We only have so much space for titles, so here’s the full quote from Kirstie Alley, who was told by the interviewer that she paved the way for plus-sized actresses and was joking in her response – I think. She said “If I had something to do with more full-figured women being in mainstream and having their own shows, then I will take total credit for that.” How do you capture that in a title that fits though? You don’t. So I don’t think she’s being as full of herself as that title may suggest.
Kirstie was on ET promoting her upcoming TV Land series, Kirstie. It’s a sitcom that co-stars fellow Cheers alum, Rhea Pearlman, along with Michael Richards of Seinfeld. (Remember him and what a racist a**hole he is? I’m surprised he’s getting work still.) The premise is complicated so I’ll just quote USA Today “Alley will play Broadway star Madison ‘Maddie’ Banks, whose life goes topsy-turvy when Arlo (Petersen), the son she gave up after birth, shows up after his adoptive parents have died. The nerdy Arlo doesn’t fit Maddie’s lavish lifestyle, but her assistant and best friend, Thelma (Perlman), and driver, Frank (Richards), persuade her to give the young man a chance.” It sounds dumb and predictable, right?
Anyway Kirstie was asked about paving the way for other larger ladies and she joked about it and heaped praise on the latest generation of bigger actresses, including Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson. They also had a quick interview with Rebel about her upcoming fall ABC comedy, Super Fun Night, and she had some nice things to say about body image. It was kind of awesome.
Kirstie Alley is making her return to television this fall, where the landscape has changed for female leads since her 2005 show Fat Actress.
When Kirstie’s Showtime show left the air it also seemed to leave a mark, paving the way for actresses like Rebel Wilson, whose new sitcom Super Fun Night is coming soon to ABC.
“If I had something to do with more full-figured women being in mainstream and having their own shows, then I will take total credit for that,” Kirstie joked with ET’s Rob Marciano.One of the reasons the Golden Globe winner did Fat Actress was to prove that she’s still a funny, beautiful and talented person regardless of her weight. Similarly, Rebel also has a message to get across.
“I like that with Super Fun Night I’m kind of encouraging girls who may not feel that they’re the prettiest or the most popular to just get out there and have a life,” said Rebel. “I think that’s a really good message.”
You can catch Kirstie in her new self-titled show this fall on TV Land.
I know exactly what Rebel is talking about. You feel like you’re not worthy sometimes because you’re not the size you want to be or are used to being. That’s a great message. I’m going to put the preview for Rebel’s show Super Fun Night below, but first I wanted to make a minor point. It would be awesome if we could have actresses of all sizes as comedians, romantic love interests and dramatic actresses. Too many times the heavier women are relegated to comedy. (Although Rebel is awesome and it’s hard to see her anywhere else. She’s an incredible comedian.) We can have a larger love interest in a romantic film and not have the character’s size be the point! I would just like to see more variations in women on the big and small screen.
Here’s the trailer for Super Fun Night. It looks funny! (Note: I could not find a trailer for Kirstie’s show. All I found is a video in which she makes the announcement that her show has been picked up.)
Kirstie is shown on 4-30-13. Credit: WENN and FameFlynet
She always looks like she just woke up, put on clothes and headed out the door. Like she hasn’t had a shower or combed her hair.
and then was dragged backwards through a hedge.
i had to tell you that you just made me snort. lmao
Ditto. I may have just hurt myself.
How can she take credit for that when she’s never bee plus sized? I mean according to her, that is…
Yeah, isn’t she like a size 4, per her own admission? Ha!
hahaha, right?? that’s what i was just thinking. i would give her alot more credit if she’d stop lying about what size she is. i am a solid size 8. there is no way she is the same or smaller than me.
I’m a solid size 12 and I’m waaay smaller than she is.
The more I learn about $cientology the less I’m able to listen to a word she says.
BUT SHE IS A SIZE FOUR!!!!!!
This is one very delusional woman.
First it was about her recovered small waist, now this !
She must be very confused and detached from reality…another Lady Eloise…
She was really only successful when she was thin and hot. The heavy years have just been a series of ill-fated projects, fake diet products and general nastiness. She’s never been comfortable with her size, despite what she says.
‘Zactly! She made a career when she was thin and has been floundering ever since she became heavy.
Jeez, Kirstie, when did you have time to almost seduce Patrick Swayze away from his wife, with all that plus-size actress trailblazing you were doing back in the 80s?
I don’t get why she’d be taking credit. When she was on Cheers she was a skinny little thing and even on that other show (Veronica’s Closet?) she wasn’t exactly huge.
Anyway! Her new show does sound kind of dumb so no, I probably won’t watch.
There were much more talented + sized women before her. Kathy Bates mops the floor with her when it comes to talent.
I agree.She didn’t even get heavy until way into her career.She didn’t pave the way.When I was growing up(I am almost 50)there really wasn’t any that I can think of.Samantha Steven’s and Jennie were not heavy by any mean’s.Delta Burke who did not start out plus size was wonderful on Designing Women and really opened a lot people’s eye’s.I use to like Kristie but she has become outright crazy!!
Yeah, if somebody deserves some credit, it’s Delta Burke who really took way more crap from her own producers than any person should have to.
