HUGE Party

You guys are just going to have to take my word for it that I'm not riding coattails here.

The success of your peers should be celebrated. I believe this implicitly; it's why I link the things I link here on the blog and on Twitter, it's why I like to show people the weird-ass comic books I pick up at conventions and indie bookstores, and why if someone tells me they know someone who published a book, I try to get it. I'll be honest, in most situations, like with John, or Hannah, or Eric and Dave, or Hipstercrite [I feel badly that I don't know her real name, like I should have picked it up by now - though sometimes I call her "Mrs. Brown" in my head], calling them my peers seems like overreaching, and they've certainly done more than enough to not need my mentions.

But I digress.

Tonight, my fellow alumnus, more importantly my friend, Savannah Dooley, has her new TV show Huge premiere on ABC Family, at 9/8 central. For those of you who didn't see my earlier post about this, Huge is a one hour teen drama about a weight-loss camp that's based off the young adult novel of the same name by Sasha Paley, and it was adapted by Savannah and her mother, Winnie Holzman [that would be the Winnie Holzman of My So-Called Life and Wicked fame, folks]. The show stars Nikki Blonsky, Gina Torres is in it, David Hasselhoff's daughter has a part in it, and I have this sneaking suspicion you'll also see big time actor/West Virginia escape artist Paul Dooley show up too. Call it a hunch. Savannah is producing the show too, and it's just such a big opportunity, such a really big accomplishment for her that I want to get her as much support as possible. As limited as I am from my little soap box here.

Because Savannah deserves this. I have had the privilege of reading things of hers that Hollywood may never be bold enough to touch, I even keep one of her scripts from a screenwriting class we had together, just because I periodically like to go back and read it again. It reminds me of her, it makes me feel a little better about all the distance between us. It's also really fucking good.

The same is true for her family. Her mother has always been a sweetheart to me, always spoke to me like I was a writer, even though in her position she didn't have to give some snot-nosed kid like me that privilege. Her dad singled me out right away as someone who wanted to get out of this shit-hole of a state, and took me aside and gave me words of encouragement I'll never forget [or, in this case, share. Some things are private, y'all].

So go. Tune in. Let's get the ratings up on this thing, let's give this show the credit it deserves. If I had a bunch of friends here, instead of scattered to the far corners of the country, even the world, you know I'd be throwing a gigantic viewing party in celebration. In lieu of that, I'll probably be getting takeout and watching from home, but still -- the point stands.

All you writers I know, Savannah's one of our good ones. Let's lift her up. We need more writers like her out there in the trenches.

And hey, she's also not the only person in this little shindig I know, either. Another classmate of mine, Molly Tarlov, a girl who I never got to know as well as I would have liked to, but who always seemed so happy to run into me, always greeting me, no matter where or when, with this brilliant excited smile [and I'd always walk away from her humming a certain Vaselines song]. She's on the show too. So, seriously, there are so many talented people involved here, there is no reason not to check it out.

So. Go forth and watch. Huge. Monday night. The 28th. That's tomorrow, folks. 9/8 central. ABC Family. And while you wait, go check out the official website, go check out the Facebook page, the IMDB page, the Wikipedia entry. Get pumped for this.

One of our own made it.