and potentially crimea but a lot
of people feel president Putin
will not go down from this war
without giving it everything he
has.
>>> Acclaimed actress Kirstie
alley has died leaving behind a
legacy of laughter.
>> Guys, we got to give Rebecca
here a nickname.
Something that kind of fits her
personality.
You know?
Kind of dignified, kind of
business-like.
Kind of reserved.
Let me think --
>> Anybody?
>> Back seat --
>> What do they call me?
>> In high school or now?
>> Romance.
The queen of romance.
>> Do you think they said to
Marlon brando, listen, hey,
marlin, you're a little too fat
to be "Apocalypse."
>> They need a man.
>> I can play a man.
I am an actress!
♪♪
>> Now, that's entertainment.
>> And that is a career,
extraordinary career according
to a statement from her family,
alley passed away from cancer
that was only recently
discovered.
So joining us now is rolling
stones critic, who is, by the
way, co-author of the book, two
experts picked the greatest
American shows of all-time.
I'm sure this was one of them.
Hopefully it was.
Thank you so much for joining us
here.
We appreciate it.
Listen, she had a fantastic
career in television, also on
the big screen as well.
Very complicated, but I mean,
she will go down probably as one
of the -- I would say, most
successful actresses in history.
Especially when it comes to
sitcoms.
>> I mean, she had an impossible
job.
"Cheers" will been a phenomenon
built entirely around Ted Danson
and Shelly long.
Shelly left to do movies.
Nobody could replace her.
Kirstie alley comes in, not only
do the audience accept her but
becomes more popular than in the
prior five years.
>> Which is the most iconic,
which stands out to you?
>> I mean, she did a lot of big
things, the "Look who's talking"
movies were huge hits.
Got to be Rebecca on "Cheers."
Extraordinary performance.
Nobody since maybe Lucille ball
had been as funny crying on
camera as Kirstie.
Just tremendous.
>> Told Ya.
Telling them earlier my
favorite.
Love "Cheers" but "Look who's
talking" is one of my favorite
movies ever.
I loved your piece about her in
rolling stone, and you wrote
"Impossible job.
No one could do it.
Who would even want to try?
Kirstie alley pulled it off"
talking about after Shelly long
left.
What was her TV magic?
>> She was just like, they cast
her initially as a cool
executive and realized, wait a
minute.
She's so good being a hot mess
less lean into that.
The clips you played a lot of
her being embarrassed, being
embarrassing.
She was fearless.
Could deliver any line, just,
like, thinking about dozens of
scenes running through my head
and laughing at all of them.
She was wonderful.
>> Very good.
Can we move on and talk a little
about her later career?
In the sort of TV reality show
genre, she was on the forefront
of that with "Fat actress" web
that?
On HBO I said earlier but
actually it was showtime.
Candid with struggles with
weight in real life, the show
didn't last long but something I
think was groundbreaking?
>> I think she and her team were
smart enough to recognize, look,
Hollywood is biased against not
only women of a certainly age
but women of a certain weight.
When she was both of those, she
realized I've got to sort of
take control of the narrative,
lean into it, yes, I'm aware of
it but you shouldn't care so
much about it.
Her enthusiasm in this area
was --
>> What about holding a cigar?
>> An episode promised to quit
smoking and sleep with Sam if he
catches her with a cigarette.
She looks completely calm.
Second the door closes lit
cigarette pops out.
I don't know how a human being
does this.
Probably had to do it multiple
times on camera in rehearsal.
It's nut, cigarette.
Not cigar.
Can you imagine?
>> Ted Danson went back and
watched early episodes of
"Cheers."
>> Wednesday nights, I forget
when it was.
Watch it every -- sit in front
of the must-see TV.
As part of her devil take care
attitude, she doesn't really
care and in Hollywood, actors
don't really like to associate
themselves with politics.
Right?
Sort of like to be just this
figure people can project upon
whatever they want.
She didn't care.
The last decades, scientologist,
whatever, being on the small
screen and the big screen, she
did whatever the heck she wanted
in her real life and didn't care
what others thought about it.
>> Yeah.
I mean, the odd sort of thing in
terms of life impating art is
Rebecca on "Cheers" introduced
as someone fixated on landing
Donald Trump, and somehow 20