Actors in Other Roles: Not Everyone Stayed in Sunnydale

[Joe Hellandback]

Just watching Robot Chicken and we have MT recreating her role as Harriet the Spy;

Edited July 26, 2019 by Joe Hellandback

[Halting Hex]

On 7/24/2019 at 8:57 AM, lembergwatcher said:

What The Buff: The 15 Most Embarrassing Movie Roles Of Buffy Actors

https://www.cbr.com/embarrassing-buffy-actor-movie-roles/

Yowch!  I haven't even looked at the "embarrassing" roles, and I've already been hit with this:

Quote

Of course, in those sea of 8x10s waiting to be signed, it’s not often you’ll see any for projects that weren’t Buffy. Sure, David Boreanaz might get some Bones fans, or Alyson Hannigan some love for How I Met Your Mother, presumably from those who skipped the last two seasons.

Eek!  I quit HIMYM after episode 8.02, where the writer tried to meta-justify the absurd farce the show had become by having Ted "appreciate" the German TV show his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend adores ("It's got all these big characters…but it's got heart!") and I was like "fuck you forever, I remember when the plotting was believable (rather than having naked men with pet ferrets that lick his eyelids come and stay for no reason…and no, I am NOT making that up!), so don't make your shitty excuses on-air, assholes!" and I was out of there.

But I felt bad about leaving 40+ episodes of Alyson unwatched and I do have all of S8 on the computer so I was like "well, maybe, one day…".   But the description above really scares me off.  You mean after S7…it gets worse??  Yoicks.

(Yes, yes, the end of Symphony of Illumination is a thing of beauty…but it doesn't excuse the offensive turd that was rest of the episode, IMO.  Danielle "Debbie" Weekes guest-shot or no.  And there's only so much BrOTP-teasing/time-wasting I can take.)

ETA:  Some predictable choices (Amber is never going to live One-Eyed Monster down, I'm sure), but I don't know that I'd pump for Without a Paddle as Seth Green's embarrassment over Old Dogs.  (Or Knockaround Boys, if the Oz fans are feeling bitter.)  

And of course, Idle Hands should never have been in the conversation at all.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

What Still Remains, a 2018 post-apocalyptic thriller written and directed by Josh Mendoza. Starring Colin O'Donoghue (Captain Killian "Hook" Jones from Once Upon A Time), Lulu Antariksa (Rowan Fricks from T@gged) and Mimi Rogers (Sharon from The Rapture).

Jeff Kober (Zachary Kralik in Helpless, Rack in Wrecked, Villains & Two to Go) plays Zack, a creepy leader of the religious community.

[Halting Hex]

So my TV is set to PopTV (for Big Brother After Dark) and stays there until I change the channel (as opposed to simply viewing content from my DVR).  So I notice that during the day, Pop is showing old-school Charmed and I'm like, you know, it was actually rather good during the first four seasons and this one ("All Hallows' Eve") looks interesting, I could do a rewatch.

And whom do I "C" (episode plot point) but Danielle "Debbie" Weeks, playing a supporting role in the coven run by Clare (Coach, Point Pleasant) Carey?

(That's just a walk-on on the left.  Although she somewhat resembles Clare.)

What makes this crossover IMO notable is that "All Hallows' Eve" is episode 3.04 of Charmed, just as Beauty and the Beasts is 3.04 of this series.  That's a nice bit of coincidence.

(No, Danielle is not limited to only 3.04 episodes.  Her How I Met Your Mother guest shot, the 95% abominable/5% awesome "Symphony of Illumination", is from Season 7 of that series.)

Edited July 29, 2019 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

Well, what can I say?..

Ozark, an American crime drama web television series created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams for Netflix and produced by Media Rights Capital (renewed for a third season on October 10, 2018). Jason Bateman portrays financial planner Marty Byrde, and Laura Linney portrays his wife Wendy, a public relations consultant on political campaigns who became a housewife before the family moved to the Ozarks.

Jordana Spiro (Callie Anderson, Buffy's and Cordelia's fellow sufferer at the hands of penis-shaped monster worshipping frat boys in S.02E.05 Reptile Boy) plays Rachel Garrison, owner of the Blue Cat hotel and bar, and Marty's reluctant business partner while Harris Yulin (Giles' old pal Quentin Travers in S.03E.12 Helpless, S.05E.12 Checkpoint and S.07E.09 Never Leave Me) portrays Buddy Dyker, the Byrdes' terminally ill tenant.

Spiro also made an appearance in Praise be Praise - the 10th ep of Kitchen Confidential TV sitcom, in which Nicholas Brendon played one of the main roles.

[Loandbehold]

6 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Spiro also made an appearance in Praise be Praise - the 10th ep of Kitchen Confidential TV sitcom, in which Nicholas Brendon played one of the main roles.

Wow, I didn't think Kitchen Confidential lasted even 10 episodes. But, according to Imdb, it reached 13. I remember that show premiered the same year as HIMYM and was, IIRC, generally given better reviews.

[illdoc]

1 hour ago, Loandbehold said:

Wow, I didn't think Kitchen Confidential lasted even 10 episodes. But, according to Imdb, it reached 13. I remember that show premiered the same year as HIMYM and was, IIRC, generally given better reviews.

I don't think it actually aired that many episodes---filmed, yes. On dvd release (assuming there was one), yes. On broadcast (Fox) TV? I want to say...only 4... actually aired before the series was cancelled.

[Halting Hex]

5 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

Wow, I didn't think Kitchen Confidential lasted even 10 episodes. But, according to Imdb, it reached 13. I remember that show premiered the same year as HIMYM and was, IIRC, generally given better reviews.

There was a coterie of people on TWoP who praised it (because it didn't have a laugh track and HIMYM did, and because some people will support actors [such as Bradley Cooper] but bash actresses [like AH], almost reflexively), but it wasn't funny, the characters weren't drawn well (BCoop's "asshole-with-a-heart-of-gold" lead had nobody to balance him; Bonnie Sommerville, mediocre on creator Darren Star's far better Grosse Pointe, was fairly useless here), the usage was poor (Nick was reduced to a walk-on in the second episode, ffs, only appearing in the tag) and the restaurant setting was by definition restrictive.  

