That's how I felt about Reese & Nicole. They were just playing themselves. I really don't think it was a stretch for either of them especially Reese. Let's not forget her best performance as drunken passenger being pulled over with her drunken husband driving & Reese yelling at the police officer, 'Don't you know who I am??!' People seem to have forgotten about her ego trying to drunkenly get her & her husband out of being arrested. (They were still arrested) And Nicole...oh Nicole.
There was maybe a LITTLE more asked for Nicole for that role, but Reese showed up to set to stand on marks and say lines. That was her with a different name, but again...it worked for the show so hey, more power to her for getting roles that don’t require much from her. How did Nicole manage to play herself and still be flat? It’s like...a reverse skill. The show didn’t suffer from any of their performances because it can’t be that difficult to not fuck up playing yourself, but people can’t say they were great in it because being those characters didn’t require much talent from either of them.