Fat Actress: The Complete First Season DVD Review:

Weight has always been a big issue for women in Hollywood in the same way that age has been. It was once said that once an actress reached the age of forty she was done working in Hollywood. I’m not sure if there was ever an exact number for the weight an actress must get to before she could no longer work, but it doesn’t seem to matter as much these days as long as you are willing to be laughed at. Looking like a strange mix of The Anna Nicole Show with Arrested Development, Fat Actress is a fictional show in which Kirstie Alley plays herself. The fact that she has co-written the show which gets most of the jokes from her weight is only less sad and pathetic because she seems to be making fun of someone else.

In each episode an extremely ignorant version of Kirstie Alley attempts to lose weight and get acting jobs as well as have sex with Kid Rock. There isn’t really much else to the show but somehow it manages to create laughs, mostly thanks to the two fantastic supporting actors, Bryan Callen and Rachel Harris, who play her assistant and hair and makeup assistant. While the writing is often clever it may have fallen flat in other hands. These two manage to save nearly every scene that they are in, especially when Alley is in danger of becoming so irritating that it is no longer funny.

One of the things that Fat Actress quickly promises, from the first episode with guest star John Travolta to the finale with Jeff Zucker, is at least one guest celebrity each episode. Although it starts strong with names like Kid Rock and Carmen Electra, some of the episodes towards the end have smaller celebrities. Another strange factor is having them play themselves as well as having other guest stars play fictional characters as well. This is just another element which makes Fat Actress stranger than any other comedy on television.

Because Fat Actress is on Showtime, there is more freedom for adult humor and language, which helps the show remain cutting edge and slightly offensive. Many episodes are about Kirstie attempting to have sex, which is humorous because of how unattractive she allows herself to look in many episodes. Although the show is humorous, there are only three or four topics which are covered within the first season. Fat Actress is successful because it found a few things that worked and repeats them like a comedian doing the same routine at each show, with hopes that nobody from the last show is in the audience. It never quite gets old in season one, but there are only seven episodes in the set.

Aside from the fact that there are only seven episodes which are thirty minutes each, and yet they are placed on two separate discs, the series is humorous enough to make it worth watching. The menu is irritating, with Kirstie’s cackling and the music being the only sound, and the pink box which the two discs are held in doesn’t seem to fit the feeling of the show, but the special features are good. The special features include a behind-the-scenes vignette, biographies of the actors, and a commentary track. They aren’t spectacular, but they are somewhat entertaining. It makes little sense that a show with so few episodes would have such a large package to hold it all in, especially considering it need to go on the shelf after viewing, but the show itself is nearly worth the hassle.

Episode Index:
1. Big Butts
2. Charlie’s Angels
3. Holy Lesbo, Batman
4. The Koi Effect
5. Crack for Good
6. Crybaby McGuire
Hold This



Ryan Izay