Is 'Bridalplasty' the 'most depressing TV series ever'?

Since the E! channel announced in September that it had ordered up a new reality series called "Bridalplasty" featuring brides-to-be competing to win a complete plastic surgery overhaul for their big day (ah, romance), commentators have worried that the show would mark a "new low" in reality television. Apparently, they did not worry in vain: Last night's premiere prompted one critic to wonder if it "just might be the most depressing TV series ever to air on television." Just how bad is it? (Watch a clip from "Bridalplasty's" premiere)

Horrible: "This is about as repulsive as reality TV gets," says Mark A. Perigard in the Boston Herald. The brides-to-be on this "creepy," "'Stepford Wife'-like show" seem to have come "through a black hole that leads to the 1950s." The show feeds "the idea that a woman's worth is based on attaining the perfect physique by any means."

"Love, honor and garish"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Worse than horrible — but addictive: "This show is a train wreck, albeit one that no one wants to turn away from," says Chris Spargo at Hollywood Life. "Bridalplasty's" "whining blonds" are "almost all in perfect shape" yet they still feel compelled to obliterate their "minor imperfections." It's "beyond addictive," and "sadly, I will be tuning in each week."

"'Bridalplasty' recap: It's not as bad as you think, it is actually somehow worse!"

Bad, but not unprecedented: "Bridalplasty" is just a "creepy mix of things you have seen before" says Robert Lloyd in the Los Angeles Times. From the "injectables party" featured on the first episode to each contestant's "wish list" of plastic surgery procedures," this "is just the latest mining of a tapped-out form, with nothing fresh to offer but a new flavor of humiliation."

"Television review: 'Bridalplasty'"