The 2026 Oscars are here, and while there have been ways to stream the Academy Awards for some time, the future will be a bit different. Beginning in 2029, the show will exclusively move to YouTube. And of course, host Conan O'Brien and the writers had to put in a joke about it.

Jane Lynch had a special cameo appearance in a skit that mimicked the ad placement in YouTube videos. She first appeared advertising a tactical flashlight, allegedly the same one that "killed Bin Laden." After Conan briefly returned, Lynch interrupted again, appearing as an attorney spreading the word about a class action suit against the people selling the tactical flashlight. Quite a fun moment for Lynch, who was not on the list of 2026 Oscars nominees.

The internet was just as big a fan as I was of Jane Lynch's skit, and made it known:

• Tonight’s #oscars are a reminder that Jane Lynch is a treasure - @IvoEmpire
• #oscars2026 ok first Josh Groban, now Jane Lynch??? THERE WAS A GLEEK IN THE WRITERS ROOM !!! - @gorganmrissett
• the jane lynch commercial bit got me it’s giving 30 rock #oscars - @bluth_lindsay
• Next year I’m putting “Jane Lynch Cameo” on my Oscars bingo card because she’s always everywhere - @ugh_pks
• Thank you Jane Lynch for reminding me to order my tactical flashlight! #Oscars - @lawryee

I was surprised by the number of Glee fans who were posting about the moment, but I guess since Lynch is one of the more prominent alumni of the show, it's only obvious people would come out of the woodwork when she popped up. That said, people, we already got the Glee reunion. I don't think a revival is coming, especially with the original cast.

To go back to the skit, it was on-brand for Conan O'Brien, who really went all out with the team to inject his comedy into the show. From the wild opening monologue, the sketches, and random props, it felt like watching him in his various late-night skits from back in the day.

With the help of Jane Lynch and many others, this has gone down as one of the funniest awards shows in some time. It's also helped that some unexpected moments threw the show into momentary chaos, including the seventh-ever tie for a category, Best Live Action Short Film. The microphone retracted during one person giving a speech, leading to an awkward moment that got some laughs from everyone.

Here's hoping the laughs continue throughout the night as the 2026 Academy Awards continue to celebrate a strong year of film. I'm eager to see what else is planned for the evening, and what other surprises may happen as winners are announced.

Spoilers ahead for the September 15 series premiere of Celebrity Weakest Link on Fox, available streaming next day with a Hulu subscription.

Jane Lynch regularly roasts contestants in episodes of The Weakest Link, and the series premiere of Celebrity Weakest Link in the 2025 TV schedule proved that famous players aren't exempt from the shade either. Fox delivered something special to kick off the celebrity incarnation of the hit game show by recruiting no fewer than eight of Lynch's former Glee costars to participate, and there were puns and in-jokes galore for any Glee fan to enjoy.

My favorite bits of the episode actually came very early on, however, with Lynch channeling her inner Sue Sylvester to roast an actor for looking pretty old when playing a teenager and another actor botching a very easy question. The cast members who participated were Max Adler (Karofsky), Becca Tobin (Kitty), Alex Newell (Unique), Chord Overstreet Sam), Heather Morris (Brittany), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Dot-Marie Jones (Coach Beast), and Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina).

Max Adler Looked Too Old For High School

Given that this Glee reunion was on a game show for charity, Jane Lynch of course didn't bring up the controversy surrounding Lea Michele on set or the passing of Naya Rivera, but instead poked mostly gentle fun at the series, including that time the characters did the "Gangnam Style" dance, every unfortunate time that Will Schuester rapped, and Max Adler as Dave Karofsky. Shortly before Adler was confirmed as the first Glee elimination of Celebrity Weakest Link, he had this exchange with the host:

• Jane Lynch: "Can I just say you were the oldest-looking junior in high school? I mean, you were like shaving two times a day back then."
• Max Adler: "Oh yeah, they were filling in the bald spot. It was a whole thing."
• Jane Lynch: "Well, I'm bored with this subject now."

Admittedly, this wasn't the most brutal roast in Weakest Link history (or delivered by Jane Lynch to a Glee cast member), but I just appreciate her saying what I always thought back in the day. Teen shows often cast actors who are already well out of high school so they can work full days, but Glee really didn't seem to try to hard to find actors who could pass for 16-year-olds.

Now, Max Adler wasn't actually the oldest actor to play a high schooler on Glee. Born in 1986, his first episode of the Fox hit aired in 2009, so he was 23 when he debuted as Dave Karofsky. Cory Monteith (who tragically died before turning 40), Mark Sailing, and Harry Shum Jr. were all born in 1982, while Diana Agron, Lea Michele, Amber Riley, Jenna Ushkowitz, and Becca Tobin were all born in '86 like Adler. The Karofsky actor just wasn't quite able to sell playing a high schooler was well as some of his costars.

Adler seemed to take the ribbing all in good fun, and appeared more annoyed that he was eliminated first after flubbing a Friday Night Lights question. At least he can take comfort in knowing that wasn't the most memorable wrong answer of the Glee reunion episode of Celebrity Weakest Link!

Becca Tobin Is No Chicken Wing Expert

These contestants weren't invited onto Celebrity Weakest Link for being culinary experts, but I think Becca Tobin's attempt to answer a question about Buffalo wings will still go down as one of the funniest moments of the entire episode. Jane Lynch asked the actress this:

I initially thought that Tobin was lucky to get one of the easiest questions of the first round... until she responded with "True?" Jane Lynch looked like she was on the verge of a dropping a non-Fox-approved four-letter word in response, and Chord Overstreet and Dot-Marie Jones both had great reactions. Everybody had a good chuckle again when Lynch brought it up later, and I have to credit Tobin's epically wrong answer for making me laugh out loud.

Becca Tobin flubbed another easy question in the next round, to the point that she even said "Oh my god!" at herself for getting it wrong. Like Max Adler, she took it in good fun when she got some heat for not knowing that Buffalo wings are 100% chicken and 0% chicken, and Amber Riley went on to win the episode. This continued her streak of doing well on TV competitions, after winning Dancing with the Stars Season 17 back in 2013 and The Masked Singer Season 8 in 2022, which she described as "such an invaluable experience."

If you missed the episode and want to check it out or now are in the mood to watch these stars back in their Glee days, you can find both shows streaming with a Hulu subscription as well as Glee via a Disney+ subscription.

Everyone loves a ruthless TV villain. From Cersei Lannister to J.R. Ewing to Mr. Burns, great villains come in all kinds of ways on our television schedule. They may be cold and calculating, or they may be impulsive and crazy, but a great villain always makes for a much better show. This is a list of just a few of my favorite and most ruthless villains in TV history. Enjoy! If you don't, they may come for you.

J.R. Ewing (Dallas)

J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) was a villain who was so cunning and so ruthless that when he was shot on the Season 3 finale of Dallas, literally all of America waited months to find out who shot him. It wasn't just one of the best cliffhangers ever; it was a cultural moment that I don't think will ever be matched.

Livia Soprano (The Sopranos)

When you're a mob boss and your worst enemy is your mother, you know you're in a bad spot. Livia Soprano, Tony's domineering and, frankly, nasty, mother, played by the late Nancy Marchand, was a brilliant antagonist for the powerful boss of the family. She was so underhanded and so unhinged at times, you never knew just what she was capable of or if there was any good in her at all. It would have been amazing to see where her character went, had we not tragically lost Marchand during the show's run.

Kilgrave (Jessica Jones)

Kilgrave, played by David Tennant in Jessica Jones, just might be my favorite comic book villain in the modern era. The fact that his ability to change the reality you understand in your own head is diabolical and terrifying. Tennant's performance is flat-out amazing.

Gus Fring (Breaking Bad)

Giancarlo Esposito's performance as Gus Fring, the mortal enemy of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) in Breaking Bad, is simply terrifying. He's calm and cold while exacting terrible violence. He's ruthless in his pursuit to control the game, and he's completely without remorse. It's the perfect combination to make an amazing villain.

Nina Myers (24)

There is nothing more ruthless than turning on your co-worker and country, like Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke) did in Season 1 of 24. It was a moment that completely blew viewers' minds, who never could have predicted that Jack Bauer's right-hand woman would end up the villain.

Negan (The Walking Dead)

I'll make a confession here: Negan (Jefferey Dean Morgan) was too much for me. I started to tune out of The Walking Dead right about the time he entered. He was just too violent and too mean for me to keep going. The Walking Dead had a number of great villains, but for me, he's the king of the worst.

The Trinity Killer (Dexter)

The only person to actually match wits with Dexter on the show of the same name was, of course, Arthur Mitchell, aka The Trinity Killer, played by the brilliant John Lithgow. He was an unbelievable foe for everyone's favorite anti-hero/serial killer and a big reason the show was as successful as it was over the years.

Aunt Lydia (The Handmaid's Tale)

The Handmaid's Tale is one of the hardest shows to watch, ever. There is just so much evil throughout virtually every moment of the show. That evil is personified by Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), the "aunt" who is "caring" for June Osborne/Offred and her fellow handmaids. It's impossible to sum up just how evil she is.

