.
The whole thing was mining for any controversy it could possibly find and there just wasn’t a damn thing to say. I’m a millennial and as someone who struggled with my weight at the time the show first aired, it was actually really inspiring to see how much diet and exercise was paying off for people who were way bigger than I was. While I may not be able to draw a direct line between TBL and my eventual love of exercise, I know that watching these people get on the treadmill and work their asses off (literally) gave me a model that I continue to follow to this day when it comes to my diet and how I take care of my body.
This wasn’t a documentary about scandal or NBC doing anything wrong, it was just a drag on the most inconsequential events that when you pull back and look at what they actually said, sure as shit wasn’t worth 120 minutes of my time.