Tanked, and deserved it.  JMO.

[lembergwatcher]

Once Upon a Time TV series.

Eion Bailey (Kyle in The Pack) plays August Wayne Booth/Pinocchio (seasons 1-2, 4, 6)

Emma Caulfield as Blind Witch (seasons 1, 5)

Dania Ramirez (SIT Caridad in three eps of the seventh season) portrays Cinderella/Jacinda Vidrio (season 7).

[Joe Hellandback]

21 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Once Upon a Time TV series.

Eion Bailey (Kyle in The Pack) plays August Wayne Booth/Pinocchio (seasons 1-2, 4, 6)

Emma Caulfield as Blind Witch (seasons 1, 5)

Dania Ramirez (SIT Caridad in three eps of the seventh season) portrays Cinderella/Jacinda Vidrio (season 7).

Wow, what a look for Emma?

[lembergwatcher]

Marc Blucas in two seasons of Necessary Roughness, a USA Network television series. Blucas played Matthew "Matt" Donnally - the New York Hawks football team athletic trainer, and later general manager, who was the main protagonist's love interest.

[lembergwatcher]

Sarah Hagan (Amanda in ten eps of the seventh season) as Janie in Sun Choke, Ben Cresciman's horror/thriller movie.

[Joe Hellandback]

3 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

Sarah Hagan (Amanda in ten eps of the seventh season) as Janie in Sun Choke, Ben Cresciman's horror/thriller movie.

Yay! Amanda!

[lembergwatcher]

3 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Yay! Amanda!

I knew you'd notice ☺️

[illdoc]

News about the Buffster: https://tvline.com/2019/08/22/sarah-michelle-gellar-other-peoples-houses-fox-series/

[Joe Hellandback]

On 8/22/2019 at 11:29 PM, illdoc said:

News about the Buffster: https://tvline.com/2019/08/22/sarah-michelle-gellar-other-peoples-houses-fox-series/

Set my TV now

[illdoc]

Queen C news: https://tvline.com/2019/08/28/pandora-charisma-carpenter-cast-season-1-cw/

[punkypower]

On 8/22/2019 at 5:29 PM, illdoc said:

News about the Buffster: https://tvline.com/2019/08/22/sarah-michelle-gellar-other-peoples-houses-fox-series/

EEEE!!

Thanks so much!!

I LOVED Ringer!! They need to bring Ioan on board!!

[Joe Hellandback]

Just watching Michelle in Guidance, she's great as ever, weird to see her here, you could totally see Dawn ending up doing this, little harder to see Gossip Girl in the role. 

[Joe Hellandback]

Just watching SFU, a great source for Buffy alumni and here we have Dagney Kerr looking as though she's just popped by from her role in DH;

[illdoc]

https://tvline.com/2019/11/13/sarah-michelle-gellar-sometimes-i-lie-fox-series-date/

[Joe Hellandback]

New Joss series?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8697870/

[lembergwatcher]

Mary Stauffer's horrific kidnap ordeal at the hands of her obsessed student has been made into a Lifetime movie starring Alyson Hannigan

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7542537/Mary-Stauffers-horrific-1980-ordeal-turned-movie-starring-Alyson-Hannigan.html

[Joe Hellandback]

On 11/27/2019 at 12:23 PM, lembergwatcher said:

Mary Stauffer's horrific kidnap ordeal at the hands of her obsessed student has been made into a Lifetime movie starring Alyson Hannigan

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7542537/Mary-Stauffers-horrific-1980-ordeal-turned-movie-starring-Alyson-Hannigan.html

Amazing how makeup can make all the difference to an actress?

[Joe Hellandback]

Just watching L&O;SVU

Do you recognise him?

[illdoc]

At least it looks more like him than he did in Mad Men.

[Joe Hellandback]

12 hours ago, illdoc said:

At least it looks more like him than he did in Mad Men.

Watching an earlier ep and who should turn up but Adam Kaufman;

[watcher1006]

On 7/26/2019 at 6:10 PM, Halting Hex said:

Eek!  I quit HIMYM after episode 8.02, where the writer tried to meta-justify the absurd farce the show had become by having Ted "appreciate" the German TV show his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend adores ("It's got all these big characters…but it's got heart!") and I was like "fuck you forever, I remember when the plotting was believable (rather than having naked men with pet ferrets that lick his eyelids come and stay for no reason…and no, I am NOT making that up!), so don't make your shitty excuses on-air, assholes!" and I was out of there.

But I felt bad about leaving 40+ episodes of Alyson unwatched and I do have all of S8 on the computer so I was like "well, maybe, one day…".   But the description above really scares me off.  You mean after S7…it gets worse??  Yoicks.

HIMYM started out as a solid sitcom with a great cast that really pulled off the ensemble well. But it was way too limited a premise - how long could they drag out the question of who the mother was? Even in its fine first season I thought this could go on for two seasons - maybe three. Instead it went on for nine and by last few seasons the writers were scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas. It was AWFUL. I could only look in occasionally on the show during the last two seasons, watching the episodes where I’d heard that something real might happen. And I watched the miserable series finale. Really miserable, a travesty.

It’s really too bad when they have a TV show that starts out with a really bright and creative idea and then they try to stretch it out season after season because the viewers keep tuning in. Over the past decade I can think of other examples such as Once Upon a Time, Sleepy Hollow, Empire, and possibly This Is Us (remains to be seen).

I had a lot of fun watching HIMYM in its early seasons. There were several Buffy- and Angel-verse actors who made guest appearances on HIMYM - Alexis Denisof, Harry Groener (the Mayor), Tom Lenk, Amy Acker and whomever else I’ve missed. But I resent the show for ruining Alyson Hannigan for me. I’m not a fan of sitcoms, I only tuned in initially because she was in the cast and I liked her character at the beginning. As the show went on and on the tired writing made AH’s character Lily Aldrin ever more insufferable. Finally she became unwatchable. I still love Willow from Buffy but unfortunately when I see Alyson Hannigan on TV nowadays she brings late show Lily to mind more than Willow. I should have quit HIMYM earlier.

