{"id":127,"date":"2013-12-04T00:08:19","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T00:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/?p=127"},"modified":"2013-12-04T00:27:54","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T00:27:54","slug":"comedians-shine-in-kirstie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html","title":{"rendered":"Comedians Shine in \u2018Kirstie\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maddie<\/a>
Maddie (Kirstie Alley) welcomes Arlo (Eric Petersen) to her home in TV Land\u2019s new original sitcom \u201cKirstie,\u201d premiering Wednesday, December 4th at 10pm ET\/PT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Kirstie Alley has had her ups and downs over the years from her start as a Vulcan in the Star Trek II <\/em>movie to her most recent stint on Dancing with the Stars<\/em> where she proved that she is still well-liked. This week she unveils a new character that was tailor-made for the actress in the new sitcom, Kirstie<\/em> which premieres Wednesday, December 4 at 10:00 p.m. on the TV Land<\/a> Network.<\/p>\n

The Emmy\u00ae Award-winner Alley portrays successful Broadway star Madison Banks who has been in the limelight so long that she doesn\u2019t know how to relate to \u201ceveryday\u201d people. That is about to change as she meets Arlo (Eric Petersen), the son she gave up for adoption, for the very first time. Arlo\u2019s adopted mother has recently passed away and he became curious about finding his birth mom. Helping Madison get over this shock is her personal assistant, Thelma (Cheers<\/em> co-star Rhea Perlman) and limo driver Frank (Seinfeld\u2019s<\/em> Michael Richards). In the pilot episode, the cast also featured Gilles Marini as Madison\u2019s personal chef, but must have been dropped after the initial episode as he isn\u2019t seen or mentioned in the subsequent episodes.<\/p>\n

Once you get through the initial pilot episode of the series, Kirstie<\/em> is a pleasant surprise. Writer and Executive Producer, Marco Pennette, rushes the story\u2019s premise within two minutes of the start of the show and bombards the audience with joke upon joke. Not all of them fly and some are just tasteless. Watching it will make you wish that they would just slow down a bit and develop the characters more. Overall though, the pilot is saved because of its heart.<\/p>\n

By the second episode, the show slows it\u2019s pace down a bit. We get to know the characters a bit better and both Perlman and Richards prove that they can play more characters than just Carla and Kramer. Perlman is still sarcastic, but shows her loving side as well. It\u2019s great to see her again. For Richards, only glimpses of his old friend Cosmo Kramer appear in some of his mannerisms. His new character is a bit of a mystery. Is he a limo driver with a past or is he slightly crazy?<\/p>\n

Even though the show has Alley\u2019s name in it, it really operates as a ensemble show. The veteran stars work well with relative newcomer, Petersen, who portrayed \u201cShrek\u201d in the national tour of the Broadway musical. Thelma refers to the Madison and Arlo as two diamonds in the rough and it will be fun to see how these two navigate their new roles as mother and son. Though the show is crass at times, the overall theme is one that people of faith can appreciate. It\u2019s a show about redemption, forgiveness, second chances and love.
\nKirstie is an \u201cold fashioned\u201d sitcom filmed with multiple cameras, shot in front of a live studio audience and features only one storyline. It cleverly weaves in guest stars in each episode including Cloris Leachman as Madison\u2019s mother. Other guest stars include John Travolta, Jason Alexander, George Wendt, Kristin Chenoweth, Kristen Johnston and Kathy Griffin.<\/p>\n

Now seen in over 98 million U.S. homes, TV Land\u2019s target audience is that of those in their 40\u2019s and 50\u2019s. The programming consists of original programming, classic and contemporary television series acquisitions, hit movies and a full-service Web site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kirstie Alley has had her ups and downs over the years from her start as a Vulcan in the Star Trek II movie to her most recent stint on Dancing with the Stars where she proved that she is still well-liked. This week she unveils a new character that was tailor-made for the actress in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":558,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[118,119,120,116,121,114,93],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-eric-petersen","tag-kistie-alley","tag-michael-richards","tag-rhea-perlman","tag-sitcom","tag-tv-land","tag-tv-show-review"],"yoast_head":"\nComedians Shine in \u2018Kirstie\u2019 - Peanuts and Popcorn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comedians Shine in \u2018Kirstie\u2019 - Peanuts and Popcorn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kirstie Alley has had her ups and downs over the years from her start as a Vulcan in the Star Trek II movie to her most recent stint on Dancing with the Stars where she proved that she is still well-liked. This week she unveils a new character that was tailor-made for the actress in…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peanuts and Popcorn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-04T00:08:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-04T00:27:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/files\/2013\/12\/Maddie-Says-Hello.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jtotey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Comedians Shine in \u2018Kirstie\u2019 - Peanuts and Popcorn","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Comedians Shine in \u2018Kirstie\u2019 - Peanuts and Popcorn","og_description":"Kirstie Alley has had her ups and downs over the years from her start as a Vulcan in the Star Trek II movie to her most recent stint on Dancing with the Stars where she proved that she is still well-liked. This week she unveils a new character that was tailor-made for the actress in…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html","og_site_name":"Peanuts and Popcorn","article_published_time":"2013-12-04T00:08:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-12-04T00:27:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/files\/2013\/12\/Maddie-Says-Hello.jpg"}],"author":"jtotey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html","name":"Comedians Shine in \u2018Kirstie\u2019 - Peanuts and Popcorn","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/files\/2013\/12\/Maddie-Says-Hello.jpg","datePublished":"2013-12-04T00:08:19+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-04T00:27:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/#\/schema\/person\/2fcd2b7feca86d23643f1975b9fbc15d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/files\/2013\/12\/Maddie-Says-Hello.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/files\/2013\/12\/Maddie-Says-Hello.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/comedians-shine-in-kirstie.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Comedians Shine in \u2018Kirstie\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/","name":"Peanuts and Popcorn","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Jeffrey Totey","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/#\/schema\/person\/2fcd2b7feca86d23643f1975b9fbc15d","name":"jtotey","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/author\/jtotey"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/558"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}