It seems as though Insatiable is trying to straddle these two aspects of our current culture, attempting to attract earnest viewers who struggle with body image issues as well as viewers who would be more than happy to laugh at the life of a "former fat girl".
And besides, the simple binary choice that Affleck and Phoenix offered viewers — earnest or ironic?
It may have struck a viewer as grimly earnest before the latest Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but it now seems prescient and urgent.
When his wife, daughter or father look at him, they also seem to be looking at us and addressing us as "you," making every viewer into the earnest, uncomfortable, self-doubting surrogate for the filmmaker.
Logo, a niche cable network that MTV created a year ago for gay viewers, is an earnest, didactic celebration of sexual self-determination in even its most marginal manifestations: gay Republicans, biker lesbians and many gender-defying groups, including transsexuals.
A show like "Project Runway," cast heavily with gays and minorities, plays so earnest it's downright straight — the viewer roots weepily for the talented son of a hardscrabble truck driver, or the striving daughter of a hardworking Korean immigrant.
With President Obama making the rounds of nearly every major news network on Monday night to press his case for attacking Syria, the battle for viewer eyeballs began in earnest on Monday morning.
But the new series also raises questions about television drama today: can a show with the calm look and earnest soul of an older era attract viewers used to the flash and pace of "E.R".
The result, which now draws 15 million viewers each month, resembles an earnest version of Gawker or an unabashedly capitalistic Huffington Post.
Instead of earnest pleas, heartbreaking set pieces and inspirational songs, viewers will be treated to segments showing Steve Carell simulating orgasm with two women onstage, Sarah Silverman making out with the film critic Leonard Maltin, and a generous helping of bleeped-out language.
But most recently viewers saw a more serious, more earnest side of Ms. Couric when she became the first female solo anchor of an evening news program at CBS.