[Halting Hex]

I'm currently (finally) suffering through the final two seasons of HIMYM, likely out of sheer stubborness.  I mean, I skipped virtually the entire racist "Slapsgiving 3" episode the moment I realize they were actually going to do yellowface (why not top it all off by having the gang in blackface for the Boys2Men cameo at the end, then?), but overall I'm muddling through.

So much though I pretty always find some part of each episode detestable, I refuse to blame Lily for the "psycho" she's (allegedly lovingly) described as in season 9 any more than I blame Willow for the Dull!Willow episodes.  The show can't even keep continuity for two lousy episodes, since in 9.04 Robin can't get anyone to come to her bachelorette party because Lily is so insanely possessive of her BFF time (with boring lesbian undertones that were a good once-off homage to Alyson's previous role as Willow in S1 but which simply objectify and insult actual lesbians by now) that she's driven all of Robin's female friends away (please ignore the first half of the episode, where we see that Robin has put so little effort into trying to get to know women that one of the proposed invitees was listed as "average-height girl from that place")…

…and then in 9.06, we find that Robin is still in touch with her college roommate, Sophie, and she's attending the wedding!  (She's one of the proposed hook-ups Barney and Robin have lined up for Ted, because hey, let's celebrate our love by treating women like meat!)  So, why wasn't Sophie at the bachelorette party, then? Oh, and apparently the show forgot that Robin's TV co-star and good friend, Jessica Glitter (Nichole Scherzinger) is currently living in NYC and working as the organist for the New York Rangers.  Literally five stops on the Broadway IRT line from MacLaren's.  You'd think she could have swung by for a few drinks, at least. And I guess Jessica can't find her way to the wedding in  "Farhampton", either…even though her workplace (Madison Square Garden) is directly on top of Pennsylvania Station, which is where the Long Island Rail Road trains depart from.  FFS.

Honestly, so much of S9 seems to be devoted to realizing they've dropped key plot points, and frantically trying to fill them in.  Hey, did we never show Robin telling Barney she's infertile?*  Even though that's what broke up her and Kevin?  Oopsie…flashback time!  Hey, have we actually forgotten to give any relevant details about Robin's family?  Let's make how little we know about her mother a plot point!  And hey, we can fluff Spike Barney some more, and remember that Barney Must Always Win, so all the other characters get destroyed.  Joy.

(I mean, Barney basically said he doesn't care if his lies and schemes hurt Robin, so long as there's an "awesome" gesture at the end.  His proposal involved months of lying that drove her to the edge of a nervous breakdown, but hey, it led to Ted giving up on Robin [please, no laughter! That was Barney's official excuse!], so that's all good, anyway, right?)

*-no, I wouldn't want to end the horror show that is "Symphony of Illumination" with a goddamn Barney/Robin scene in place of the absolutely beautiful final Ted/Robin scene that is the only good thing about that wretched episode; I'm just saying that a better writing staff might have realized that, as they were already teasing the BrOTP wedding in mid-S7, it might be better to address Barney's reaction somewhat sooner than they did.

Ah, well.  I've still six episodes to survive.  I don't even know what the distressing part of "Last Forever" actually is.  (I have a few guesses, but they're still just guesses.) There's still plenty of time for Ted to realize that the water under the Bow Bridge is only four feet deep  and he can retrieve the Fucking Locket in about two minutes' worth of searching, after all. 

(Was the Fucking Locket even mentioned when Ted and Robin were together in S2?  Or is it just as much of a bullshit "complication" as Lily's "Art Consultant" job and Marshall's "Instant Judgeship"** are?)

And as much good as Cristin Milioti is doing with a part that has rapidly declined into "Magic Negro" territory, it's so annoying that the show thinks that giving her the exact same interests as Ted is "proof" of something.  Do we need to make them watch Milk (1.21) on an endless loop?  The whole moral of the show is right there, in seven little words:

Quote

TED: I don't want "perfect".  I want Robin.

Love isn't some superficial checklist. It's about someone who, differences and all, is perfect for you.  If it turns out not to be Robin after all, and Ted makes the painful decision to move beyond her (hopefully not by giving the sort of "you're not good enough for me, bitch" breakup speech he gave Zooey…) and thus she's a part of how he grew enough to find The One, fine.  But that should have happened by Season 3, Season 4 at the latest.  Eight years of his being beautifully, painfully in love with Robin followed by his stumbling into alleged bliss less than a day later with some random is just stupid.  And I really don't care if she plays the fucking bass.

(Why the bass, of all instruments?  Weird.)

So yeah, as badly as Lily (originally not only the "moral center" of the group, but literally described as "Lily is always right" ["It's my curse", she smiles in reply]) got abused, there was still the basic beauty that made the Ted/Lilly scenes pop, right up to the (probably) wretched end.  Like Xander with Willow, sometimes he's the only one who can see her pain:

Of course, the difference is that here, the comic punchline is Lily driving away and leaving Ted behind.  When Lily's basic pain is finally revisited in "Band or DJ" (8.17), we follow that by cutting to Marshall getting blasted in the face by a shower of feces.  Of course we do.  Because that's the sort of "confetti" the show has declined to in its quest for "big comedy" by that point.

And so here we see Ted realizing that he really doesn't care if his "perfect" girl does the Sunday crossword or not (complete with Turkish subtitles):

(Ted's quiet "wow, I'm 28" line is a secret pearl, showing his awareness of the bio-clock he's spent most of the episode trying to deny.  Of course, by the end of S8, the fact that Ted is now 35 is being completely ignored…)

I cry every time…partly for the way they spend the majority of the show kicking Ted, partly for how they take away Robin's independence and make her fit in their "a woman is only as good as her womb" paradigm (do they teach that swill at Wesleyan?  I mean, between Whedon having Black Widow say she feels "like a monster" because she can't have kids, and what Bays & Thomas do to Robin across the years…), and partly for how they retcon Lily from being a great friend to someone who actively sabotages Ted and Robin's happiness so that she can win a $20 bet (I CONFETTI YOU NOT!!). 