Moriarty (Sherlock)

One of the greatest villains in Western literature is Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes books. On the show Sherlock, Moriarty is portrayed perfectly in a modernized way by Andrew Scott. He is a master criminal, sure, but really, he just wants to torment our hero, Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch)

Mr. Burns (The Simpsons)

Any villain who once tried to block out the sun to drive up profits for his company belongs on this list. Mr. Burns' attempt to shroud Springfield in darkness on The Simpsons led to dozens of suspects after he was shot. Of course, it was actually CM Burms' attempt to steal candy from a baby that actually got him shot. It's a toss-up as to which is worse.

Homelander (The Boys)

One of the most disturbing villains you can watch with a Prime subscription has to be Homelander from The Boys. He finally answers the question: "What if Superman were evil?" Luckily, he's as funny as he is scary, which makes him as watchable as any other baddie on this list.

Cersei Lannister (Game Of Thrones)

One show that gave us all multiple villains that could be on this is Game of Thrones. Perhaps the most coniving, most ruthless, and most disturbing of them all was Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). She made it (almost) to the bitter end of the show after setting herself up as the villain very early on. She wasn't alone, but she was the most dangerous in the game.

Vern Schillinger (Oz)

Vern Schillinger (J.K. Simmons) is the personification of evil on Oz. The racist prisoner was ruthless, but he was also weak in a lot of ways, making him even more dangerous.

Al Swearengen (Deadwood)

There are no villains on this list with the verbal panache of Al Swearengen on Deadwood. Ian McShane's performance, delivering those amazing lines like only he could, made Swearengen a fan favorite, despite just how awful he could be. Just hope he doesn't turn that silver tongue on you, or you might get fed to the pigs next.

Ben Linus (Lost)

This first season on Lost saw the castaways mostly fighting among themselves. There was no real "villain" until the 14th episode of the show's second season. That is when Henry Gale is captured by Rousseau. Soon, we would all learn his real name, Ben Linus, and his real motive, and they weren't benevolent. Actor Michael Emerson played the role perfectly.

Wilson Fisk (Daredevil)

Matching his brains with tremendous brawn, Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio) has everything he needs to be one of the most powerful baddies on this list. In both the original Daredevil, which streamed on Netflix before moving to Disney+, and Daredevil: Reborn, Kingpin is as formidable as any villain ever. It doesn't hurt to have the talented D'Onofrio playing the supervillain, one of Marvel's best.

Alexis Carrington (Dynasty)

What J.R. Ewing did for Dallas, Alexis Carrington (Joan Collins) did for Dynasty. The show was a direct response to Dallas, and it had the same vibe, and Alexis was just as conniving and ruthless as J.R.

Skeletor (He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe)

This one is personal. When I was a kid, I was actually a little scared of Skeletor in the original He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe cartoon. He's been the central villain throughout all of the various versions of the franchise. He was thwarted most of the time, but he never stopped coming at He-Man and his cohorts.

Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal)

One of the most ruthless and terrifying villains on TV and on the silver screen has to be Hannibal Lecter. The cannibal psychiatrist was played by Mads Mikkelsen on the show Hannibal, after Sir Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar playing the role in The Silence Of The Lambs. Whomever plays him, he's pure evil.

Marlo Stanfield (The Wire)

One of the things that makes The Wire such an amazing show, one of the best shows ever in the peak era of television, was that there were very few pure villains. Every character, cop or criminal, was presented in shades of gray. Some good, some bad. One character that was pretty much all bad, however, was Marlo Stanfield (Jamie Hector). His takeover of the drug trade in Baltimore was as ruthless a takeover as you could imagine. He was cold and calculating, but he wasn't afraid to be as violent as he could.

Sue Sylvester (Glee)

Sue Sylvester might not be the most violent or the most criminal villain on this list, but that doesn't mean that she is any less ruthless in the pursuit of her goals than anyone else on this list. The great Jane Lynch was born to play the role, too. She was not only ruthless, she was hilarious. The perfect example of a character we all love to hate, and that's a complete compliment to the great Ms. Lynch.

Damon Pope (Sons Of Anarchy)

It wasn't often that SAMCRO ran up against a foe that they couldn't take out pretty easily in Sons of Anarchy. Damon Pope, played by Harold Perrineau, was one exception to that rule. Pope was the main antagonist in Season 5 of the show, and he was responsible for one of the most brutal deaths in SOA history when he arranged Opie's death in front of his brothers. I still get sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

Joffery Baratheon (Game Of Thrones)

In a show full of villains, Joffrey Baratheon was the most unpredictable and the most ruthlessly violent. He was a terrible sadist, as shown over and over, and he had absolutely no morals. He is among the most hated TV villains of all time.

Thomas Barrow (Downton Abbey)

Downton Abbey isn't a show that jumps out as having any ruthless villains, but Thomas Barrow (Rob James-Collier) definitely fits the bill here. He's conniving, sniveling, and awful. Sometimes his motives don't even seem reasonable, but that doesn't stop him from trying to undermine his perceived enemies.

Ralph Cifaretto (The Sopranos)

The Sopranos never really found a villain quite as evil as Livia Soprano, but when Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) returns from Miami in Season 3, we did get a formidable foe to Tony. He was rash and violent, but he also always found a way to justify his questionable decisions, even when they went against Tony's orders.

Amanda Woodward (Melrose Place)

As a spinoff of Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place was decidedly more "adult," not just in the age of the characters, but in the way those characters acted and were treated. 90210 didn't really have villains, but Melrose had Amanda Woodward, played by the wonderful Heather Locklear. While she did garner some sympathy as the seasons rolled on, in the beginning, she was 100% villain.

Newman (Seinfeld)

There aren't a whole lot of villains in sitcoms, at least, not any as devious as Jerry's neighbor Newman (Wayne Knight). He was buddies with Kramer, but a sworn enemy of Jerry's, and it made every single interaction between the two characters hilarious. The disdain they had for each other was palpable every time they met. Newman and Jerry got along.

Sideshow Bob (The Simpsons)

While Mr. Burns is a villain to everyone in Springfield (even Smithers most of the time), Sideshow Bob (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) is a villain to just one poor kid in town, Bart Simpson. Over the years, the Bond Villain-like Bob has come up with all kinds of schemes to take out who he thinks is his nemesis, but he is thwarted each time. It's made for some of the best episodes of The Simpsons.

Sylar (Heroes)

Sylar (Zachary Quinto) was not only ruthless on Heroes, but he was insanely powerful, and that made him one of the scariest villains on this whole list. Zachary Quinto played the role masterfully,

The Governor (The Walking Dead)

Of all the villains in The Walking Dead, The Governor, played by David Morrissey in Seasons 3 and 4, is one of the most menacing. Maybe it's the eye patch, but there was always something very unsettling about him, even when he wasn't being totally awful (which was rare). The villains got more violent as the show went on, but they didn't get any scarier than The Governor.

Villanelle (Killing Eve)

Villanelle's cat-and-mouse game with Eve (Sandra Oh) is what makes the show so great. Jodie Comer, who plays Villanelle, and Sandra Oh have great on-screen chemistry, which is often underrated when it comes to great villains on TV. Sometimes, the back-and-forth is what makes the adversaries great.

Rowan Pope (Scandal)

It's always bad when your most ruthless enemy is part of your family. For Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), her father, Rowan Pope (Joe Morton), was the one enemy who knew how to really twist the knife in the normally unflappable Olivia.

Hollywood is a tough place to get your big break. Many actors struggle for years before they finally hit it big. These stars put in the effort and stuck with it until they finally became huge stars after they turned 40. Stars like Steve Carell, Kathy Bates, Alan Rickman, and many more actors like them are household names now, but it took them years to get there.

Steve Carell

Like so many other people Steve Carell started his career at Second City in Chicago. He then kicked around television for a while, with roles on the Dana Carvey Show and eventually at The Daily Show. It's when he left that show to head the cast in The Office that his career exploded and he became one of the most beloved stars on earth.

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson has one of the most impressive resumes in Hollywood, but it took him a long time to get there. His first credit came in 1972 when he was 24, but it would take another two decades or so, after a series of smaller roles in the late '80s, that he would land the role of Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction and have his career completely explode.

Alan Rickman

The late, great Alan Rickman started acting in theater in the mid-70s, finding regular roles throughout the early '80s. Then, in 1988, at age 42, he made his feature film debut in a little movie called Die Hard. To this day, Hans Gruber is a legendary villain. He would go on to star in dozens of movies, most notably the Harry Potter films, before passing away in 2016 at age 69.

Betty White

Though Betty White had a little success in her 30s with her eponymous TV show for NBC in the '50s and minor hit Life with Elizabeth in the same decade, it really wasn't until after her 40th birthday in 1962 that she really rose to big stardom. After her 50th birthday, she was cast in the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and after her 60th birthday, she teamed up with Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty in the role she's probably best known for today in Golden Girls.

