I don't watch TV, but I don't find it hard to believe that some shows play WLS very lightly, like it's easy. And people's results are glorified I'm sure - in this country we love Cinderella stories.

The Seattle Times has some good stories on this issue - they did an in-depth report about a couple who both had the surgery, and there's some other stuff on that page too. It worked out well for them in the end, I think, but the wife was back in the hospital a couple of times and it got a little scary.