But mostly because the show gave me a season of (mostly) beauty (some of the Victoria stuff was…less good, I'll allow) and then spent most of the rest of its existence crapping all over my memories.  (There were more good episodes than bad until the writers' strike in mid-S3.  And others had good elements ["Band or DJ" was quite good…except for the "shower of shit" plotline…].  But it's arguable the rot sets in as early as 2.02, The Scorpion and the Toad.  Sigh.)

**-Judges in New York State are elected, not appointed.  (Except for the very highest level, the Court of Appeals, but obviously the governor wouldn't waste those slots appointing somebody who has never been a judge before and who only passed the bar six years before!) You'd think the writers might want to check out minor details like that before they spend the majority of the final season on a literally impossible plot, wouldn't you?  (Especially as Marshall running in a judicial election might have been a perfectly-serviceable long-term plot.)  But no, apparently.  Basic believability is something Bays & Thomas have no interest in.

PS-Marshall is a piece of shit.  Almost as big of a piece of shit as Barney, in the end.  It's arguable Barney is more worthy of Robin than Marshall is of Lily, overall. But that's another story…

Edited February 16, 2020 by Halting Hex

[lembergwatcher]

On 2/14/2020 at 9:23 PM, watcher1006 said:

HIMYM started out as a solid sitcom with a great cast that really pulled off the ensemble well. But it was way too limited a premise - how long could they drag out the question of who the mother was?

The mere fact that Ted started his story with how he met "aunt Robin" should've been a clue the whole thing wasn't about The Mother at all. If it was the other way around Ted should have begun with telling his kids how he met Tracy. Did the yong Mosbys really need all those deatails, i.e. Barney's romantic history or Lily/Marshall melodrama? How many hours did they spend on that coach listening to Daddy? Or did Ted's story take days/weeks? Since Tracy was kinda dead and gone by the time Ted decided to talk to his son and daughter, shouldn't everything be more about her and the way he cherishes every memory of his kids' mother than almost each and every other Ted's relationship through the years?

On 2/14/2020 at 9:23 PM, watcher1006 said:

I had a lot of fun watching HIMYM in its early seasons. There were several Buffy- and Angel-verse actors who made guest appearances on HIMYM - Alexis Denisof, Harry Groener (the Mayor), Tom Lenk, Amy Acker and whomever else I’ve missed.

"Watch a movie/TV show - spot some Buffy actor" continues to be one of my favorite games to this very day. 

[watcher1006]

9 hours ago, lembergwatcher said:

The mere fact that Ted started his story with how he met "aunt Robin" should've been a clue the whole thing wasn't about The Mother at all. If it was the other way around Ted should have begun with telling his kids how he met Tracy. Did the yong Mosbys really need all those deatails, i.e. Barney's romantic history or Lily/Marshall melodrama? How many hours did they spend on that coach listening to Daddy? Or did Ted's story take days/weeks? Since Tracy was kinda dead and gone by the time Ted decided to talk to his son and daughter, shouldn't everything be more about her and the way he cherishes every memory of his kids' mother than almost each and every other Ted's relationship through the years?

But it might have been about the mother... It seems to me that Ashley Williams' Victoria character who came on to the scene mid-season 1 might have ended up as the mother if the show hadn't caught on and was going to end at the end of the first season. By the way IMO the character of Victoria was ruined by the show going on way too long. They bring her back late in the series as someone who Ted ends up disqualifying because she's too messy? Doesn't seem to fit a career cook who would likely be compulsive about her kitchen.

I remember one of the creators making a remark late during the show's run about how they'd goofed, ruling out Robin as the mother from the very beginning of the show.

15 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

PS-Marshall is a piece of shit.  Almost as big of a piece of shit as Barney, in the end.  It's arguable Barney is more worthy of Robin than Marshall is of Lily, overall. But that's another story…

A lot to comment on in your post but I wanted to say this: as the show went on I started wondering watching the Barney character whether Carter Bays and Craig Thomas thought misogyny was funny. He acts outrageously but I don't know if it's just that Neil Patrick Harris is such a good comedian or what but he hardly ever gets called up on any of it.

[Joe Hellandback]

1 hour ago, watcher1006 said:

But it might have been about the mother... It seems to me that Ashley Williams' Victoria character who came on to the scene mid-season 1 might have ended up as the mother if the show hadn't caught on and was going to end at the end of the first season. By the way IMO the character of Victoria was ruined by the show going on way too long. They bring her back late in the series as someone who Ted ends up disqualifying because she's too messy? Doesn't seem to fit a career cook who would likely be compulsive about her kitchen.

I remember one of the creators making a remark late during the show's run about how they'd goofed, ruling out Robin as the mother from the very beginning of the show.

A lot to comment on in your post but I wanted to say this: as the show went on I started wondering watching the Barney character whether Carter Bays and Craig Thomas thought misogyny was funny. He acts outrageously but I don't know if it's just that Neil Patrick Harris is such a good comedian or what but he hardly ever gets called up on any of it.

I loved Victoria, had Rachel Bilson (another Buffy alumni, the show was thick with them, even Danny Strong/Seth Green) not introduced Ted to Traci they should have ended up together. I thought their solution to Robin not being the mother was ingenious although I realise why it upset people.

I have no problem with Barney, he's basically a thumb in the eye to political correctness and until the inevitable #MeToo backlash kicks in I don't expect to see a character as fun as him again, he's like Parker Abrams with more humour.   

17 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

I'm currently (finally) suffering through the final two seasons of HIMYM, likely out of sheer stubborness.  I mean, I skipped virtually the entire racist "Slapsgiving 3" episode the moment I realize they were actually going to do yellowface (why not top it all off by having the gang in blackface for the Boys2Men cameo at the end, then?), but overall I'm muddling through.

