I'm not sure which takes more courage: appearing in a boxing reality show with the prospect of getting beaten to a bloody pulp on national TV or starring in a comedy called "Fat Actress" as a slightly fictionalized version of yourself? Given how image-conscious American society is, especially when it comes to body shape, I'll give the KO to Kirstie Alley.

		'Fat Actress' When: 10 p.m. tomorrow on Showtime. Starring: Kirstie Alley. 'The Contender' When: 9:30 p.m. tomorrow and 10 p.m. Thursday. Hosts: Sylvester Stallone, Sugar Ray Leonard.

After all, prior to lampooning her own situation in Showtime's "Fat Actress" (10 p.m. tomorrow), Alley was pretty much known as a washed-up sitcom star reduced to appearing in annoying TV commercials for a home accessories store. With "Fat Actress," Alley gets the last laugh.

Viewers should guffaw heartily, too.

Right from the start, Alley's histrionics about her weight gain are gloriously over-the-top. She sits on a toilet, staring at a scale, steps on it and then collapses to the floor, screaming, "Oh my God!" The phone rings. It's an agent with a job offer: Jenny Craig wants her as a spokeswoman. Alley bursts into tears again.

Of course, in real life, Alley did become a spokeswoman for the weight-loss service after "Fat Actress" started to get media attention.

In tomorrow's premiere, Alley rails against a Hollywood culture that allows men -- specifically John Goodman, Jason Alexander and James Gandolfini -- to get fat without consequence to their careers but has a different standard for women.

John Travolta, Alley's co-star in the "Look Who's Talking" movies, has a cameo in the premiere, during which a desperate Alley tries to convince him to make "Look Who's Talking 4."

"We haven't explored all the possibilities," she says, imploringly. "We haven't done talking cats."

Alley surrounds herself with a sycophantic hair dresser (Rachael Harris) and assistant (Bryan Callen) and manages to get a meeting with NBC Universal Television Group president Jeff Zucker, who plays what one hopes is a more venal, distracted version of himself. ("I could create a huge show," Alley tells him. Zucker replies, "Oh, I'm sure it would be huge.")

Written by Alley and "7th Heaven" creator Brenda Hampton, who got her start in sitcoms, "Fat Actress" is a hoot, at least initially. But the show needs to become more than a series of fat jokes, which already begin to wear out their welcome in the second episode (a valet mistakenly assumes Alley is pregnant).

'The Contender'

It would be easy to say that how you feel about the latest reality show from "Survivor" and "Apprentice" executive producer Mark Burnett will depend on how you feel about boxing. To a degree, that's true, but I'm not much of a boxing fan, and I still found the premiere episode to be a compelling 90 minutes of TV time.

That's due, in no small part, to Burnett's (as usual) high production values and strong skills as a storyteller.

Much of the set-up is similar to "The Apprentice": The 16 boxers share a living space and are split into two teams that compete in challenges. The winning team in a challenge gets to pick both one of its own members to put up for the match of the week and a competitor from the losing team.

Sylvester Stallone and Sugar Ray Leonard are the show's two-headed hosts (one would have sufficed).

Viewers spend time with the boxers-of-the-week and their families -- cue heartwarming music -- and eventually that will include 23-year-old Najai Turpin, who committed suicide last month. Burnett said the show will not be altered and that Turpin's work on "The Contender" was completed before his death.

Through weekly boxing matches, the teams will be whittled down to two contestants who will duke it out in a live season-finale bout with the winner claiming a $1 million purse.

"The Contender" previews tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. and Thursday at 10 p.m. before moving to its regular time slot, 8 p.m. Sunday, on March 13.

TV editor Rob Owen can be reached at rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2582. Ask TV questions at www.post-gazette.com/tv under TV Q&A.