Yes thank you, Kathy Bates is great! Kirstie is just delusional.
Don’t forget Nell Carter from the 80’s hit show “Gimme a Break”
I forgot about her.How could I,I watched it all the time.Yes Nell had to have been the first in her own successful show.Here that Kirstie it wasn’t you!And buy the way I am 5’9 like Kirstie and am a size eight and there is no way she is even under 200 pound’s.Tall people can carry a lot of weight on there frame.
my thoughts exactly.
So they named a Sitcom “Kristie” But the main character on the show is called “Maddie”. Well that makes perfect sense.
That’s been done before, though. Andy Griffith Show. Dick Van Dyke Show. Mary Tyler Moore Show. Newhart. Probably others (although I can’t think of any recent ones, come to think of it).
I’m pretty sure the only one on your list with a different name in the show was Dick Van Dyke..(Rob). Andy was Andy and Mary was Mary on their respective shows..no??
Dick as Rob Petrie, Mary Tyler Moore was Mary Richards and yes Andy was Andy.
I wanna see Super Fun Night, I don’t care about the rest. Rebel Wilson is hilarious.
LOVE. REBEL. SO. MUCH!!!
WHAT? I thought she was a size 0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4??????
She is nuts.
Her HAIR! She looks positively infested. She is deep into the Cray now. She’d be a bag lady if she didn’t have so much money.
I take hair conditioners are on the No -No List.
Roseanne and Nell Carter where women of size at the height of their careers so not sure how Ms. Delusional can take credit when she was a skinny miss at hers.
Yes!!! Exactly!
All she has ever done is whinge and bitch about it and go on a million crash diets. If she paved the way for anything, it was just that people should expect larger women to cave to pressures and try to adhere to beauty standards no matter what
Yes, you do that, Kirstie. To hell with Nell Carter, Kathy Bates & Delta Burke!
Lol.She is delusional just like Lindsay.The woman is nut’s.I also think she drink’s a lot to tell you the truth and that’s where her weight come’s from.Empty calories.
Glad I’m not the only one who let out a ‘Bitch please’. She was much thinner when she started her career and when she first gained all of the weight she spent a while at least trying to hide it. Remember those Pier 1 commercials where she was always partially obscured by the bamboo furniture?
Yikes…comb your hair and buy and iron
Because Kirstie is AALLLLL about the self acceptance, right?
Agreed with how impossible it seems to be for society to look beyond size. I’m fat, and I’m also smart, creative and I have awesome adventures. The vast majority can’t seem to manage to look beyond the ‘fat’ part of that sentence though, as if it defines every aspect of me.
What the hell is wrong with her hair? It always looks so nasty. All tangled and matted. Are her arms too heavy to lift a brush?
FFS!! when I think back to actresses who were actually talented and plus size kirstieXenuMuffinalley does NOT come to mind. I immediately thought of these ladies
Nell Carter,Roseanne Barre, Maria Conchita Alonso, and Mindy Cohn.
The reason she’s so big now is because she’s clean and possibly obliterated her natural metabolism through not eating properly during her coke snorting days. I guess now she’s in a permanently induced state of delusions of grandeur due to the blow?? Uggghhh
I’m so sick of people making out like she’s normal, she’s an ex junkie who is mentally unhinged and is deeply involved in a religious cult who happened to be an actress for a while, gaaahhh just go away……..
Thank you for mentioning more great actresses.
I was going to ask if others noticed on the ET clip, when they mentioned the new plus sized actresses and how great they are, blah blah blah, they had a rolling screen of all of two actresses, Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson. That’s it.
I don’t think that Bea Arthur was all that petite, and neither was the actress that played Ethel Merman on Lucy. and Kathy Bates naked in a hot tub was a cinematic high point. I can’t stand K.A., what an idiot.
Oh you kids, lol, Ethel Merman was not the character on I Love Lucy, it was Ethel Mertz and she was played by the wonderful Vivian Vance.
If those are recent pictures- she looks pretty good. She’s not some skinny young thing any more, but she’s hardly huge. Plenty of women are happily running around and busy at home and anywhere else they work at her size. When I read the intro, I assumed she must be looking very different than she really is.
I do think she’s very funny even though her Co$ connections make me cringe. I keep hoping she’ll slide away from them some day.
She was pretty good on King Of Queens, where she made fun of herself and her eating habits. I’m getting sort of burnt out on all her diets, over and over again. Has she tried surgery? I wonder…
Also, on a side note, I was disappointed with Michael Richards; loved his acting soooo much and then he had to go and ruin that.
Poor Kristie, she was such a beautiful lady back in her Cheers days.
why did they show that plus sized actress twice (at 1:23 and 1:26 mark)..?? I love Kristie. She’s a hot mess!
One caveat: I was a disappointed fan of Michael Richards until I watched Comedians in Cars getting Coffee ( web series ). Please watch it,you may see the regretful side of him for that incident like I did.
I am always willing to give everyone a second chance, although not a third.
Wow….that Comedians/car/coffee thing was RAW! and very interesting, I particularly loved the savant story.
I will look forward to watching more.
Topic? I just can’t with this scieno.
*cough*size two*cough*