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman was born in 1937, but it would take almost 50 years for the legend to truly break out in film. After working here and there as a dancer and as a stage actor in the 1960s and '70s, he scored his breakout role in 1987's Street Smart, starring alongside Christopher Reeve. His performance earned him the first of his Oscar nominations and by 1989's Glory, Freeman was a bonafide star.

Bea Arthur

Like her Golden Girls co-star Betty White, major success came later for the great Bea Arthur. Though she was a steadily-working actor starting in the 1940s, it wasn't until she played the character Maude Findlay, first in All In The Family, then her own spinoff called Maude, that Arthur reached the heights of fame. She was nearly 50 at that point, but her star never faded after that.

Brian Dennehy

Brian Dennehy didn't set out to be an actor. After serving in the Marines and graduating from Columbia University in 1965 with a degree in history, he caught the theater bug and started working in regional theater. In 1983, after a few smaller roles, he scored his first big role as the sheriff in First Blood at age 45.

Kathryn Joosten

Kathryn Joosten is best known for playing the beloved Mrs. Landingham in The West Wing and like her character, her real-life story is truly inspiring. She spent the first half of her life first as a nurse, then as a stay-at-home mom, raising two kids. At the age of 42, after divorcing her husband, Joosten began working in local theater in her hometown of Chicago. At age 53, she moved to Orlando and became a performer at Disney World. Soon after she moved to Hollywood and started landing parts in TV. Amazing.

Kathy Bates

Though she made her film debut in 1970, it would be more than two decades later, after working in theater and in bit TV parts, before Kathy Bates would become a star. It was, of course, he now-legendary performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery that would vault her to stardom. Truly one of the best female villains in Hollywood history.

Bryan Cranston

Most people certainly think first of Breaking Bad when they hear the name Bryan Cranston and with good reason. Cranston was 52 when he first starred as Walter White. Of course, that wasn't his breakout role, which came eight years earlier when he starred as the dad in Malcolm In The Middle ]. While he has been acting in movies and TV for years, it was that role, after his 40th birthday, that really put him on the map.

Viola Davis

EGOT winner Viola Davis found success on the stage first, winning two Tonys before turning 40. In 2008, at age 43, she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Doubt, but it was 2011's The Help, for which she was nominated for another Oscar, that vaulted her to superstardom.

Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield has one of the best stories of perseverance in Hollywood history. Though technically his career started in the 1930s, his stand-up was so bland that he eventually gave up and became a salesman. In the 1960s, he re-invented himself and his act and it was a hit, with some of the best one-liners of all time. Suddenly the guy that got no respect was getting respect by talking about how he got no respect! It wasn't until 1980, at almost age 60, that Dangerfield landed his first starring role in a movie, in Caddyshack.

John Mahoney

John Mahoney started his career as the "old guy" at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. After years as an English teacher, the future Frasier star gave up his career and started acting in his late 30s. By the late 80s, well into his 40s, he was landing roles in movies like Say Anything... and Moonstruck.

Jane Lynch

It's easy to say that Glee was the project that really made Jane Lynch famous, but she got her big break before that when she found her way into the Christopher Quest universe, where she was responsible for some of the wittiest one-liners in Best In Show.

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais took a roundabout way to comedic fame. He started in music, moved to radio, and eventually found his way onto the popular British show The 11 O'Clock Show. It was in 2001, however, at age 40 when he co-created and starred in The Office. The rest is well-known history.

Michael Emerson

Michael Emerson took the very long trail to fame, and his story is inspirational. He struggled for years as an actor, first in New York, then later in Florida where he taught acting as well. He stsarted landing work in the theater in the late '90s, but got his big break in a guest spot on The Practice in 2001. Of course, he's best known for playing Ben on Lost.

Peter Dinklage

Though he found steady work in the early '00s, Peter Dinklage really shot to superstardom when he was cast as Tyrion Lannister in Game Of Thrones when he was 42. Today, that character is still, and will likely always be, one of the most beloved in TV history. Tyrion also happens to the character who appeared in the most episodes of Game of Thrones.

Larry David

Larry David's career had a lot of ups and downs in the early years. His first major gig was as a writer on SNL, though he didn't find much success there. At age 42, in 1989, he co-wrote a TV pilot for what became Seinfeld and his career took off. On screen, after playing a few minor roles onSeinfeld, he found even more fame with HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Melissa McCarthy

While she did have some big supporting roles in her 30s in Gilmore Girls and Samantha Who?, Melissa McCarthy's career exploded when she started as Molly in Mike & Molly, in 2011, at age 41, she co-starred in Bridesmaids, where she completely stole the show, earning an Oscar nomination in the process.

Margo Martindale

Margo Martindale has become one of the best character actors in Hollywood, but it took her a long time to get there. She worked in community theater for years before she regularly started landing TV roles in her late 30s. After her 40th birthday, her career took off with dozens of memorable supporting roles in both film and TV.

Leslie Jones

Saturday Night Live is generally thought of as a young person's game. Most cast members join very early in their careers and by the time they are 30, they are moving on to other things. Leslie Jones is an exception to that. She didn't join the cast until she was nearly 50, but she made an immediate impact. Since leaving the show, she's continued to star in things like 2016's Ghostbusters and Coming 2 America in 2021.

Ty Burrell

Modern Family took the world by storm when it debuted in 2007 and one of the leads of the show, Ty Burrell, became a huge star. This came after years in Hollywood in supporting roles and, eventually, a starring role in the short-lived show Out of Practice. It was Modern Family that made him a household name.

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer started landing bit parts and supporting roles in the mid-90s, but it was 2011's The Help that put the Academy Award-winner on the map, after her 40th birthday. Not only did she win for her role in The Help, but she's been nominated for others as well, including for her work in Hidden Figures and The Shape of Water.

Patrick Stewart

While Patrick Stewart steadily found work in the theater and in smaller supporting roles in TV and film, it wasn't until he was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 that he became a household name. He was 47 at the time and he's only gotten more famous as he's gotten older.

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton basically made his own fortune in Hollywood after years of smaller supporting roles, he wrote, directed, and starred in Sling Blade. The movie was a low-budget masterpiece and he's been starring in big roles and winning awards ever since.

Hannah Waddingham

Many actors get their start in the theater, just like Hannah Waddingham. With a fantastic singing voice and wonderful acting chops, it makes sense that this is where Waddingham would first find success. It would take a couple of decades for her to equal that on screen with roles in shows like Game of Thrones, and, of course, her greatest claim to fame, Ted Lasso.

Richard Farnsworth

Without a doubt, the late Richard Farnsworth had one of the most incredible careers in Hollywood history. He had uncredited roles in some of the most famous Hollywood epics including Gone With The Wind, The Ten Commandments, and Spartacus. He didn't earn his first credited role until he was 46 in a movie called Texas Across the River in 1966. Then in the 1970s, he became a well-known character actor in projects like Roots, The Natural, and Misery.

F. Murray Abraham

After scoring a handful of supporting roles in movies in the 1970s, F. Murray Abraham became a household name after his Oscar-winning performance as Antonio Salieri in 1984's Amadeus. It was truly a career-making role and one that is still loved today by fans.

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson was 41 when he starred in one of the greatest movies ever made, even if it's a movie you can only watch once. As Oscar Schindler in Schindler's List, Neeson immediately became world famous. It's safe to say that role will always keep him famous, too.

Lucille Ball

It's really hard to believe that Lucille Ball was over 40 when she became famous on I Love Lucy, but it's true. The comedian worked in show business for decades before she and her husband Desi Arnaz created the now-legendary TV show and her fame never faded for the rest of her life.

Tommy Lee Jones

Like a lot of actors from Texas, Tommy Lee Jones does things his way. The Harvard grad worked for decades, even winning a Golden Globe and an Emmy before he truly found fame and became a leading man in the 90s with movies like The Fugitive and Under Siege.

Ken Jeong

it's not often that someone switches careers from medicine to drama, but that's exacting what Ken Jeong did. Though he always had a love of acting, he originally pursued a more traditional career as a doctor, while acting and doing standup on the side. By the mid-2000s he was earning enough to leave medicine behind, and in 2011, at age 40, he broke out in a huge way in the Hangover.

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet streamed the latest episode of Only Murders in the Building Season 4 with a Hulu subscription, so be warned!

Having adored Only Murders in the Building as much as anyone across its first three seasons, I was appropriately keyed up for Season 4 hitting the 2024 TV schedule so that it could follow up on the shocking death in Season 3’s finale. And while the premiere ep was great — boo on Hulu for releasing only one — it was the second episode that kind of blew my mind, in large part due to Jane Lynch.

Not because Only Murders broke the central whodunnit formula by revealing the killer already or anything so drastic, but because it finally treated its sensational seasonal hook with enough compassion to elicit an emotional response both on and off the screen.

