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TV comes down with guest star-itis

Writers strike or not, November heralds in sweeps. And sweeps heralds in guest stars. And guest stars herald in ... OK, I'm officially out of stuff to herald. But I do know that when it comes to sweeps month, the very special guest star is trumped only by the lesbian kiss as the most popular sweeps stunt. So, let's rate the ratings stunts, starting with the big guns.

Note: A few of these guest stars are showing up tonight, so set your DVRs!

Al Gore on 30 Rock (tonight!): Former vice president. Oscar winner. Nobel Peace Prize winner. Rightful Almost next president of the United States.
Stunt Wattage:
10, but we should dial it down to 8.5 to conserve energy.

David Schwimmer on 30 Rock (tonight!): Kind of a step down after big Al. But he was on some show for a long time. What was it called again? Buddies? Pals? Amigos? Something like that.
Stunt Wattage: 5, but the silly costume helps.

Edie Falco on 30 Rock (Nov. 15): Alec Baldwin had better look out. I hear Edie's last costar had a penchant for whacking people he didn't like — oh, and onion rings.
Stunt Wattage: 8. That lady can flat-out act.

Victoria Beckham on Ugly Betty (tonight!): Posh and Wilhelmina? Not since peanut butter met jelly has a pairing been so destined to become a classic. Now, if only she could act.
Stunt Wattage: 9. It'd be a 10 if she brought Becks.

Vera Wang on Ugly Betty (tonight!): A real fashion designer on a fake fashion show? Wherever do these people come up with these ideas?
Stunt Wattage: 4, just for predictability.

Eliza Dushku on Ugly Betty (Nov. 22): Now this, this is unpredictable. Eliza plays a former wild child in rehab. Uh, didn't they get the memo about Lindsay Lohan possibly guesting later this season?
Stunt Wattage: 7. Don't mess with Faith.

Paul Reubens on Pushing Daisies (Nov. 21): Pee Wee on a fantastical show with a cast of quirky characters that occasionally breaks into song? Perfect. Maybe he'll bring along the talking chair.
Stunt Wattage: 8, but the Buckwheat hair is freaking me out.

Kristen Bell on Heroes (Nov. 12): OK, she's not technically a sweeps guest star. But she is electric.
Stunt Wattage: 100,000 kilowatts. Oh, wait, wrong kind of wattage.

Helen Slater on Smallville (Nov. 12): Another member of the Superverse makes an appearance. I hate to say it, but I loved Supergirl. What? I was young, she had a cape ...
Stunt Wattage: 7. Now if only she'd wear the outfit.

Nancy McKeon on Without a Trace (Nov. 15): Jo looks sad. Is it because the person sitting next to her isn't Blair? Come on, you know they hooked up in college.
Stunt Wattage: 6.5. The .5 is for the crush I had on her back in the day.

Coco Nicole Austin on Law & Order: SVU (Nov. 20): Uhm, I, uhmn ... Should they be bigger than her head? And so, uhm, orange? While her husband (and cast member) Ice-T no doubt approves, I do not.
Stunt Wattage: 1, though in all fairness, 2 seems more empirically correct.

Melinda Clarke on Reaper (Nov. 20): I never watched The O.C. OK, I watched a little for Marissa and Alex. But I did like her as Lady Heather on CSI.
Stunt Wattage: 3. She was Marissa's mom, right?

Rachel Bilson on Chuck (Nov. 19): Please see above, but the young folks do seem to like her.
Stunt Wattage: 4. I always confuse her with Mila Kunis.

D.B. Woodside on Grey's Anatomy (Nov. 15): Too bad he wasn't on Ugly Betty instead. It would have been like a Buffy finale reunion.
Stunt Wattage: 2. He was the principal, not the slayer.

So, any very special guests I missed? And whose star wattage needs an adjustment? Discuss.

brownbear86's picture

omg kristen bell

ok i haven't been watching Heroes at all this season, but that picture of Kristen Bell will definitely make me watch now from now on. she looks so bad ass.
dypole's picture

I am so ridiculously excited

I am so ridiculously excited about Victoria Beckham being on Ugly Betty tonight! Talk about inspired guest-casting.

As for the other guest stars, I only worry that 30 Rock is going the way of Will and Grace with all these one-shot guest stars...

