In the world of pitches, executives are usually looking for the comparisons. Tell us what you're show is like so we can understand it. ABC Family is close to picking up a series described as Glee meets Ugly Betty, according to Reuters. Based on the young adult novel by Sasha Paley, Huge is the story of two teenage girls at a summer "fat camp."
I just hope the musical comparison to Glee doesn't make this project anything like Oxygen's Dance Your Ass Off. It's also not clear if the comparison to FOX's hit series is because of a song-and-dance element, or just because of the focus on teenagers and their OMG drama!
ABC Family has been doing pretty well with teen series of late, so the network clearly knows how to handle this kind of material. If they pick it up, and it succeeds, it'll be nice for a series to show regular teenage girls across the nation that you don't have to be a Size 0-2 to be beautiful and successful, while also encouraging them to be healthy and lose weight if necessary.
I haven't read the book, but I tracked down a synopsis of it, and the two leads have different reasons for being at the summer camp, as well as different motivations -- but of course, the same cute boy they're interested in. It's been very well-received by reading audiences, and could make for a very reliable summer series for ABC Family. They could even introduce different characters to the camp each year, while keeping some the same.