I Actually Feel Grief And Angst For Charles Over Sazz's Death

While the premiere logically had to catch audiences back up with its podcast-hosting trio and others in the Arconia and elsewhere, the follow-up "Gates of Heaven" started to drive home just how emotionally and narratively troubling Sazz's death is for Steve Martin's Charles. (Even if it was an honor for Lynch herself.) To the latter point, her being shot inside his apartment likely means the killer was aiming for Charles, thus putting his public safety in question.

But as a viewer, I was legitimately more engaged by how moved and affected he is by everything that happened. For all that Charles presented as being put-off or disinterested whenever Sazz showed up, his true colors shone through quite vividly throughout the ep. And not just in the way that he's hallucinating Jane Lynch's character, or through his determination to figure out who killed her.

Rather, it comes through in moments when Charles is downright lost and confused and seemingly unsure of how to properly cope with anything. It's the moments when he realizes just how dependable and meaningful Sazz was throughout his life and career, and that he so often took it all for granted.

Even though viewers are still watching Steve Martin and Jane Lynch acting opposite each other, we're essentially just seeing Charles talking to himself, and it's already evident that he may never feel at peace with never being able to tell her how much she meant to him. And that's definitely not something I came into Season 4 expecting to feel.

I Never Expected To Care About Only Murders' Victims, But Jane Lynch Makes It Easy

Season 1, the death that kicked off this whole show's premise was Tim Kono's, and while viewers learned more about Tim as the episodes went on, it wasn't in a way that made his murder an inarguable tragedy. The same goes for the twisty death of Paul Rudd's Ben Gilroy, who was introduced as something of a pompous turd, and only gained a few empathy points as time went on.

Jayne Houdyshell's Bunny Folger serves as the slightest of exceptions, since she at least had a full season to make an impact before being killed off for Season 2's murder. And it's not like Bunny was a blessed angel or anything, so her absence wasn't an exercise in mourning.

But due to the character being a kind-hearted and often selfless talent, combined with Jane Lynch's low-key "aw shucks" performance, I felt more sadness about the titular Murder in that 30-minute stretch than during any other point in this show's existence thus far. It absolutely helps that we see the actual Sazz in Brazzos' BTS footage instead of just in Charles' mind.

I can certainly envision a future where this investigation gets to a point where I no longer feel very sad or mournful about what's happening. But for now, Only Murders in the Building has authentically evoked an emotion that isn't mirth, and I hope Sazz gets justice!

Only Murders in the Building streams new episodes on Hulu every Tuesday, so keep those clue boards handy.

The X-Files is an iconic show to come out of the early '90s, and the combination of mythology stories and Monster of the Week episodes created enough of a hit to last nine original seasons, two revival seasons, and two feature films. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson aren't the only big names to come out of the show, however, as a number of the guest stars went on to become stars of their own shows. Read on for the standouts!

Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds is known for big screen ventures like the Deadpool films nowadays, but The X-Files fans saw a very young version of the actor in the Season 3 episode “Syzygy” in 1996… briefly, anyway! His character was killed off before the end of the cold open, but Reynolds would go on to star in ABC’s hit Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place sitcom from 1998-2001.

Bryan Cranston

Bryan Cranston proved a master of comedy with Malcolm in the Middle and of drama with Breaking Bad, but he flexed his acting muscles on The X-Files earlier on. While playing the ill-fated Patrick Crump in the Season 6 episode “Drive” wasn’t his first TV credit, the 1998 gig introduced him to executive producer Vince Gilligan, who would go on to cast Cranston as Walter White.

Jack Black

Long before School of Rock and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Jack Black played Bart “Zero” Liquori in Episode 3 of The X-Files’ third season in 1995. He would later star in TV projects like Tenacious D between 1997-2000, The Brink in 2015, and the Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight animated series from 2022-2023.

Terry O'Quinn

Terry O’Quinn portrayed three different franchise characters. He played Lt. Brian Tillman in the “Aubrey” episode of Season 2 in 1995, SAC Michaud in The X-Files: Fight the Future feature film, and Shadow Man in the “Trust No 1” episode of Season 9 in 2002. Best known now as John Locke on Lost from 2004-2010, he also recurred on shows including Hawaii Five-0, FBI: Most Wanted, and Resident Alien.

Luke Wilson

Luke Wilson holds a special place in the hearts of many X-Files fans for starring as the vampire sheriff Lucius Hartwell in arguably the show’s best episode: “Bad Blood” in 1998. Following that Season 5 episode, he landed multi-episode gigs on shows including That ‘70s Show and Roadies before starring in the DC Comics-based series Stargirl from 2020-2022.

Lucy Liu

Future Kill Bill actress Lucy Liu played Kim Hsin in The X-Files’ third season episode called “Hell Money” back in 1996. She debuted in her first series regular role on the sitcom Pearl later that year, but her big TV break would be Ling Woo on Ally McBeal before playing Dr. Joan Watson in CBS’ Elementary from 2012-2019.

Tony Shalhoub

Before he was an Emmy- and Tony Award-winner, Tony Shalhoub appeared in the Season 2 episode of The X-Files called “Soft Light” as the very stressed Dr. Chester Ray Banton. While he was already starring on NBC’s sitcom Wings at the time, his most acclaimed (and award-winning) work came later with Monk starting in 2002 and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel starting in 2017.

Jane Lynch

The ninth season of The X-Files wasn't the most popular, but the “Lord of the Flies” episode in 2001 featured Jane Lynch as Mrs. Anne T. Lokensgard years before she introduced the world to Sue Sylvester on Fox’s Glee. For that role, she'd be nominated for three Emmys and win one over the course of six seasons from 2009-2015.

Felicity Huffman

Considering Felicity Huffman's later fame for Sports Night, American Crime, and Desperate Housewives, it can be easy to overlook her very early episode of The X-Files as Dr. Nancy Da Silva in 1993. The Season 1 episode was an homage to the iconic horror film The Thing and remains one of the show’s best more than thirty years later.

Shia LaBeouf

When one thinks of Shia LaBeouf as a child star, his lead role as Louis Stevens in Disney Channel’s Even Stevens from 2000-2003 probably comes to mind first. One year earlier, however, the future household name played a sick youngster by the name of Richie in a Season 7 episode of The X-Files called “The Goldberg Variation.”

CCH Pounder

While CCH Pounder only appeared as Agent Lucy Kazdin in one episode of The X-Files, Season 2's “Duane Barry” was pivotal. Starting later in 1994, Pounder appeared in the first four seasons of ER before arriving on The Shield in 2002. Her longest-running role has been playing NCIS: New Orleans' Dr. Loretta Wade for all seven seasons from 2014-2021.

BD Wong

While BD Wong appeared in Jurassic Park in the early ‘90s, small-screen stardom would take longer. He played Detective Glen Chao in The X-Files’ “Hell Money” episode of Season 3 in 1996, before he’d go on to a role in Oz from 1997-2003 and Law & Order: SVU starting in 2001. He’d eventually become one of the Law & Order stars to appear in most episodes.

Donal Logue

Donal Logue guest-starred in The X-Files' very first Monster of the Week episode, called “Squeeze,” in 1993. He went on to recur in later seasons of ER before starring in all five seasons of Grounded for Life and all five seasons of Gotham, which wrapped after 100 episodes in 2019.

Peter Boyle

Peter Boyle’s career goes back to the 1960s, but X-Files Season 3 fans will remember him for playing the title character in “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” in 1995, for which he won an Emmy. He would then score another seven Emmy nominations for playing Frank Barone across nine seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond from 1996-2005.

Laurie Holden

Laurie Holden wasn’t a one-off guest star on The X-Files but would appear in ten episodes as Marita Covarrubias between 1996-2002. She’d become more of a household name as part of the original cast of The Walking Dead regulars, and she ranks among the Walking Dead cast members to appear in most episodes.

Aaron Paul

The future Breaking Bad star can be found in a Season 9 episode of The X-Files, called “Lord of the Flies” in 2001, where he played a character with the distinguished name of “Sky Commander Winky.” He would go on to recur on Big Love before landing his career-making role as Jesse Pinkman opposite Bryan Cranston. Post-Breaking Bad credits include The Path, BoJack Horseman, and Westworld.

Michael Emerson

Years before his Emmy-winning portrayal of Ben on Lost, Michael Emerson guest-starred in the final Monster of the Week episode of The X-Files’ original run. Called “Sunshine Days,” the Season 9 episode in 2002 preceded his guest stint on Without a Trace, his role in Saw, and of course five seasons of Lost. Other long-running roles since The X-Files include Person of Interest and Evil.

Jesse L. Martin

Jesse L. Martin arrived on The X-Files to play baseball-loving alien Josh Exley in “The Unnatural,” the Season 6 episode written and directed by David Duchovny in 1999. Later that year, Martin joined the cast of Law & Order, where he remained for nine seasons and nearly 200 episodes. The Flash was his next series regular gig until 2023, followed by The Irrational early in the 2024 TV lineup.

