You would think that with all the tabloid attention concerning her weight problems, Kirstie Alley would want to shun the spotlight.

Instead, the former “Cheers” star is tackling America’s obsession with weight in her hilarious and rude new Showtime series, “Fat Actress,” which debuts at 10 tonight. Alley should be applauded for letting it all hang out.

When the series opens, Alley, a part-time Maine resident, is bemoaning her lack of opportunities in fat-phobic Hollywood. When her agent calls with an offer to become the spokeswoman for a weight-loss company, she explodes at him.

Her hairdresser-makeup artist, Kevyn (Rachael Harris), and her assistant Eddie (Bryan Callen) decide that Kirstie would be less tense if she had a man in her life. Reasoning that black men prefer a full-figured woman, they take her trawling at a soul-food diner.

Then comes a role in “Charlie’s Angels 3,” in which director McG teams up a little person, a Canadian and Alley as “the Botticelli-shaped one” in a film about the forgotten Angels.

All the while, “Fat Actress” scrutinizes the back-stabbing that goes on in Hollywood, with even Alley’s best friends denigrating her behind her back. This leads to cameos by an assortment of stars, including John Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, NBC chief Jeff Zucker, Melissa Gilbert and Carmen Electra.

In the series, Alley lives in a world where she feels talent, not appearance, should be most important, and that her strong track record should count for something. “Fat Actress” proves such a world does exist.

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.