TV Squad reported today that Kirstie Alley will be back on TV in the new A & E series “Kirstie Alley’s Big Life”
The press release reads: A& E presents “Kirstie Alley’s Big Life,” a new real-life series that will chronicle the extraordinary life of Golden Globe and two-time Emmy winner Kirstie Alley from her journey with her weight loss program to her life as a single mother trying to raise two normal teenagers in the Hollywood spotlight.
Kirstie Alley? Pardon me, but haven’t we seen this show? And hasn’t every attempt Kirstie’s made to lose weight been a short term victory? I mean, you’re talking about a woman who got bounced by Jenny Craig for not being able to stay on a program she was endorsing?
Can we be honest here? Can we discuss what this is really about?
This isn’t an attempt to show an everyday single woman struggling to lose weight and raise her kids. This isn’t about how hard it is to lose weight in a day of fast food, high fructose corn syrup, and working full time to feed your family.
This is about putting a woman on television that everyone expects to be a self defeating, self mocking, train wreck of a once “thin and famous” actress.
Because that’s what makes people watch. It’s what makes women who battle their weight feel a bit better about their missteps. It makes people feel “better than” someone like Kirstie Alley, the once shining star.
It’s just like a bad night of Jerry Springer.
Nice move there, A & E. When Kirstie can’t lose weight, and when the show becomes just another reason she needs therapy, you can pat yourself on the back for having made women with weight issues feel just that much more screwed up.
I watched the “preview” to gain a bit of insight about the show. She claims she’s doing this because theres nothing out there that shows the struggles of losing weight, yadda yadda.
Even if she does lose the weight, based on her track record, she’s just going to gain it all back again, and then do another publicity stunt like on Oprah to congradulate herself for something people do all the time…lose weight.
I think she’s suffering from not being a real hollywood star anymore, and finds herself longing for any attention she can get.
A.We’re not all *meant* to be skinny, just like we’re not all meant to have one hair/skin/eye color. B. I’m sick and tired of, “reality,” television that is merely a form of humiliation fetish-fuel. C. When did this become what A & E is about. Holy cheebus! Can we stop devolving into the Darwin Awards’ nomination-worthy idiots every television production company seems to think we are? Maybe if we stop watching, someone will get a clue.
D. By making women insecure about our appearance, corporations make billions of dollars and we strip ourselves of our power. F**K that. Just SAY NO. Just because I won’t blow away in a strong wind or die if I get an illness that knocks 20lbs off of me doesn’t make me ugly, or insecure. Being healthy does not equal the skeletal standard women are held to in the media. The hypocrites mock women for being fat and then ask why no one noticed someone was anorexic. Do. Not. Even. Get. Me. Started.
… I personally ask the more important question, who is watching this? Because clearly people are and thus the networks will green light it.
It’s “not just A&E’s fault”? Seriously? Who green-lit the project? Who had pre-production meetings? Who signed the checks? Do you think Kirstie has some magical power to make networks give her shows? Maybe there *is* something to that Scientolocrap after all!
Now see, I agree this show is a bad idea…but it’s not just A&E’s fault. Why the heck has Kirstie Alley AGREED to this??