Bradley Whitford

While Bradley Whitford is likely best remembered for his work as Josh Lyman in The West Wing starting in 1999, he had a very different part to play in The X-Files’ second season in 1994. He portrayed the unfortunate Daniel Trepkos in “Firewalker.” Whitford has three Emmy wins to his name since the early ‘90s thanks to his work on The West Wing, Transparent, and The Handmaid’s Tale.

Paul McCrane

Paul McCrane played the titular character in the Season 4 episode called “Leonard Betts” in 1997. He’s also responsible for one of the most iconic lines in The X-Files history: “I’m sorry, but you’ve got something I need.” McCrane joined the cast of ER later that year to play Dr. Robert Romano across seven seasons, ending his time in one of the medical drama’s most memorable deaths.

Kurtwood Smith

Although he would later be quite well known for a different Fox series, Kurtwood Smith portrayed Agent Bill Patterson in the Season 3 episode called “Grotesque,” which aired on the network in 1996. Two years later, he was back on Fox for That ‘70s Show to play Red Forman for eight seasons and 200 episodes. Smith more recently reprised the role for Netflix’s That ‘90s Show.

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer’s episode of The X-Files in 1999 may be better remembered as the one that delivered the first actual kiss between Mulder and Scully, but you can find the actress in the Season 7 episode titled “Millennium.” In addition to winning her Academy Award for The Help, Spencer landed many guest and recurring TV gigs before her lead role in Apple TV+’s Truth Be Told from 2019-2023.

Seth Green

Seth Green was a guest in the very first episode of The X-Files following the pilot, as Emil in “Deep Throat” in 1993. While it wasn’t his first TV role, it preceded his work as Oz on Buffy the Vampire Slayer from 1997-2000. He really hit his stride as a voice actor with Robot Chicken and Family Guy in particular, with hundreds of episodes of each show to his name.

Garrett Dillahunt

The X-Files is one of Garret Dillahunt’s earliest credits, as he played Edward Skur in the flashback-heavy Season 5 episode “Travelers” in 1998. He may be better remembered for his work in Deadwood which started several years later in 2004, followed by TV projects including all four seasons of Raising Hope, three seasons of The Mindy Project, and three seasons of Fear the Walking Dead.

Dean Norris

Dean Norris is a master of playing characters in law enforcement, including Marshal Tapia in The X-Files’ Season 2 episode “F. Emasculata” in 1995. His biggest TV break would come years later as Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad, and he appeared in all three seasons of CBS’ Under the Dome and all four seasons of TNT’s Claws before recurring in Law & Order: Organized Crime’s fourth season as well.

Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless’ most iconic work to date was likely as Xena in Xena: Warrior Princess for syndication from 1995-2001, but she came to network TV primetime in 2001 for two episodes of The X-Files Season 9 as alien super-soldier Shannon McMahon. She’d go on to recur across the last three seasons of Battlestar Galactica and become one of the faces of Starz’s Spartacus franchise of shows starting in 2010.

Brad Dourif

Brad Dourif is one of The X-Files’ most memorable early guest stars as serial killer Luther Lee Boggs in Season’s “Beyond the Sea” in 1991, but he really made a mark on TV starting in 2004 with playing Doc Cochran in Deadwood. More recently, he has been voicing the demonic doll himself in the Chucky series that premiered in 2021.

Bruce Campbell

After the Evil Dead films, Bruce Campbell was a perfect casting for a show like The X-Files in its sixth season. He played Wayne Weinsider in the twisted “Terms of Endearment” episode of 1999. Campbell would later spend seven seasons on USA as part of the Burn Notice cast, and – of course – reprise his role as Ash for all three seasons of the Ash vs Evil Dead TV show.

Willie Garson

The late Willie Garson played two different characters on The X-Files: Quinton “Roach” Freely in Season 3’s “The Walk” in 1995 and Henry Weems in Season 7’s “The Goldberg Variation” in 1999. His most well-known work is likely playing Stanford Blatch on Sex and the City across all six seasons starting in 1998. He would also star in all six seasons of USA’s White Collar following its 2009 premiere.

Giovanni Ribisi

Giovanni Ribisi certainly wasn’t unknown in television when he guest-starred as Darin Peter Oswald in Season 3 of The X-Files in 1995, but it was before he made his Friends debut as Frank Buffay Jr. More significantly, he starred in Fox’s Dads opposite Seth Green from 2013-2014 and then all three seasons of Prime Video’s Sneaky Pete from 2015-2019.

Mark Sheppard

Mark Sheppard only had a couple of credits in the entertainment industry to his name when he appeared as Cecil L’Ively in the Season 1 episode “Fire” in 1993. He then landed ongoing roles in shows like Soldier of Fortune, Inc., 24, and Battlestar Galactica, but he’s best known for portraying the fan-favorite demon Crowley on Supernatural for eight of the show’s fifteen seasons.

Danny Trejo

Danny Trejo came to The X-Files in Season 8 to play Cesar Ocampo in “Redrum” in the show’s early post-Mulder era. In addition to some film credits following TXF, he arrived on The Young and the Restless in 2008 and – most notably – Sons of Anarchy to play Romeo Parada starting in 2011. He’s also a prolific voice actor for shows including King of the Hill, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, and Big City Greens.

When it comes to the smartest TV detectives we’ve ever seen, Adrian Monk definitely can count himself among them – right next to Columbo, Sherlock Holmes, and Luther (to name a few). For eight seasons of the USA Network series, Adrian Monk’s tendency to see all the details, often tied with his OCD, matched with his personal motivation to get “the guy” following the death of his wife, Trudy, was exciting to tune into week-to-week. All the while, major actors would often guest star. Some of which were big names before Monk, and others that have since skyrocketed into fame. 

Jeffrey Dean Morgan 

Over a decade before Jeffrey Dean Morgan became The Walking Dead’s Negan, the famed TV actor was in the Season 3 premiere of Monk, “Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan.” In the episode, Monk travels with the SFPD team to New York City to do some work in association with the murder of Trudy, but in the meantime, Monk gets embroiled in the case of a recently deceased Latvian ambassador. Morgan’s character catches the detective’s eye in connection to the ambassador’s death. 

Malcolm McDowell

The lead of Stanley Kubrick’s masterful A Clockwork Orange, Malcolm McDowell, made his way into Monk during Season 4 in a particularly great episode of the series that takes the detective into the world of fashion. In “Mr. Monk Goes To A Fashion Show,” he decides to pay a visit to the inspector of his favorite collared shirts when he notices recent inconsistencies. It leads him and Natalie to meet a British fashion designer named Julian Hodge, played by McDowell. 

Jennifer Lawrence

Did you know that Silver Linings Playbook Oscar winner, Jennifer Lawrence, was in Monk? Back in 2006, when the actress was a teenager and had not yet starred in any movies, she had a very small role as a high school mascot in the Season 5 episode “Mr. Monk and the Big Game.” Her head is covered for most of her scene, but she does take off the helmet for a moment in the episode. 

Jason Alexander 

Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander guest starred in Monk for the Season 4 premiere “Mr. Monk and the Other Detective” as another P.I. in town named Marty Eels. During Monk’s latest case, the detective begins to be overshadowed by Alexander’s character, which hilariously has Monk calling him a cheater. As Eels becomes a big competitor for Monk, it’s a blast to see Shalhoub and Alexander act together. 

John Turturro 

Monk perfectly cast the detective’s brother in 2004 by bringing in John Turturro in a fabulous guest role, that he would play in three episodes. Turturro, who is famous for being in movies with the Coen Brothers, Spike Lee and Adam Sandler played Ambrose, who suffers from severe agoraphobia and deepened Monk’s backstory. He was so memorable in the series that he earned an Emmy for “Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series” for the episode in which he debuted the character, in Season 2’s “Mr. Monk and the Three Pies”. 

Stanley Tucci

One of the strongest Monk episodes of the series is definitely Season 5’s “Mr. Monk and the Actor.” In the 2006 episode, an actor named David Ruskin is set to play Adrian Monk in a movie based on his life and comes to shadow Adrian on his cases. Stanley Tucci plays Ruskin as the actor goes a bit too method with the role of Adrian and debunks some demons regarding what it’s like to be Monk. Tucci won an Emmy for the guest role, and was actually a finalist to play Adrian Monk prior to his guest role. 

Rainn Wilson 

Just a couple years before Rainn Wilson would become Dwight Schrute on one of the best sitcoms of all time, The Office, the actor made a small guest appearance on Monk in Season 2. He played a massive baseball fan and collector as Adrian Monk looked into a case involving a star baseball player. 

James Brolin 

Longtime TV and movie actor James Brolin (who is also the father of Josh Brolin and husband to Barbara Streisand), made his way into Monk for 2005’s Vegas episode. Brolin plays a millionaire casino owner who becomes a suspect following the death of his wife, and Stottlemeyer brings in Monk to solve the case. 

Sean Astin 

In Season 5, Lord of the Rings and The Goonies actor, Sean Astin crossed paths with Tony Shalhoub’s Monk in an episode called “Mr. Monk Is At Your Service.” Astin plays a young billionaire, Paul Buchanan, whom Monk and Natalie come across amidst a visit to Natalie’s parents' wealthy neighborhood. Monk ends up going undercover as Paul’s butler to learn more about him. 

