Little People, Big TV Exposure

Don't look now, but the dwarfs are taking over TV--the Roloffs, the chocolate makers, the doctor and the businessman, the little parents with the big baby. Billy Barty would be thrilled at the exposure.

And they are all so darned wholesome--no Jon and Kate here. In fact, dwarfs can be downright boring. The Little Chocolatiers, for instance, have a set plot for each episode: the impossible assignment, the torturous fulfilling if it, the last-minute snag, and the triumph. And The Little Couple was getting a little mushy-sticky until Bill and Jen started their quest for a surrogate pregnancy.

The Roloffs still rule, of course, despite irritatingly obvious product placement, their free-spending lifestyle, and their multiple dream vacations. I love the soccer mania, messy house, teenage angst, LPA conventions, and egomania. Can't beat them apples.

Of course, all the programs are successful in communicating their underlying theme: familiarizing the television audience with little people as, basically, normal people. In that aspect, they're all winners.