"Out of the box is where I live." -Starbuck

4sakenshadowxsoldierlette's picture

I<3 Eliza and miss Veronica

I<3 Eliza and miss Veronica Mars and Smallville <3

~*~Alice: Thank god you're here we're totally outnumbered. Bette: What do you mean? Alice: Straight people. Bette: Oh, Jesus.~*~

camelcamel's picture

Kristen Bell

She's been on a few episodes of Heros already.

Heros is great this season. On the channel G4, they have the Post show with stars from the show and discussion of rumors/theories. Uber rad.

jenny_faye's picture

Post Show...

Being in Canada I can't watch the post show... we get G4, but for some reason the Canadian version doesn't have the post show on it, at least not that I can find.  Which sucks because not only am I a huge Heroes fan, I also have a huge nerdy crush on Blair Butler.
camelcamel's picture

Blair

nerdy crushes are the best crushes.

 

I know the post show is on Saturday nights. Maybe you can dl it?

pecola's picture

Ugly Betty

I wanted to watch 30 Rock "live" tonight because of Al Gore's appearance, but tonight's episode of Ugly Betty was just so funny. Amanda doing a rendition of Kelis' "Milkshake" during the intermission of the wedding...I was near tears I was laughing so hard.

Thank goodness for TiVo.

 

 

junglequeen's picture

now, that was major!

now, that was major!
mollyblooming's picture

KBELL

KBell is slated for 13 episodes of Heroes, actually, and the next two episodes apparently have a lot about her character, so definitely worth watching! It's so good to have her on tv again so soon after VM...
leshlie721's picture

Kristen Bell

I'm super super excited that Kristen Bell is back on Heroes...and on Nov. 12...What a wonderful Birthday Gift!!!!!
JWee's picture

Off topic - Faith and Whedon coming back to tv

hey guys

am i the only one that is excited that Faith( oh alright, Eliza Dushku) is going to be starring as 'ECHO' in Joss Whedon's new FOX tv series 'DOLLHOUSE'?????

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ifabb1526bf648422a2d53ac7422bd528
Moridin's picture

Eliza on Betty

Is it just me, or does the picture from the episode with betty and eliza look a bit like S04E16 (Who are you) episode of buffy, before willow and tara did their Big O spell? (i.e. a minute or so before this http://www.jetwolf.com/hof/hitlist/buffy/020.jpg )
NorthernStar's picture

Melinda Clarke

is really best known and loved as Valasca the evil amazon princess on Xena.

Also, has anyone else noticed lately Amy Acker is absolutely everywhere? I counted three guest appearances in one week!

and as for more guest appearances: you forgot Seth Green on Grey's and Nicholas Brendon on Criminal Minds.

Mar's picture

lol

I was going to say both these things. Valaska was such a kickass character. (tho nobody did psyho like callisto!)

I also love seeing buffy alums..well, anywhere. Go Amy!! I'll probably continue to follow most of them out of a strange, lingering, nostalgic loyalty. I'm ok with that, though. *g*

doopits's picture

Kirsten Bell in Assassins Creed

Any other gamers/Veronica Mars fans out there nerdishly excited about Assassins Creed at least partly because Kirsten Bell is in it?

She only looks a little.. not quite right in the game, and that's because they gave her weird hair. But c'mon, it's pretty good - the link below has an article about it and pictures, if anyone's interested.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/07/kristen-bell-gets-digitized-for-assassins-creed/
Slym's picture

Joan Collins

Joan Collins made a guest appearance on Hotel Babylon Season 1 Ep. 7 as Lady Patton and it was truly a delight to see her back on screen.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/hotelbabylon/episodes/series1/s1_ep7_episode.shtml

300joan_collins.jpg

Queer Love's picture

I "Heart" Jo Polniaczek

I had the hugest crush on Jo too!!! And I had a little thing for Natalie that I still can't explain.

I got the T-shirt to prove it!

addicted2AandO's picture

yup...

You forgot Stephanie March on Grey's Anatomy last night. Although, that was a really lame story. No, the story wasn't actually lame, but the writing was bad - it didn't go anywere. What a waste of special guest time and talent! But, apart from the story - wow, did she look smashing. I miss her so much on the screen!


"At that point, you could have all gotten naked, gotten in your pool and had four bottles of champagne in your house."  ~~ Stephanie March
lele angel's picture

How Could You Forget...

Gabby Christian on CSI Miami tonight...i am only watching because of her...seriously i'm shocked


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