As the New Year looms and people start thinking about weight-related resolutions, the Jenny Craig weight loss program is taking on a new celebrity spokeswoman -- again. Phylicia Rashad, best known for her role as Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show, will take over the reins from Queen Latifah, the latest in a line of celebs who've endorsed Jenny's plan. There's no job security in weight loss endorsements, because once you've lost the weight, you're just not as interesting anymore -- and if you don't lose the weight, or can't keep it off, well, then, that's not the endorsement the company wants. So we expect to keep seeing a lot of turnover in this position.

Kirstie Alley was Jenny's first major celebrity spokeswoman, and she was with the company for three years before she "stepped down" in February of this year. At least, that was the official language. Rumors flew, though, that Alley got the boot when she just got too darn fat again. Seesaws like that are an incredibly frustrating part of weight loss attempts, so while Kirstie is refreshingly real, she wasn't inspiring much confidence in the Jenny Craig program.

Valerie Bertinelli was a real Jenny Craig success, losing even more than her original 30-pound goal. She's looking fantastic these days, and she's real proof that the program can work -- but now that she's so skinny, Jenny's target audience can't really relate to her, can they? Next in the spokeswoman role was Queen Latifah, who successfully shed 20 pounds on the program. Latifah and Bertinelli are still featured on the Jenny Craig website, but as they move into weight maintenance, Phylicia Rashad will take over the spotlight as a celebrity actively trying to drop the weight.

Jenny Craig's ad strategy is nice because it takes likable celebrities and makes them relatable. While most of Hollywood's weight issues are about trying to get from stick thin to paper thin, it's nice to see a realistic spin on weight loss and weight struggles. None of Craig's celebrity spokesmodels have been aiming for the size 00's -- they're taking the same steps we normal people would to get down to a normal, healthy weight. And this advertising would work very well for Jenny Craig, if it weren't for the fact that their most famous spokesmodel is most famous these days for being fat. D'oh. But maybe Phylicia Rashad will pick up where Queen Latifah and Valerie Bertinelli left off in distancing Jenny Craig from Kirstie Alley and showing women (and men!) how successful the program can be. Time will tell, but we're rooting for her. Who doesn't love Claire Huxtable?