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Life after 'Cheers'? – we’ve seen that with Larry
David’s post-Seinfeld pleasantry 'Curb Your Enthusiasm',
and the ‘day in the life’ thing, that’s been
done to death with everyone from Anna Nicole Smith to 'The
Osbournes' headlining a reality series.
So, in essence, it was a good move on the former TV siren’s
behalf ordering the twelve cheeseburgers instead of just one
the last time she drove through Jack-in-the-Box – it
lead the way to an original sitcom concept.
Similar in structure to the aforesaid 'Curb your Enthusiasm',
Alley plays a version of herself in this fluffed-up lampoon.
This Alley is a has-been – not too far from the truth
– who lives in a good-looking manor flanked by two assistants,
and spends most of her days shoving food down her throat and
frankly, getting bigger and bigger.
Most of the show revolves around efforts to get Alley –
desperate to return to TV or film – to lose weight. It
gets rather silly at times, but is still always entertaining.
Former 'Blossom' star Mayim Bialik plays herself, a flabby
has-been who lives down the road from Alley and takes on a
sort of semi-villain role throughout the series (to much amusement)
and several famous faces, including John Travolta and Geoffrey
Lewis, stop by for cameos, either playing themselves or characters
that enter and leave the former 'Cheers' star’s life.
Unfortunately, it’s those 'guest appearances' thing
that hinders the enjoyment of the series. Whilst Larry David
gets unknowns to play the people in his life or merely has
the ‘actor’ play themselves (i.e. Ted Danson is
Ted Danson, Richard Lewis is Richard Lewis), Alley casts recognisable
actors in the roles of her friends, co-workers and family
members.
She makes us believe that this is the ‘Alley’ of
today, and yet ruins the pretence by having a familiar face
like Christopher McDonald (her co-star in 'Veronica’s
Closet') play her brother, or Kelly Preston play her diet
consultant.
It becomes all too apparent that this is ‘fluff’
once we see the actor behind the character. She really should’ve
gone the 'Curb' route and cast either the real person as the
character or an unknown.
'Fat Actress' isn’t a bad show, it does have some amusing
moments and is a lot more entertaining than watching Anna
Nicole swallow an unripe banana for 20 minutes, but it really
needed to be put back in the oven for an extra few minutes
to brown.
DVD Extras
The video and audio is up to scratch, and if you can be bothered,
there’s commentary on several of the episodes –
firstly, by the cast, and then, the producers. And it has
to be said that the former bunch are more entertaining than
the sleepish producers.
On Disc 3, there are a few more bonuses: a making of, premiere
party footage, deleted scenes, interviews and plugs for other
stuff.
Conclusion: Movie 65% Extras: 75%
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