shameless love: melissa mccarthy

It's that time again. I should really do these more often. Shameless love! This time for Melissa McCarthy. The "best friend" role is often sorely overlooked, and in my opinion, no one does it better than this lady. Of course, I fell in love with her long-time role of Sookie St. James on Gilmore Girls, so I was surprised when I didn't even flinch over her quick switch to Christina Applegate's best friend Dena on Samantha Who. If that series had survived, I may have even liked that character better than Sookie. Gasp.


Luckily, Melissa isn't leaving the small screen. Michael Ausiello is reporting that she will have a regular supporting role on Kelsey Grammar's new ABC comedy Hank. She will play Grammar's sister-in-law. Collective opinion seems to be that the pilot for this show was horrid, so they're reportedly reshooting the entire thing. Hopefully, adding Melissa is a step in the right direction. I'm much more likely to check it out now. Fingers crossed for another great role for this lovely lady.

UPDATE (9/29/09): Melissa pulled out of the Hank role. Based on the pilot, thank god for that. It was painful. Mad Men's Crista Flanagan (better known as the secretary lawn mover masochist) will take her place, and I wish her the best of luck. Meanwhile, Melissa is costaring in the upcoming Katherine Heigl comedy, Life As We Know It.