So much though I pretty always find some part of each episode detestable, I refuse to blame Lily for the "psycho" she's (allegedly lovingly) described as in season 9 any more than I blame Willow for the Dull!Willow episodes.  The show can't even keep continuity for two lousy episodes, since in 9.04 Robin can't get anyone to come to her bachelorette party because Lily is so insanely possessive of her BFF time (with boring lesbian undertones that were a good once-off homage to Alyson's previous role as Willow in S1 but which simply objectify and insult actual lesbians by now) that she's driven all of Robin's female friends away (please ignore the first half of the episode, where we see that Robin has put so little effort into trying to get to know women that one of the proposed invitees was listed as "average-height girl from that place")…

…and then in 9.06, we find that Robin is still in touch with her college roommate, Sophie, and she's attending the wedding!  (She's one of the proposed hook-ups Barney and Robin have lined up for Ted, because hey, let's celebrate our love by treating women like meat!)  So, why wasn't Sophie at the bachelorette party, then? Oh, and apparently the show forgot that Robin's TV co-star and good friend, Jessica Glitter (Nichole Scherzinger) is currently living in NYC and working as the organist for the New York Rangers.  Literally five stops on the Broadway IRT line from MacLaren's.  You'd think she could have swung by for a few drinks, at least. And I guess Jessica can't find her way to the wedding in  "Farhampton", either…even though her workplace (Madison Square Garden) is directly on top of Pennsylvania Station, which is where the Long Island Rail Road trains depart from.  FFS.

Honestly, so much of S9 seems to be devoted to realizing they've dropped key plot points, and frantically trying to fill them in.  Hey, did we never show Robin telling Barney she's infertile?*  Even though that's what broke up her and Kevin?  Oopsie…flashback time!  Hey, have we actually forgotten to give any relevant details about Robin's family?  Let's make how little we know about her mother a plot point!  And hey, we can fluff Spike Barney some more, and remember that Barney Must Always Win, so all the other characters get destroyed.  Joy.

(I mean, Barney basically said he doesn't care if his lies and schemes hurt Robin, so long as there's an "awesome" gesture at the end.  His proposal involved months of lying that drove her to the edge of a nervous breakdown, but hey, it led to Ted giving up on Robin [please, no laughter! That was Barney's official excuse!], so that's all good, anyway, right?)

*-no, I wouldn't want to end the horror show that is "Symphony of Illumination" with a goddamn Barney/Robin scene in place of the absolutely beautiful final Ted/Robin scene that is the only good thing about that wretched episode; I'm just saying that a better writing staff might have realized that, as they were already teasing the BrOTP wedding in mid-S7, it might be better to address Barney's reaction somewhat sooner than they did.

Ah, well.  I've still six episodes to survive.  I don't even know what the distressing part of "Last Forever" actually is.  (I have a few guesses, but they're still just guesses.) There's still plenty of time for Ted to realize that the water under the Bow Bridge is only four feet deep  and he can retrieve the Fucking Locket in about two minutes' worth of searching, after all. 

(Was the Fucking Locket even mentioned when Ted and Robin were together in S2?  Or is it just as much of a bullshit "complication" as Lily's "Art Consultant" job and Marshall's "Instant Judgeship"** are?)

And as much good as Cristin Milioti is doing with a part that has rapidly declined into "Magic Negro" territory, it's so annoying that the show thinks that giving her the exact same interests as Ted is "proof" of something.  Do we need to make them watch Milk (1.21) on an endless loop?  The whole moral of the show is right there, in seven little words:

Love isn't some superficial checklist. It's about someone who, differences and all, is perfect for you.  If it turns out not to be Robin after all, and Ted makes the painful decision to move beyond her (hopefully not by giving the sort of "you're not good enough for me, bitch" breakup speech he gave Zooey…) and thus she's a part of how he grew enough to find The One, fine.  But that should have happened by Season 3, Season 4 at the latest.  Eight years of his being beautifully, painfully in love with Robin followed by his stumbling into alleged bliss less than a day later with some random is just stupid.  And I really don't care if she plays the fucking bass.

(Why the bass, of all instruments?  Weird.)

So yeah, as badly as Lily (originally not only the "moral center" of the group, but literally described as "Lily is always right" ["It's my curse", she smiles in reply]) got abused, there was still the basic beauty that made the Ted/Lilly scenes pop, right up to the (probably) wretched end.  Like Xander with Willow, sometimes he's the only one who can see her pain:

Of course, the difference is that here, the comic punchline is Lily driving away and leaving Ted behind.  When Lily's basic pain is finally revisited in "Band or DJ" (8.17), we follow that by cutting to Marshall getting blasted in the face by a shower of feces.  Of course we do.  Because that's the sort of "confetti" the show has declined to in its quest for "big comedy" by that point.

And so here we see Ted realizing that he really doesn't care if his "perfect" girl does the Sunday crossword or not (complete with Turkish subtitles):

(Ted's quiet "wow, I'm 28" line is a secret pearl, showing his awareness of the bio-clock he's spent most of the episode trying to deny.  Of course, by the end of S8, the fact that Ted is now 35 is being completely ignored…)

I cry every time…partly for the way they spend the majority of the show kicking Ted, partly for how they take away Robin's independence and make her fit in their "a woman is only as good as her womb" paradigm (do they teach that swill at Wesleyan?  I mean, between Whedon having Black Widow say she feels "like a monster" because she can't have kids, and what Bays & Thomas do to Robin across the years…), and partly for how they retcon Lily from being a great friend to someone who actively sabotages Ted and Robin's happiness so that she can win a $20 bet (I CONFETTI YOU NOT!!). 

But mostly because the show gave me a season of (mostly) beauty (some of the Victoria stuff was…less good, I'll allow) and then spent most of the rest of its existence crapping all over my memories.  (There were more good episodes than bad until the writers' strike in mid-S3.  And others had good elements ["Band or DJ" was quite good…except for the "shower of shit" plotline…].  But it's arguable the rot sets in as early as 2.02, The Scorpion and the Toad.  Sigh.)

**-Judges in New York State are elected, not appointed.  (Except for the very highest level, the Court of Appeals, but obviously the governor wouldn't waste those slots appointing somebody who has never been a judge before and who only passed the bar six years before!) You'd think the writers might want to check out minor details like that before they spend the majority of the final season on a literally impossible plot, wouldn't you?  (Especially as Marshall running in a judicial election might have been a perfectly-serviceable long-term plot.)  But no, apparently.  Basic believability is something Bays & Thomas have no interest in.

