Judgement Day for Kathie Lee

Kathie Lee Gifford has a message for those TV critics assessing her performance in the E! original movie Spinning Out of Control: Be fair. Regis's former sidekick — who plays a pill-popping, sex-crazed sitcom star in the pic (premiering Sunday at 9 pm/ET) — admits that while "she hopes" reviewers will be impartial in their judgement of her, she's not lying awake nights worrying about it.

"What can I do? I did the best work I can do, and I loved every minute of it," she tells TV Guide Online. "It's out of my hands now."

So far, reviews of the film have been mixed at best, with People magazine declaring that the film "is sometimes clever" and Gifford "vaults almost gleefully over the top." That's much better than the scathing notices that greeted the release of her highly touted pop CD, Heart of a Woman. Making matters worse, the universally panned disc sold a measly 36,000 units, and the media seemed to have a field day reporting the weekly returns.

For her part, Gifford says she warned Universal beforehand that the album would tank. "I told Universal that it wouldn't be [a commercial success]," she reveals. "When I sat there with [Universal Music exec] Doug Morris, I said, 'Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea what kind of baggage I bring to your company?' And he was very sweet, he said, 'You're the best kept secret in this business, and I want to do a pop record with you.' And I said, 'If you're crazy enough to sign me, then I'm crazy enough to do it.' And I would do it all over again. It was a fabulous experience."

But in the end, Gifford realizes that she was facing an uphill battle trying to make a dent in the youth-obsessed music scene. "I'm not a boy band," she laughs. "And I'm not going to pierce my navel... or my nipple."