Sarah Silverman 

Famed standup comedian, Sarah Silverman, guest starred in three episodes of Monk over the years as a character named Marci Maven. She first became part of the procedural in 2004 for “Mr. Monk and the TV Star,”  where she played an obsessed fan of the star of a hit show made up for the series called Crime Lab S.F. 

Danny Trejo 

In “Mr. Monk Goes To Jail” in Season 2, Danny Trejo, of Spy Kids, From Dusk Till Dawn and Desperado (among many of his movies), also got to work alongside Tony Shalhoub’s Monk. During the episode, Monk goes undercover as the cellmate of Trejo’s character, who is a convicted quadruple murderer. As you may suspect, comedy ensues. 

Snoop Dogg 

Snoop Dogg was also in Monk for the Season’s “Mr. Monk and the Rapper,” where he played a fictional hip hop star, Murderuss. In the episode, Murderuss approaches the detective to hire him to clear his name after becoming the primary suspect in the death of another rapper. The best part? Snoop Dogg actually raps Monk’s famous “here’s what happened” segment at the end. 

Alfred Molina

Beloved character actor, Alfred Molina, has also been part of Monk for a Season 6 episode. What’s interesting about Molina, is he was actually one of the finalists to play the lead role of Adrian Monk before Shalhoub was cast. In his guest role, he played a billionaire software mogul whose beach house has a view of a nudist beach. 

Jon Favreau 

MCU actor and famed director Jon Favreau was in “Mr. Monk Goes To The Dentist,” which aired during the series’ fourth season in 2006. Favreau plays a dentist who Lieutenant Disher goes to and swears murdered someone while he was under anesthesia for a procedure. 

Carmen Electra

All-star actor, model and singer Carmen Electra can be found in the Monk episode “Mr. Monk and the Panic Room” which came out in 2004. The episode has the detective investigating a crime scene where it seems like a chimpanzee has killed his owner. The victim is a record producer and Electra plays his pop star wife. 

Craig T. Nelson 

Poltergeist and Parenthood actor Craig T. Nelson earned a very important role in Monk for its two-part finale, “Mr. Monk and the End.” He plays Judge Ethan Rickover, who was on the California Court of Appeals and has a history with Monk’s late wife, Trudy. 

Tim Curry 

In Season 1, an enemy of Monk’s was introduced as financier Dale “The Whale” Biederbeck. After the character was originated by Adam Arkin, none other than The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s Tim Curry embodied the role for a brief time in “Mr. Monk Goes To Jail.” 

Niecy Nash

Reno 911’s Niecy Nash made a guest spot in Monk in the early days for “Mr. Monk and the Girl Who Cried Wolf.” The episode follows Adrian’s first assistant Sharona as she starts to believe she’s losing her sanity when she keeps seeing a man with a screwdriver sticking out of his ear (that no one else can see). Neicy Nash plays Sharona’s friend and fellow nurse, Varla should step in to assist Monk. 

Jeffrey Donovan 

The star of Burn Notice, which also was on USA Network like Monk, turned up in the detective series in the episode “Mr. Monk and the Astronaut.” In the Season 4 episode, Jeffrey Donovan plays an astronaut who Monk is sure killed someone, but his alibi is airtight… considering he was in space when the murder occurred. 

Laurie Metcalf 

Roseanne actress Laurie Metcalf had some fun on Monk when she guest starred in the Season 4 episode “Mr. Monk Bumps His Head.” When Adrian wakes up in a small town with amnesia, Metcalf’s unhinged character uses the opportunity to convince the detective he is her husband. 

Nick Offerman 

Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman made an appearance in 2005’s “Mr. Monk and the Election” before he became famous for playing the very quotable Ron Swanson. Look out for the actor in his clean-shaven days during the Season 3 episode that has Natalie Teager running for the school board. 

Jane Lynch 

Before actress Jane Lynch rocked sweatsuits on Glee, she did guest for “Mr. Monk Gets Married.” In the episode, Randy Disher is concerned about his mother getting suddenly married to a man who is 30 years younger (played by Lost’s Nestor Carbonell) than him and asks Monk to look into it. This leads Monk and Sharona to pretend to be a married couple for a retreat that Lynch’s psychologist character is in charge of. 

Amy Sedaris 

The very funny Amy Sedaris was on two episodes of Monk to play Sharona’s younger sister, Gail. She first appeared in 2002’s “Mr. Monk and the Earthquake” before also being part of 2003’s “Mr. Monk Goes To The Theater.” Since she’s an actress in the series, her part in a local play that turns into a crime scene makes the second episode a particularly juicy appearance for Sedaris. 

Rachel Dratch

Saturday Night Live’s Rachel Dratch found her way into Monk for “Mr. Monk and the Missing Granny.” In the 2004 episode, Dratch’s character is stressed about the kidnapping of her grandmother and offers to help reinstate Monk to the police force if he can help find her alive. 

Howie Mandel

The Gremlins actor and game and competition show host played the role of Ralph Roberts in two episodes of Monk in 2008. Howie Mandel played the head of a religious cult called Siblings of the Sun in the Season 7 episodes. Mandel is a germaphobe in real life like Monk is.

Holland Taylor

Two and a Half Men actress Holland Taylor played Natalie Teager’s mother Peggy in two episodes of Monk. In the series, Peggy is a well-off woman who married into the Davenport Toothpaste business. She is part of 2005’s “Mr. Monk Goes To A Wedding” and 2007’s “Mr. Monk Is At Your Service.” 

Gena Rowlands

Gena Rowlands is an Academy Award nominee who starred in movies like Woman Under The Influence and Gloria in her youth before famously playing the older version of Allie in The Notebook. In Season 7’s “Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door,” Monk becomes friendly with Rowlands’ Marge Johnson, but suspicions about her true intentions begin to grow. 

Ariel Winter

Before Ariel Winter became part of Modern Family’s Dunphy family, the actress was in Monk as an eight-year-old for “Mr. Monk and the Astronaut.” She has a small but pivotal role as the neighbor of the victim, whose place in the story leads Monk to track down the killer. 

Julie Bowen

In Season 7’s “Mr. Monk and the Bully,” Julie Bowen plays a character that Adrian Monk investigates after his childhood bully comes out of the woodwork asking for help from the detective. The Truman Show’s Noah Emmerich plays her husband and Monk’s former bully. Julie Bowen is a two-time Emmy winner for her leading role in ABC’s Modern Family. 

Eric Stonestreet

Modern Family’s Cameron Tucker was on Monk the same year the hit ABC comedy first arrived on network television. In “Mr. Monk and the UFO,” Eric Stonestreet plays a small role as a local mechanic named Boom-Boom whom Monk offends and ends up raising his estimate. 

Sung Kang 

Sung Kang, who famously played Han in the Fast and the Furious movies, also guest starred in Monk as two separate characters. First in “Mr. Monk vs. the Cobra” he plays an employee of a martial arts school they visit while investigating the death of a fictional kung fu star, Sonny Chow. Four years later, Kang stars in “Mr. Monk on Wheels” as the cousin of a criminal named John Kuramoto.

Angela Kinsey 

The Office actress Angela Kinsey had a guest role in Monk as Arlene Boras for two episodes of the series. She plays an X-ray technician who was in Alfred Molina’s episode, “Mr. Monk and the Naked Man.” She reprised her role for the 100th episode of Monk as well. 

Don’t get me wrong, the Only Murders in the Building Season 4 cast is truly stacked! Between Eugene Levy reuniting with Steve Martin and Martin Short, Meryl Streep returning, Molly Shannon joining the ensemble and so much more, this star-studded cast is about to kill it (pun intended). However, I think there’s one comedy legend the show’s missing, and to whoever casts OMITB I hope you're listening, because I desperately need you to get Ted Danson on this show.

Now, I realize this chasting choice feels random and out of left field, but it actually makes perfect sense. Last season Only Murders cast theater vets in tons of roles, and this season they’ve got comedy legends filling the parts of the ensemble, with the likes of Levy, Shannon, Zach Galifianakis and Kumail Nanjiani. This leads me to my point regarding Only Murders in the Building Season 4. If you are going to cast all these comedically gifted folks, why not add sitcom legend Ted Danson into the mix? Not only would he generally be a great fit for this show, but I have also cooked up a fabulous way for him to be involved. So, welcome to my Ted Talk.

Ted Danson Is A Comedy Darling, And He’d Fit Into This Cast Perfectly

Along with his best-known roles in Cheers and The Good Place, Ted Danson has also been part of the ensembles for CSI, Fargo, Becker and Damages (among many others). He’s worked with everyone from Rhea Perlman to Laurence Fishburne to Kristen Bell, and over the course of his wildly successful career, he’s proven that he can take on any role with any cast and kill it.