PS-Marshall is a piece of shit.  Almost as big of a piece of shit as Barney, in the end.  It's arguable Barney is more worthy of Robin than Marshall is of Lily, overall. But that's another story…

I liked Lily, if nothing else for her moaning that she'd never had her 'big lesbian experience' to Robin and hearing the audience snigger. 

[lembergwatcher]

Who da thunk it... 

 

[lembergwatcher]

Pan Am's S.01E.08 Unscheduled Departure. Harris Yulin (Quentin Travers) & Kelli Garner (Kirstie from The Body).

[Halting Hex]

Ha, I have the whole series on my computer (I don't do subscription streaming) but I hadn't made it that far.  Hang in there, Harris, I'm coming!

Thanks.

[Joe Hellandback]

Just watching an old ep of Scrubs and only now do I realise young Eliot Reed is also little Buffy;

What a cutie! Seems to have given up acting according to IMDB, this is the only picture I could find of an Alexandra Lee;

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=A01B0ED22A3558D7CA81E6FF060F6824C18AF74A&thid=OIP.ZbKHgmgiwNHI2A4eVB27FAHaI-&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthefappening.us%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FAmanda-Lee-Hot-Fappening-14-thefappening.us_.jpg&exph=1310&expw=1080&q=alexandra+lee+scrubs&selectedindex=32&ajaxhist=0&vt=0

[Halting Hex]

The page you linked to appears to be an Amanda Lee, not Alexandra.

She's tough to track down; one image-search threw me towards Alexondra Lee (best known as Lisa Fenn, the girl Kimberly [Holly Marie Combs] kisses on that sleepover in the "Sugar and Spice" episode of Picket Fences), but since her big moment came eight years before we met Bitty Buffy, Alexandra might not even have been born then.

Alexondra went on to be a cast member of UPN's Special Unit 2 and looked quite good in leather.  But again, that was 2001, just like this, and clearly not the same girl.  Still looking for Alexandra.

(Special Unit 2 also featured a pre-NCIS Pauley Perrette, who is currently on Broke with Natasha Leggero, who was easily the best thing about Are You There, Chelsea?, which starred Laura "Pardon Me, But Do You Have Any Grey" Prepon, formerly of That '70s Show, which had the 2-part Aly guest shot, and doubtless other links.)

(Broke looks incredibly stupid, and the fact that the promos are all focusing on Natasha and her husband, when this is supposedly Pauley's show [payoff for apparently enduring Mark Harmon's harassment on NCIS, just as his once-costar Michael Weatherly would go on to perpetrate against Eliza D. on Bull] would seem to indicate that something has gone seriously wrong with the writing.  I did a catchup viewing of this season's Survivor and so ran into numerous Broke ads…I'm not sure I've heard Pauley speak, as yet.  Oy.)

[Joe Hellandback]

Watching an old ep of Due South and who should turn up as the poker Queen but Stephanie Romanov. She's so classy. 

[Joe Hellandback]

I see SEAL Team has been renewed for a 4th season (post-Covid), boy he really has the magic touch, doesn't he? 

[Halting Hex]

Y'all might have mentioned that Lenk was in Boogie Nights.  I'm just saying.

I mean, it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it part for "Thomas", but I was still "don't I know that guy?" until the end credits (because using the internet would be cheating, lol).

Also Channon Roe (Jack O'Toole, The Zeppo), but that's a somewhat-well-remembered scene; Lenk barely pops his head up, by comparison.

Since Roe's scene is about Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) struggling to masturbate, should we count Channon's BtVS character name as a shout-out?  (Remember, Boogie Nights was the year before.) Hmm.

So long (pun?) since I'd seen that movie. Still great.  The look of sadness on William H. Macy's face the first time he sees Dirk "perform" is perfect.  And Alfred Molina in a Speedo™ is everything. ❤️

So, does this mean we can "link" Dirk's…uniqueness to the title character of One-Eyed Monster via Season Six, then? Seems rather appropriate, I suppose.

(Are Lenk and Amber ever on-screen together?  I don't think so…)

[Joe Hellandback]

Just watching Das Boot and here's a virtually unrecognisable Vincent Karthesiser;

https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/27344/das-boot/cast

Great for 6 degrees of Bufferation, you can now link Buffy to all these French and German actors.   

Edited June 10, 2020 by Joe Hellandback

[Halting Hex]

On 2/15/2020 at 10:02 PM, Halting Hex said:

The show [HIMYM] can't even keep continuity for two lousy episodes, since in 9.04 Robin can't get anyone to come to her bachelorette party because Lily is so insanely possessive of her BFF time (with boring lesbian undertones that were a good once-off homage to Alyson's previous role as Willow in S1 but which simply objectify and insult actual lesbians by now) that she's driven all of Robin's female friends away (please ignore the first half of the episode, where we see that Robin has put so little effort into trying to get to know women that one of the proposed invitees was listed as "average-height girl from that place")…

…and then in 9.06, we find that Robin is still in touch with her college roommate, Sophie, and she's attending the wedding!  (She's one of the proposed hook-ups Barney and Robin have lined up for Ted, because hey, let's celebrate our love by treating women like meat!)  So, why wasn't Sophie at the bachelorette party, then? Oh, and apparently the show forgot that Robin's TV co-star and good friend, Jessica Glitter (Nichole Scherzinger) is currently living in NYC and working as the organist for the New York Rangers. 

Pardon the return of the HIMYM digression, but I've just seen the description for the 2nd season episode First Time in New York, which I'd remembered as Ted trying to keep his younger sister (played by Erica Cahill, who somewhat resembles Eliza D) from losing her virginity on a visit to NYC.

However, I'm wrong about that, since apparently it was Robin's younger sister who visited.  (Robin and Ted date during Season 2, so the scenes were indeed mostly set at Ted's apartment, but for a reason different from what I remembered.)  Which of course begs the question of what the hell happened to Robin's sister in later years, since she's completely unmentioned during Season 9 and Robin is treated as an only child?

