Two out of Five

I finally caught an episode of dLife this past Sunday (nights that, for me, are not conducive to TV) and all I have to say is, LOVE the JDRF commercial! All those cutie patootie little kids singing “Tomorrow”…I was saying to myself ‘ok I’ll take that one and that one and that one…’ It was the highlight of the show, IMHO!

As for the rest of it, well I can only say I was really disappointed. I wasn’t going to post anything that was overly negative about this show, but then I figured hell, these are my opinions, my site, and I can be as critical as I want. I felt like I wasted half an hour just to watch fifteen minutes of commercials (man, commercial central) and a bunch of fluff in between. The only hostess that was able to catch my attention was Mother Love (and even she had her moments); I found the rest to be very insincere and dry. Nicole Johnson totally overdoes it (sorry, but smiling Too much is just phony as hell) and the girl talks more than I do!! A little too much pretend Pollyanna Sunshine and Rainbows for my taste. I was so annoyed that I was telling my TV to shut up so that the Dietician could talk. Meanwhile the two male hosts hardly said a word. If it hadn’t been for the JDRF commercial, I probably would’ve watched Willy Wonka instead!! I want real, not a knock-off of Jerry Springer (without the fists/nudity of course lol).

On the flip side, there were a few things that I thought promising. I enjoyed Mother Love’s energy, and it seems like a there were some grains of knowledge to be had for anyone who is newly diagnosed (and I mean brand-spanking new). They showed a brief clip about future shows and it looks like there is going to be more human interest stories, although I’m sure there’s only so much they can do with 15 or so minutes of TV time. But if they can successfully incorporate some real stories, add some reality to the phony-baloney, I’d love to see it.

I’m always willing to give the benefit of the doubt, so I’ll probably catch another few episodes to see if it improves. But I’m definitely not going to deliberately change my schedule again for that.  The least they could’ve done was played the JDRF commercial twice just so I would’ve had a little bit of a warm fuzzy by the end. I just loved that commercial!!

All in all, I give dLife two kernels of popcorn out of five.

Comments

[Sandra Miller]

Hey there Tiffany,

Found your blog via another diabetes blog. My son was dx'd type 1 last August.

So, I've been curious about dLife, but haven't seen it because we don't have cable TV (I'm not for cable in our house because I know that I'd sit there like a lab rat, spinning through the channels, sampling all-- with my husband and kids along for the ride. It would not be pretty)

Anyhow, thanks for the very amusing review. I will read with interest what you have to say about future episodes...

Keep writing!
Sandra

[AmyT]

I agree with Kathleen that all four hosts need to learn to shut up now & then so their guests can talk. And Mother Love gets on my nerves, but that's just me...

[Tiffany]

Thanks for commenting Sandra; pleasure to meet you! I just had a look at your blog (LOVE the picture of your son with playing ball and blowing a big old gum bubble lol) and have taken the liberty of linking your site.

Man, I have Satellite and it's hardly ever used...mi casa es su casa (I have no idea if I spelled that right lol) if you wanna trade!

Add me to the "yay's", Amy. I wonder if any of the head honcho's from dLife keep an eye on all the D blogs and gather feedback to improve the show?

Tiffany

[Howard]

I'm a very tightly managed Type 1 for 36 years - low carb, A1C <6. I could have made dLife for me and the 2% of the population that is tightly controlled, surfs, blogs, reads and knows how to aggressively manage diabetes. But I made dLife for 100% or maybe 85%, that simply wants a place to go to not feel so alone or are not engaged to their disease, that still go to the family doc and are slowly dying. So if the show seems a bit pedestrian to you, stay with it, more good stuff to come in new episodes and remember that the world needs this. Also you are so wrong about the hosts, they are so sincere and care deeply about engaging this community in meaningful way.

[Paula]

Hey Tiffany. We appreciate all feedback and take it to heart as we work to make dLife and dLifeTV. Howard (who is, incidentally, dLife's CEO...so yes, the honchos are paying attention ;-) summed it up well in his comment above - sometimes the info may seem 'simple' - but there's so many people out there who lack even the most basic education on their diabetes.

The show you saw was one of our first six, and we've learned a lot along the way and incorporated a lot of the feedback and suggestions we've gotten from the diabetes community into making dLife better. I hope you'll tune in for our new shows starting June 12th.

Best,
Paula (Managing Editor)

[Tiffany]

Howard, Paula; thank you so much for chiming in. It is great to know that the dLife team has their collective 'ears' to the ground!

Granted, I am no CEO of anything (except my own life, of course) nor am I an Editor, Actor or a Host. So my opinions and comments are purely that of one of your general target audience and can be weighted as such.

Howard, I may be misconstruing your comment but I truly thought that dLife was intended for anyone who has Diabetes, has a family member/friend with Diabetes or even just an interest in the disease; not just those who lack education and control, etc. No matter what our education, A1c levels, level of management or interest in blogs and the internet, isn't this our commonality? And should I and others, as a member of that 2% (which I seem to recall is closer to 15%) then not feel compelled - and deserving - to continually search for more knowledge, support and common ground, whether that be the Internet or TV or support groups?
I do agree that this is a great mode of communication for the world; not only for those with Diabetes but for those without, as well. For that alone you have great reason to be proud.

I am not wrong about the hosts, Howard. I did not, at any point, question their sincerity; I challenged their delivery. And it seems, from the feedback that I have seen (not only from Blogs), that I am not in the minority in all of my thoughts. Of course, once again this is only my opinion, I do not presume to speak for everyone.

I will give the show the benefit of my doubt, you can count on that. (just to throw this one in, any chance it'll be increased to an hour?) I'd love to have this show as a permanent placement on my 'favourites' menu! Perhaps come the 12th I will have more favourable comments to give :)

Tiffany

[Dee]

Tiffany-

My wife and I have been dealing with our 2-year old's type 1 for seven months now, and as people who are new to everything diabetes, we watched dLife--We had the same impression that you had after watching the first 3 episodes. I know that the show is built around emphasis for type 2 diabetics who are not receiving the medical attention that they should receive (and likely many that cannot afford the proper medical attention), but there is a, uh... how do I say this nicely-- a creepyness to the hosts' delivery and the basic-ness of the message. OK, I understand the entire message has to be boiled down to hit the audience it is intending to reach, but I recall a few weeks ago all of the hosts interviewed severalathletes with diabetes. I came away feeling like there wasnt a single question that was asked that was useful or relevant.

I still TiVO the show-- and I will admit that Sunday night after the kids are in bed is not the best time to watch a show about diabetes for the parent of a diabetic (or likely for anyone)-- but I havent been watching. I chalk dLife up to "targeting a different portion of the diabetes community."

I enjoy your blog-- feel free to stop by mine and say hi. :)

Dee