Jezebel Starts Petition to Save 'Huge'

A week or so ago we had the creator of 'Lone Star' begging viewers to help save his show. Now, one day after ABC Family announced it was canceling summer series 'Huge,' women's website Jezebel.com has launched an online petition to save it.

In the petition, Dodai Stewart maintains that 'Huge' is worth saving because there are too few overweight characters in scripted TV shows, and that when fat characters do exist, they are typically treated as a punchline. Stewart argues that 'Huge' was significant because "although the show was about teenagers at a weight-loss camp, weight loss was actually just a fraction of the issues the kids (and adults) were dealing with. The characters juggled dilemmas ... In other words, it reminded us that fat people are people. Humans."

Although hopes were high for the series -- described as 'Glee' meets 'Ugly Betty' -- when it first launched, ABC Family canceled 'Huge' after one season due to steadily declining ratings.

The hour-long drama about teens at a weight-loss summer camp was created by Winnie Holzman ('My So-Called Life') and Savannah Dooley, and it starred Nicki Blonsky ('Hairspray') and Haley Hasselhoff. According to jezebel.com's petition, "'Huge' created a world in which your body matters, but it's not the only thing to focus on. The characters - played by actual overweight teens - were smart, creative, funny, athletic, caring, generous... So much more than just fat. ... I'd be willing to guess that for the almost two million people it touched, the impact was really important."

It's not the first time that the Internet's been used to save a show or character. This past summer 'Criminal Minds' fans launched an online petition to save Paget Brewster and A.J. Cook's roles after CBS declined to renew the actresses' contracts. That petition was unsuccessful, so it will be interesting to see if jezebel.com has more luck.