2005年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-"Fat Actress" Makes Big Debut

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This is Day to Day, I am Alex.C.If you've been in the supermarket lately,looking at the tabloid¹ covers,you must be aware of the weight problems of Kirstie Alley²,the former star of the sitcom³ "Cheers" is no longer so slender as she once was.But Day to Day TV critic Andrew Wallenstein has seen her new Showtime series "Fat Actress"and he says Kirstie is at least still funny.

There are two unpardonable things for a woman in Hollywood,getting old and getting fat. 54-year-old,200-pound Kirstie Alley has done both.But lo and behold⁴ it's actually a pretty good career move.In "Fat Actress" Alley basically transforms her own life into a TV show.We watched her try to restart a television career while desperately⁵ trying to keep her weight down.And as I watched her pluck hamburger crumbs⁶ from her cleavage in the first episode,I lost my appetite.You see, no actress has come across this unabashedly repellent since Charlize Theron uglified herself for Monster,the film she won an Oscar for last year.And it is not just surface beauty we are talking about here.Alley whines⁷ and whimpers endlessly,even when doing business with her talent agent.

"I do television,Sam.I want my own television show.I mean is it so much to ask if I have my own television show again since that's what I do for a living?"

"The reality is if you want to get your own show,you're gonna have to lose some weight."

"Well,why can't I just get a show first and then lose the weight?"
"That's not way it works, my friend"

"You know what,my friend, it does work that way with the guys.I mean,look,Drum Goodsman's got his own show and Janson Alexander looks like a crack bowling⁸ ball indeed."

Well, I'm not sure Alley's shamelessness here is incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.But the question becomes irrelevant⁹."Fat Actress" hooks you because you wanna see just how far Alley would go for laughs at her own expense.That's pretty down and far,because Showtime is a premium¹⁰ cable channel,which has few content restrictions¹¹. For instance,"Fat Actress" proves its political incorrectness from the start,when Alley gets some dieting advice.

"Get some cigarettes."
"Oh, I don't want to smoke.I just quit"
"Not to smoke.You idiot , to eat."
"Eat?"
"Tobacco digested causes severe acidity¹² and brings holes in your stomach lining¹³.That's a good thing."

Alley has always been a solid comic performer,but that's not the real novelty of this show."Fat Actress" is refreshingly¹⁴ funny because body image issues are usually off limits for laughs.Just wait and see this become a trend when the show becomes a big hit.But as much as I enjoy Alley's wild sense of humour,I am a little worried about the future of the show.She's already signed a sponsorship deal with the Jenney Crag diet plant,which begs an obvious question:what will "Fat Actress" be if Alley isn't fat? Unless the show becomes more than just one-note jokes about her weight,it's the comedy that could begin to wear thin.

Andrew Wallenstein is an editor at the Hollywood reporter,the new Showtime series "Fat Actress" debuts¹⁵ next week.