However, considering the silly goofy nature of beloved comedies like Cheers and The Good Place, it’s clear to me that he’d fit in perfectly with the cast of Only Murders in the Building. 

On top of all that, Danson being in Only Murders would serve as a reunion, because he worked with Martin Short on Damages. Already the Season 4 cast features folks the leading actors have worked with before, like Eugene Levy. So, I can’t help but continuously think about how the Cheers star would fit in perfectly on one of Hulu’s best shows, and after you hear my idea for who he could play, I think you’ll agree with me.

I Have A Great Idea For Who Ted Danson Could Play In Only Murders In The Building

OK, so, ever since the Season 3 finale of Only Murders when we learned about the murder of Jane Lynch’s Sass, I’ve been thinking about the cast of characters that could be involved in her mystery. We know the trio is going to Los Angeles for part of the season, and since Sass was Charles’ stunt double on Brazzos, I can’t help but think that we’ll meet some other people who worked on the procedural. 

Enter Ted Danson.

This hilarious and ongoing gag that Jane Lynch is Steve Martin’s stunt double is one of my favorite jokes on Only Murders. So, why not add another tall person with white hair, glasses and a quick wit into the mix? Since Charles worked on the show for so long, and I presume there was a lot of action required in the series, it seems logical that he’d have more than one stunt double. Ted Danson would be a perfect fit for this role!

Honestly, he’d be great as any character though, especially if they can relate it to the made-up Brazzos as well as the actor’s legendary real-life television career. If this stunt double idea isn’t working, then maybe he could do a cameo like Matthew Broderick and Sting did, or he could play a high-powered producer, or he could just play another guy in the building.

Frankly, while I have my dreams about how he could be involved, when it comes down to it, I really just think Ted Danson would be brilliant in Only Murders in the Building. So, casting people, if you are reading this, please consider my plea. I know the comedy is in production and expected to premiere on the 2024 TV schedule. However, I can’t help but hope that somehow, someway Ted Danson ends up in the fourth season of this beloved Hulu hit. 

At the end of Only Murders in the Building Season 3, Jane Lynch’s Sazz Pataki, Charles-Haden Savage’s longtime stunt double who had a long run of dating his ex-girlfriends, was gunned down in Charles’ apartment. So naturally we know that Only Murders Season 4 will revolve around the investigation into her death. That also means we’ll be seeing one last round of Lynch on the show, and when the actress found out she was being killed off on one of the best Hulu TV shows, she felt “honored.”

Following Only Murders Season 4 finally rolling cameras, Jane Lynch spent some time chatting with The AV Club about her expanded role in that next round of episodes. Starting off, she shared the reaction she had when Steve Martin and showrunner John Hoffman told her during the making of Season 3 that Sazz would be the next murder victim, saying:

Sazz may no longer be with us, but just like how the first three seasons of Only Murders in the Building frequently flashed back to moments with Tim Kono, Bunny Folger and Ben Glenroy, at least we can count on seeing more of her during the course of Season 4. That’s just what Jane Lynch wanted, so even though this will be Sazz’s last hurrah, at least the Glee alum will be working with plenty of material. After all, Sazz wasn’t just killed on a whim; we need to see what was going on in her life in the immediate days/weeks/months leading up to her murder and learn why someone would kill her.

Naturally though, since it will be a while until Only Murders Season 4 debuts to Hulu subscribers, Lynch couldn’t provide any specifics on the circumstances surrounding Sazz’s death. She did, however, tease the following:

Aside from the fact that part of Only Murders in the Building Season 4 will take place in Los Angeles, we don’t have any concrete story details yet. What has become apparent in recent weeks, though, is that it will be a star-studded affair, even by this show’s standards. The newcomers in the Only Murders Season 4 cast include Molly Shannon, Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, Kumail Nanjiani and Zach Galifianakis. Plus, in addition to Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez continuing in their leading capacities, Meryl Streep will be back as Loretta Durkin.

While we wait for more news on what to expect from Only Murders in the Building Season 4, use the 2024 TV schedule to keep track of current programming and what’s premiering over the next several months.

Major, major, major spoilers for Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building are ahead. If you are not caught up on the mystery, you can stream every episode with a Hulu subscription.

Well, the suspect list for Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building has been put to rest, and another mystery has been solved by Charles, Mabel and Oliver. However, like every season of the Hulu whodunnit, this installment ended on a cliffhanger, and it was an extra tragic one. I was super sad at the end of OMITB’s third season. But, I was also immediately starting to think up theories for Season 4, which is officially happening, because the mystery is afoot, and we need to solve it. 

What Happened In The Season 3 Finale Of Only Murders In The Building?

Before we get into theories, let’s recap what happened at the end of the finale. Oliver, Mabel and Charles figured out that Donna and Cliff were the duo behind Ben Glenroy’s murder. After opening the musical, and solving the mystery, the cast of Death Rattle Dazzel went back to the Arconia to celebrate.

During the party, the best OMITB guest star, Jane Lynch, who plays Steve Martin’s character’s stunt double in the show, popped in to say hi. Earlier in the season, Sazz had helped Charles figure out his relationship with Joy, which ultimately led to their breakup. When she returned to the party, the Brazzos actor had ironically just received a text from his ex. Due to the fact that Martin’s character was distracted, he didn’t go get the bottle of alcohol he was talking about, Sazz went instead. 

Then, a gun was shown as Jane Lynch’s character looked around Charles’ apartment, and she was shot. The episode ends with the trio asking where Sazz went, however, they didn’t find out she was dead. Overall, the setup feels like someone was trying to murder Steve Martin’s Arconia resident, and because it was dark, they didn’t realize they had killed his Brazzos stunt double instead. Before the very end, we see her starting to draw something on the floor with her blood, and that’s how Season 3 closes. Talk about a cliffhanger. 

Season 4 of OMITB was renewed by Hulu, per the show's X account, right after the finale dropped, which means this mystery is going to get solved, and I have some theories about it.

Season 4 Theories For Only Murders In The Building Are Already Swirling Around In My Head

Clearly, we now have a new mystery to solve, and obviously, I already have theories. Overall, there are three points I realized while thinking about the new episode:

1. It Actually Makes Sense That Someone Wanted To Kill Charles, And I Have Two Suspects: Suspect No. 1 is Joy. Her breakup with Martin’s character this season was swift and messy. I always had the feeling there was some bad blood left after it, and the text proves that. 

Also, the murderer in Season 1 was Charles's girlfriend Jan. She’s been in prison ever since, but it’s totally possible she got out, and she wants to murder the person who put her behind bars. 

Overall, this guy’s romantic history alone shows us a few reasons why someone would want him dead. However, I’m sure there is more drama to uncover, and it’s likely related to Brazzos.

2. On The Other Hand, Maybe, The Killer Actually Wanted To Kill Sazz Not Charles: As I said, I think this mystery will be deeply tied to Brazzos, and it’s possible the killer actually meant to shoot Sazz, not Charles, especially if Joy is the one behind it. Earlier in Season 3, Lynch’s character helped Martin’s come to terms with the fact that he should break up with Joy. The makeup artist left in a tornado, and she was mad about it. All three share a history, and I don’t think it’s far-fetched to think she would have wanted to kill the stunt double who helped instigate the breakup. 

Also, Sazz seemed to be trying to write a message with her blood on the floor. To me, this means she knows something about who killed her.

3. We’re About To Dive Deep Into Charles' Past: Over the last three seasons, we’ve gotten hints about Charles’ past. We learned about his father through a wild painting, and he’s constantly talking about his time on Brazzos. There’s a lot of history in that silly TV Show Martin’s actor starred in. I think in Season 4, the answer to who killed Sazz and tried to kill Charles will be in it.

While we may have found out who killed Ben Glenroy, why Selena Gomez wore a wedding dress, and what Death Rattle Dazzle was really about in Season 3, the finale left me with a lot of questions and theories about Season 4. Sazz was a beloved character, and seeing her die was truly tragic. This means the stakes are high, there’s another murderer on the loose in the Arconia, and Charles really needs to find out who tried to murder him and/or his lovely stunt double.  

Veronica Mars is one of the pivotal shows of the early 2000s. It was a critically acclaimed show with a dedicated fan base. Therefore, of course, many actors and actresses longed to be a part of it. The Veronica Mars actors were also talented and really helped give the show its identity. 

Even the Veronica Mars actors who guest starred added to the show’s appeal. Some of these guest stars and recurring characters were once unknown on Veronica Mars and are now household names. 

Let’s look back at some of the many now well-known actors who once appeared on the show.

Melissa Leo 

Academy Award winner Melissa Leo appears in over a hundred film and television projects. The Fighter earned her her first Oscar but she received critical acclaim and award-season recognition for many performances, including ones in Mildred Pierce, Louie, Prisoners, and Frozen River. 

Leo appeared in Veronica Mars Season 1 Episode 3, “Meet John Smith.” She plays Julia Smith, a transgender woman who reunites with her son after Veronica (Kristen Bell) helps him track her down. 