This is not only weird, since while Robin's sister is played by a young Lucy Hale (pre-Privileged, never mind PLL) and Lucy might have been too busy to guest again (although Ashley Benson eventually played Barney's half-sister…not that she was at the wedding, either…) it's not as if they can't recast;  Robin's dad was originally played by Eric Braeden (Hans Gudegast, way back when) but Ray Wise handled the role in S8-9.  But for a show that makes such a fetish of minor callbacks ("Last Forever, Part 1", which was episode 207 of 208, not only spent a large portion of its time on one last homage to The Slutty Pumpkin [1.06] but also included an excerpt from that bit of S1 greatness) to completely unwrite Robin's history and reconceptualize the character that way was just bizarre, I thought.

Closer to home, I also finally saw Swarley (2.07), which I mentioned elsewhere was perhaps the only pre-strike episode I'd never seen and was a bit wary of, given both the plot line and the Tom Lenk guest shot.  Well, I was half-right…Lenk (in a small role as a baristo) was just fine, but when the story makes you wish there was more Lenk, you know you're in trouble.  I believe this is the worst humiliation of Morena Baccarin ever committed to film, since the "immortal" never-made episode of Fireflop where Inara gets gang-raped by pirates so that Mal can Learn an Important Lesson ("Slut-shaming is BAD!") was, after all, never made.

But here we see Morena, as Marshall's new girlfriend (Marshall and Lily are broken up at this point), causing concern from Ted and Barney because they think she has "crazy eyes".  Yes, according to the feminists who write this show, some women

a.  are just plain crazy AND

b. you can tell this simply by looking at their eyes

FFS, forget Lenk, did SPIKE write this episode?  (I mean, Lenk is gay, and some gay men are misogynist, but I've never heard that said about TL, specifically.)

So Marshall spends most of Act 1 acting like a jerk (because he believes Ted/Barney) and trying to spot the crazy in Morena's eyes, but just when he's about to get over it, she calls him up with a very strange story and he's convinced she's insane all over again!  But hey, it turns out that Morena's story was true, and it was because Lily had a jealous reaction to Marshall having an new girlfriend and inadvertently terrified Morena.  And Lily confesses this all to Marshall, and cries out of guilt—

—and yes, it's another iteration of "Treat Alyson Hannigan's character like shit because we love to see Aly cry!", which was SO MUCH FUN on BtVS (and which is the reason for this entire rant, because I really wanted to mention how much I love Aly-abuse!*  MFing sigh…)—

—and Marshall is touched by this, and does the douchiest thing possible:

Quote

MARSHALL:  You're crazy.

(Lily, still crying, sniffles)

MARSHALL:  You have…crazier eyes than anybody that I have ever met.
LILY:  Shouldn't you be going back up...
MARSHALL:  I mean, you're out of your mind.  You're…just absolutely insane.

(Lily gives a soft, bitter laugh)

LILY:  Shouldn't you be going back upstairs? 

MARSHALL: I've missed you so much.

(Lily exhales. They kiss in reunited bliss.)

Yes, Marshall was hurt by Lily going to San Francisco to take that art fellowship (and, ha-ha, we found out she wasn't even any good at art! Stupid Lily! Which of course makes zero sense, because then how did she get into the program in the first place?  Blowjobs?) and he was in pain all summer (because it's not as if he could have gone to San Francisco on his own to try to reconcile with her! It's not as if there are over 30 flights a day from NYC!  Literally a thousand flights a month, but poor Marshall was so abandoned by that horrible Lily, so now she has to suffer in order to get him back! Suffer, Lily, suffer!) but now he's taking her back once she's humiliated and crying and he gets to tell her how "crazy" she is.  OMG, so sweet!

Seriously, this shit makes me long for the days of Oz telling Willow she doesn't get a say in her relationship.  It makes me pine for Tara singing about her "disgust", giving Willow an ultimatum (in the same conversation where she complains that Willow doesn't get to make decisions on her own because the relationship affects them both), cutting off all communication for 32 days (when Willow is battling an addiction, which is a medical issue), and hanging up on Willow's phone calls.  At least they didn't only reconcile when Willow was broken and crying and they didn't patronizingly call her "crazy".  Fuck you, Marshall Erickson.  Fuck you long, fuck you hard.

Oh, and the title of the episode refers to everyone in the cast deciding to be a complete asshole to Barney for literally zero reason.  I know I claim the show turned to shit after the writer's strike (which is why the pre-strike episode titles are in italics and the post-strike ones are in quotes), but damn.  There definitely were a few turds among the early diamonds, and this was probably the turdiest.  Ugh.

(Oh, and in the tag, even though we just got through finding out that Marshal had unfairly judged Morena, we find out that Morena really IS "crazy" after all.  Because, hey, she's a once-off, we don't want anything to distract from the "touching" Marshall/Lily reconciliation, and heaven forfend the show undercut the episode's sexist bullshit even in the slightest.  No wonder Morena has spent her life in Hollywood as either a figurative prostitute [Inara] or a literal one [fake marriage to the very gay Benjamin McKenzie to give cover for Ben's straight fans].  And once again, I go with "ugh". Ugh.)
 

*—yes, Aly crying can be a beautiful thing, when it's motivated properly.  (See Prophecy Girl, Passion, Consequences, "Bad News" and I'm sure I've missed some.)  But beating up Willow or Lily because "the fans want waterworks, dammit!" works my last nerve.  JMO.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Halting Hex

[Halting Hex]

9 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:

Just watching Das Boot and here's a virtually unrecognisable Vincent Karthesiser;

https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/27344/das-boot/cast

Great for 6 degrees of Bufferation, you can now link Buffy to all these French and German actors.   

Oh, there was a remake!  I was going to say, VK would seem to have been a bit young for the Wolfgang Peterson/Jürgen Prochnow original. Gotcha.

[Joe Hellandback]

1 hour ago, Halting Hex said:

Oh, there was a remake!  I was going to say, VK would seem to have been a bit young for the Wolfgang Peterson/Jürgen Prochnow original. Gotcha.

