Sarah Michelle Gellar comes back to television

In news that should excite at least 80% of you, Sarah Michelle Gellar is returning to television in a project for HBO — and it actually looks promising. The star has been cast in The Wonderful Maladys, which will follow three siblings in New York City who lost their parents when they were children.

Gellar is set to play one of the siblings, a role that screenwriter Charles Randolph wrote specifically for her. He describes the character as having "a kind of zealous immaturity — like a drug addict with a to-do list." Sounds like it has potential, and I, for one, can't wait to see what Gellar does with the part.

This will be Gellar's first foray back into TV-land stardom since Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended its brilliant seven year run in 2003 and spun off into an addictive series of comics. Randolph is best known for his work in film, writing 2005's The Interpreter and 2003's The Life of David Gale.

I won't hold the latter against him, despite my completely ignorant bias against the film — I have some issues with Kevin Spacey after he murdered his credibility in American Beauty and merrily mutilated its corpse in Pay it Forward.

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I digress! Back to the exciting matter at hand. I am psyched that Sarah Michelle Gellar has been given a role, at least for a pilot, that seems to have some heft to it. If the show is picked up it'll be nice to see her in this format again, as it's worked for her in the past. It's criminal that she was never recognized by the Emmys for her fine, nuanced work on Buffy, and I look forward to relishing another layered performance that develops over time.

Hopefully Gellar will get to show off her ample chops and make viewers forget she was the ultimate in slayers (at least temporarily).