shameless love: idina menzel

This news from The Hollywood Reporter definitely calls for a shameless love post. If you want to avoid a slight Glee spoiler, don't read on...

The lovely and talented Broadway icon Idina Menzel has been cast in a recurring role for the spring season of Glee! She'll be playing the coach of Vocal Adrenaline, McKinley's most threatening rival. It's likely she will appear in all nine remaining episodes!

Though I've never had the chance to see her on stage, I've loved Idina since I first got my hands on a RENT soundtrack back in high school. Now, I have every word of Wicked memorized - Elphaba is one of my favorite characters of all time.

Can't wait to see her alongside the Glee kids! Look at this lady...I mean, come on.

shameless love: martha plimpton

I feel like Martha Plimpton's name has been buzzing in my ear lately. She will of course always have a special place in my heart as Stef the Goonie. I always saw myself as more of the sarcastic "best friend" character in the movie of my imagination, so I just loved Stef (plus I totally wanted to kiss Mouth).

Stef: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, stop, stop! You can't do this.

Data: Why?

Mikey: Why?

Stef: Because these are somebody else's wishes. They're somebody else's dreams.

Mouth: Yeah, but you know what? This one, this one right here. This was my dream, my wish. And it didn't come true. So I'm taking it back. I'm taking them all back.

She was also great as Julie in the Parenthood movie. I learned so many things from that movie... most of which my parents would probably have preferred happen a bit later. She was the first onscreen damsel to show me that taking naked pictures is NEVER a good idea. People will find them, probably your mom. She was also in one of my favorite movies of all time - Beautiful Girls - playing Paul's jaded girlfriend Jan. That scene with Paul tearfully plowing her driveway gets me every time.

Paul: Willie C.! What's up bad boy!

Willie: Paulie!

Paul: You remember Elle MacPherson? (a dog)

Willie: Hey Elle! How you doing?

Paul: Jan's banging some meat cutter.

Paul: What kind of future can she have with this guy, he cuts meat.

Tommy: You plow snow.

Kev: Hey, at least meat you can eat.

Martha's recent insurgence into my life was through two memorable guest spots: Grey's Anatomy and The Good Wife. I watch a fair amount of medical and crime shows that have an endless parade of big and little guest roles - patients, criminals, victims, etc. Grey's Anatomy tends to write patient stories particularly well, and Martha's role in the 2-part season opener was no exception. She played over-protective-mom among the grieving Seattle Grace amazingly well. It was great to be reminded of her talent.

So, it was a nice surprise to see her again on last week's The Good Wife. I'm liking this show more and more, by the way. It has heart and good storytelling (though the cases are a little cliched). Martha came in to play super tough (and hugely pregnant) opposing counsel for a mega powerful train company. We see a lot of scary fembot defense attorneys on legal shows, but this character had a fun spark. I would love to see her come back regularly.

These days it looks like Martha's spending most of her time doing prominent stage work, but I would strongly encourage her to think about a full time small screen gig!

P.S. Did you know that she's Keith Carradine's daughter? Being a Carradine somehow makes you automatically cooler.

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.

shameless love: neil patrick harris

It's been a while since I last expressed some shameless love. I dedicate this post to one, Neil Patrick Harris. There are a million Barney Stinson clips to pull from How I Met Your Mother, but this clip from Monday's episode is going down as one of my favorites.

I'm not necessarily a subscribed Robyn and Barney shipper, but I loved this clip because it was Barney trying not to abandon his...well Barneyness. The face twitching and throwing bar snacks in the air is just priceless.

Also, quick praise for the poor prop and wardrobe departments, which are now grappling with the second increasingly pregnant cast member. (Lily not speaking to Barney = Allison giving birth).

shameless love: lauren graham

From time to time, I try to sound mildly intelligent and analytical about television, but sometimes TV fandome is just about shameless love for actors and characters. So, I'm starting a new semi-regular, probably random series called Shameless Love.

Lauren Graham is my first installment. She will forever be Lorelei to me, but this promo photo for her upcoming run in Guys and Dolls is just love. Up next for Lauren - she's making an hour-long comedy pilot for ABC that sounds pretty good - it's a dark comedy with Lauren playing a self-help guru who is a complete mess. Hopefully, coming in the fall.