Yeah it's not bad, bit hard to keep track of everyone. 

[Halting Hex]

On 7/20/2019 at 6:56 AM, Joe Hellandback said:

Just watching Sleepy Hollow and who's playing Abigail Addams;

Yummy, as I wrote last year.

So this year, I did NOT miss TCM's annual airing of 1776 (right now I have it paused right in the middle of "Waiting for the Chirp, Chirp, Chirp") and it's always a comfort to see, especially since they started airing the full version about a decade ago, including "Cool Conservative Men", the song sung by John Dickinson [Donald Madden] which was cut from the theatrical release at then-President Nixon's insistence.  

(Donald Madden is, as always, killing it in the dramatic scenes that survived Nixon's edit.  He didn't even live to be 50.  [Lung cancer.  Don't smoke, kids.] Wow at that…and at my having reached an age where dying at 49 brings forth an "OMG, so young!" of sympathy for Madden, lol.)

And I seem to find new things every time.  For example, I've only just realized that in one of John Adams's fantasy duets with Abigail ("fantasy", since the whole point is how much he misses her when they're apart), his lyric about "and is my favorite lover's pillow still firm and fair?" does not refer to actual bedroom decorations but to…well, see above ^^

Quote

WILLOW:  Oh, so that's what that song is about!  —Lie to Me

Dang, Hex, do try to keep up…  (And "firm and fair", indeed!)

Indeed, no offense to Virginia Vestoff as noted previously, but now I can't help but imagine MT in the part.  Even if Michelle doesn't exactly sing, so much, exactly.

Of course, this rather quickly declined to imagining Mr. Feeny being married to Dawn, to invoke one of William Daniels' other famous roles*.  Which is probably going a bit far, even for fanfic.  Although never say never.

(I randomly searched for "Sweet Child O' Mine" on the ukulele last night.  Found multiple versions.  Huh.

"Roundabout" was a bit diminished and unenthusiastic, I thought, but still.)

Moving forward in the film and I'm glad to see that the parts with Ned Rutledge (John Cullum) opposing the anti-slavery provision on behalf of my not-so-new home, South Carolina**, have survived these censorious times.  I was a bit worried they could have gotten the chop.  Which would be a pity, because not only is Cullum excellent, but because I always enjoy "singing" along with him on "Molasses to Rum to Slaves [The Triangle Trade]", despite my complete lack of either the bass voice the song requires or, you know…talent.  Piffle, I say!  Piffle!***

Molasses to rum to slaves!

'Tisn't morals, 'tis money that saves!

Shall we dance to the sound of the profitable pound

In molasses…and rum…and slaves?

*-You may recall, for example, that Daniels played Dustin Hoffman's father in The Graduate, despite being only 10 years older than Hoffman.  Which means that Dusty's getting up there, too, as Daniels turned 93 earlier this year.  But obviously better to turn 93 than not.  (I was completely depressed by the recent deaths of Marvel Comics inking legend Joe Sinnott and Carl Reiner this past fortnight, even if I had to admit that 93 [Sinnott] and 98 [Reiner] qualified as decent runs.  But if you've made 93, what's 94, I ask?  Hang in there, Daniels!)

**-I'd think I was fairly well-established in the Palmetto State by now, as it's almost two years.  But apparently BestBuy thinks I'm still in California, as they shipped my latest packages to the Ghost of Hellmouths Past, despite having properly delivered to Carolina the previous five times.  But apparently computer databanks never forget anything, regardless of how many times you update your info. (Moloch, is that you?)  I barely stopped them from giving whomever's in my old apartment a surprising (and expensive) gift.  In words of one syllable…Sheesh!

***-Overdriver Duo, the Brazilian pair shown above, has done several ukulele covers, but they disappointed me by choosing to do a bass-and-guitar version of AC/DC's "Back in Black".  Not only because it's less-creative, not only because if you're going to do just one AC/DC tune it should obviously be The Happiest Song in Rock ("Highway to Hell") and not only because with Evandro (the guy) singing lead, we don't get to see Fabi's legs as they've wisely featured in the uke covers…but because Evandro sounds about as much like Brian Johnson as I sound like John Cullum.  

Did I say "sheesh", already?

 

[Loandbehold]

4 hours ago, Halting Hex said:

Ned Rutledge (John Cullum)

It's been so long since I've seen "1776" that I had no idea John Cullum was Rutledge. This means I last saw it before Northern Exposure went on the air. Damn I'm old. 

[Joe Hellandback]

5 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

It's been so long since I've seen "1776" that I had no idea John Cullum was Rutledge. This means I last saw it before Northern Exposure went on the air. Damn I'm old. 

He still pops up in L&O;SVU from time to time. 

[Halting Hex]

16 hours ago, Loandbehold said:

It's been so long since I've seen "1776" that I had no idea John Cullum was Rutledge. This means I last saw it before Northern Exposure went on the air. Damn I'm old. 

Well, the good news is you know which day it will be on next year 🙂  Set your (mental) DVR.

[Halting Hex]

Today's first offering in the WETV Law & Order marathon was "Silence" (2x21), the one about the closeted-gay Councilman who gets murdered by the ex-con who had tricked him into exchanging risqué letters and then blackmailed him, having used his attorney as a go-between.  (Councilman was tired of paying; ex-con was unhappy to hear that.)  And while the attorney's attorney is the main "defense counsel" part (since "Colson" could afford skilled representation) and was played by Joanna Merlin, who got guest-starring credit, I was wondering where I'd seen the ex-con's attorney before.  A quick check of IMDb reveals that those five lines (or whatever) were being delivered by none other than Brian "Chief Bob" Reddy.

I don't blame myself for not recognizing Reddy right from "go", since Chief Bob has maybe five lines in School Hard and IOHEFY combined.  I'm just wondering if Brian should have claimed the Councilman was murdered by a gang on PCP?

[whiporee]

If you want a mindfuck, seeing Giles playing a total asshole on Teddy Lasso is unpleasant. 
His character is also named Rupert, which throws one off a smidge.