Q&A: Darnell and Fleiss talk 'More to Love'--The Live Feed

The two "evil geniuses" of reality TV -- Fox president of alternative Mike Darnell and “Bachelor” executive producer Mike Fleiss -- are together again for the first time in nine years. Their new dating show “More to Love” (see accompanying story) is their most significant collaboration since their headline-making 2003 special “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire,” a program that established the template for relationship competition series.

Below the Two Mikes discuss “More to Love,” billed as the first broadcast dating show entirely cast with heavy and “average-looking” contestants.

THR: What was the inspiration for “More to Love”?

Darnell: A couple months ago when “Bachelor” was doing really well, Mike and I were talking about how “The Biggest Loser” was also doing well, and it occurred to us that none of the dating shows – “The Bachelor” or its numerous copies – none of them have ever anyone cast but really-slim-thin women. And what if there was one with real-looking women, whether you call them maybe plus-sized, or a little heavier --

Fleiss: A little curvier, voluptuous, you know.

Darnell: And so why not? Why don’t the real women -- the woman who watch these shows, for the most part -- have a chance to get on these shows and find love too?

Fleiss: Most of the country isn’t a Size 2. This show is about having these women be comfortable with themselves so they can be loved and find love.

Darnell: This show is going to get a lot of people talking. If you go to eHarmony, or one of those dating sites, you’re not going to find the women you see on “Bachelor.” For six years, it’s been skinny-minis and good-looking bachelors, and that’s not what the dating world looks like. This is going to be ridiculously relatable.

Fleiss: It’s the dating show for the rest of us.

THR: And is this the first series you’ve done together since “Multi-Millionaire”?

Fleiss: How could you have forgotten about “Million Dollar Mysteries,” or “Chance of a Lifetime,” or “Battle of the Child Geniuses”?

Darnell: Yeah, James!

[Laughter]

Darnell: This is the most significant thing we’ve done. All those things came right after "Multimillionaire." It’s been a long time. And we really think we’ve got something. It’s simple, yet controversial.

THR: How do the contestants being overweight change a dating show?

Fleiss: It’s still a relationship show, but the way they’re reacting to situations is going to be from a different perspective. They’ve experienced dating a different way than the beautiful -- than the stick-thin girls have.

Darnell: They’ve probably been rejected more in their lives. They’re probably a lot more trepidatious about dating. Mike and I feel that it’s not as superficial as other dating shows have been. This is going to have enormous emotion.

Fleiss: Our goal is to have everyone forget about their size and just focus on the love story we will be telling.

THR: Do the challenges or dates in the show reflect that these are average-sized people, or does the show not play off that?

Fleiss: They do the same things they would do on any date. Why would we change that formula?

Darnell: We’re not changing that formula, but there might be special pressures on people like when they get in the Jacuzzi, or there might be some lingerie wearing. So it will be just like a regular dating show, but from a different perspective.

THR: Is there a makeover aspect?

Fleiss: We want to send the message that you can be the size you are and still be lovable. We aren’t going to thin these girls down so they can find love; that’s a backwards message.

Darnell: We assume there will be makeovers in the process. That’s the way these shows roll out. There will be some woman who never wore a formal gown, never learned to do their makeup right or hair their right. But we’re not forcing them --

Fleiss: We’re not forcing them to lose weight, though.

Darnell: No. But we want them to be comfortable on a fancy date. The makeover comes in their attitudes and hopefully their self-respect.

THR: Is there a twist you’re not telling us? Are there supermodels arriving for Episode 10?

Darnell: There will be surprises, but that’s all we’re going to say.

THR: How do you think viewers will respond?

Fleiss: They’re gonna love it!

[laughter]

Darnell: It may be a little controversial, but I think it will be mostly positive. This is so simple and so obvious and yet has never been done. There used to be an idea that people wouldn’t watch unattractive people on television. “Biggest Loser” proved that’s absolutely incorrect. People want to watch relatable people.

Fleiss: It’s the right message: "You don’t have to be thin to be loved."

THR: Couldn’t you cast ordinary-looking people in “The Bachelor”? Have you ever thought about doing it?

Fleiss: The show’s different from “The Bachelor'” I don’t think this would have played with “The Bachelor” --

Darnell: The answer to that is once a show goes down “The Bachelor” route, it kind of is what it is. This is a reinvention.

Fleiss: This is an inspirational show, at the end of the day.

THR: Darnell, can you promise Fleiss you won’t schedule “More to Love” against ABC’s “The Bachelor”?

Darnell: Can I promise that ... hmm, we wouldn’t want to hurt both shows by doing that.

THR: You’ve both been called evil geniuses of reality TV. Who is the most evil?

Darnell: At times, one of us is more evil than the other, but over the years it’s about equal.

Fleiss: His position allows him to be more evil.

[Laughter]

THR: In what ways do your tastes in reality TV differ?

Darnell: We both like really good television, and we’re both not snobbish about what we do.

Fleiss: We like it noisy, that’s for sure. He gets to take a lot of chances -- that’s the great thing about Mike. He does experimental television and has great success doing it. He’s the most talented guy in the area, and there’s no question about that. It’s great to be in business with Mike.

Darnell: That’s the way I feel too; it’s very exciting to be doing this together with something that’s going to make a lot of noise. And it’s fun for me to be back in the relationship genre, because we haven’t done that in awhile, and nobody does those better than Mike. It was nice to see “Bachelor” pull off something this season that’s very tough in this genre to do -- to have gone down in the ratings and come back up like that. It’s very encouraging.

Fliess: Thanks Mike.

THR: This went great. Have you two ever been interviewed together before?

Fleiss: I think we were deposed together at one point.

[Laughter]

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