Jane Lynch 

You can’t think of Jane Lynch without thinking of Sue Sylvester from Glee. Sue is terrible but hilarious and often creates iconic moments with the main cast and the unforgettable Glee guest stars. In 2020, Lynch began hosting a revival of The Weakest Link. She has appeared in Two and a Half Men, Criminal Minds, Party Down (which is also co-created by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas), Mascots, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. 

Lynch makes a brief appearance in Veronica Mars Season 1 Episode 6, “Return of the Kane.” She plays Mrs. Donaldson. a faculty member that Veronica approaches about voter rigging at a Neptune High election. 

Jessica Chastain 

As one of the most respected actresses of the last decade, Jessica Chastain has won numerous awards, including an Academy Award. Her first Academy Award happened in 2022 for her performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. She also received Academy Award nominations for Zero Dark Thirty and The Help. Her filmography includes A Most Violent Year, Scenes from a Marriage, George and Tammy, and It Chapter Two.

Before Chastain could deliver one of her many great performances, she appeared in Veronica Mars. It was one of her first screen roles. She appears in the 7th episode of Season 1, “The Girl Next Door” as Sarah Williams. Sarah is a neighbor friend of Veronica's who goes missing. 

Aaron Paul 

Aaron Paul became a household name for playing Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad. He also played the character on El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and Better Call Saul.  Some of Paul’s screen highlights include roles in Truth Be Told, Westworld, The Path, and BoJack Horseman. He’s also had a great cameo or 20 in various projects and made plenty of guest appearances, including in Black Mirror and The Simpsons. 

Paul plays Eddie LaRoche, the main suspect in a murder and disappearance case in Veronica Mars Season 1, Episode 11, “Silence of the Lamb.” His sketchy behavior makes him a likely culprit. 

Anthony Anderson 

Anthony Anderson has created many memorable characters throughout his career. A few include Dre in black-ish, Detective Kevin Bernard in Law & Order, J.D in the Barbershop movies, and Antwon Mitchell in The Shield. He also appeared in Psych, Shameless, Beats, and Scream 4. Anderson has so many great forgotten performances as well.

He plays a gangsta rapper and former criminal named Bone Hamilton in Veronica Mars Season 1, Episode 13, “Lord of the Bling.” He hires Keith (Enrico Colantoni) to help him locate his missing daughter, who also used to be a friend of Veronica.

Adam Scott 

Adam Scott is best known for comedic roles in television shows such as Parks and Recreation, Step Brothers, The Good Place, and Party Down. He’s also the star of the AppleTV+ hit series Severance. 

Scott takes on a much more serious role in Veronica Mars. He plays Mr. Rooks, a teacher that divides Veronica and Keith in Veronica Mars Season 1, Episode 14, “Mars v. Mars. He’s accused of having an affair with a student. Veronica believes that he is innocent, but Keith can’t ignore the evidence. It’s one of the best Veronica Mars episodes. 

Leighton Meester 

Leighton Meester’s performance is the reason Blair Waldorf is such a beloved Gossip Girl character. Her film and TV credits include The Roommate, Single Parents. Life Partners, Making History, The Orville, and How I Met Your Father. 

Meester appears on multiple episodes of Veronica Mars as Carrie Bishop. Her first appearance is in “Mars v. Mars.” Her character accuses Adam Scott’s character of having a secret sexual relationship with her. The character of Carrie Bishop returns in the Veronica Mars movie, but Andrea Estella plays her. 

Tessa Thompson 

Tessa Thompson’s fame really blew up when she started playing Valkyrie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, she has been in many well-known movies and TV shows. Some of her most popular movies include For Colored Girls, Dear White People, Selma, the Creed franchise, Sorry to Bother You, Passing, and Men In Black: International.

Tessa Thompson may be one of the people on this list that you do remember from Veronica Mars because she was a main character all throughout Season 2. She plays Jackie Cook, the main love interest of Wallace (Percy Daggs III). The character immediately left at the end of Veronica Mars Season 2. 

Taylor Sheridan 

Taylor Sheridan is an actor, director, and screenwriter. He has written many popular movies and TV shows, including Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, 1883, and 1923. He also wrote the screenplay for the films Sicario, Hell or High Water, Wind River, Without Remorse, and Those Who Wish Me Dead.

Sheridan’s few acting credits include Veronica Mars. He had a recurring role as Danny Boyd in Veronica Mars Season 2. The character first appeared in Veronica Mars Season 2 Episode 8, "Ahoy, Mateys!" His character is part of a notorious crime family in Neptune.

Michael Cera 

Michael Cera may currently best be known for playing Allan in the Barbie movie. Before being the best male in Barbieland, he appeared in Juno, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Arrested Development, Black Mirror, and Life and Beth. 

Cera appears alongside his Arrested Development co-star Alia Shawkat in Veronica Mars. They appear in the episode “The Rapes of Graff” from Season 2. He plays Dean, a student at Hearst College who leads Veronica and Wallace’s tour of the campus

Armie Hammer 

Armie Hammer first stepped into the spotlight by playing the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network. He then appeared in such popular movies as J. Edgar, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Call Me by Your Name, Sorry to Bother You, and Death on the Nile.

Hammer appears in Veronica Mars Season 3 Episode 3, “Wichita Linebacker.” He plays Kurt Fenstermacher, a football player who may lose his scholarship if he can’t retrieve the team’s playbook that was stolen from him.

Paul Rudd  

It’s hard to imagine anyone who hasn’t heard of Paul Rudd. He’s been in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Ant-Man. He was Josh in Clueless. Mike in Friends. He’s also been in many iconic comedies such as Wet Hot American Summer, the Anchorman movies, The 40-Year Old Virgin, I Love You Man. He has so many great movies. Rudd has appeared in TV shows such as Parks and Recreation, Party Down, iZombie, and Only Murders in the Building. 

Rudd appears in Veronica Mars Season 3 Episode 17, “Debasement Tapes.” He plays Desmond Fellows, an aging rock star who Piz (Chris Lowell) gets to interview. However, the man is a disaster. 

There are a lot of other great actors and reality stars that you may have forgotten appeared on Veronica Mars, including Paris Hilton, Lisa Rinna, and Dianna Agron. You can catch all these stars and more by rewatching Veronica Mars. It’s definitely worth another rewatch.

Stream Veronica Mars on Hulu. 

There comes a time in our lives when a comedy arrives in theaters that is so iconic, you can’t help but love it years later and want everyone you know to watch it as well. For me, that was The 40-Year-Old Virgin. From the time I saw the amazing Steve Carell-led movie, I knew I was in for a fun time. 

But now, the movie is turning 18 in 2023, and the cast has gone on to do some wildly amazing things with their careers. From Carell to Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks, here is where The 40-Year-Old Virgin cast is today, and what they have been up to over the last several years. 

Steven Carell (Andy Stitzer)

First up on the list is the amazing Steve Carell, who played the lead character, Andy Stitzer, in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. The actor has gone on to appear in many movies, such as Evan Almighty, Date Night, Anchorman 2: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Battle of the Sexes, and more. He’s also started to appear in many more dramatic roles as well, including Beautiful Boy, Foxcatcher (which earned him an Academy Award nomination), Welcome to Marwen, and more. 

Carell obviously also had major success as the lead in the American version of The Office cast, but besides that, he was the lead of the Netflix series, Space Force, and was one of the leads of the popular Apple TV+ show, The Morning Show. He was also a lead in FX’s The Patient. 

Coming up, Carell is going to be in the new Wes Anderson film, Asteroid City, as well as Despicable Me 4, where he's reprising Gru from the Despicable Me franchise, as well as a movie titled Imaginary Friends.  

Catherine Keener (Trish Piedmont)

Moving on, we have Catherine Keener, who played Trish Piedmont in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Keener has been in many movies since this, including Into the Wild, Unless, Captain Phillips, The Croods, Trust, Genova, Capote, An American Crime, The Adam Project, Polar Bear and others. She was also one of the characters in Jordan Peele’s directing debut, Get Out, and voiced Evelyn in Pixar’s The Incredibles 2. 

Keener also has experience in television with roles in shows such as Kidding, Show Me a Hero, Modern Love, and Forever, among others. She also recently had a guest role on the Bob Odenkirk-led show, Lucky Hank. Coming up, she is actually going to be in Joker 2, otherwise known as Joker: Folie à Deux, so keep an eye out for her. 

Paul Rudd (David)

Paul Rudd has truly had a great career over the past couple of decades, and in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, he played David. Since, Rudd has been making a name for himself in many movies and television series. Most recently he’s played Ant-Man in several Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, but he’s also appeared in several other films, including Knocked Up, This Is The End, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sausage Party (which is getting a sequel series), The Little Prince, This is 40, Dinner for Schmucks, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and more. 

Rudd has also been in a lot of television lately as well, including parts in his own series, Living with Yourself, as well as roles in shows such as Parks and Recreation, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, The Shrink Next Door, Tiny World, Burning Love, and Reno 911!, among others. 

Coming up, Rudd will be in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife sequel, as well as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and the third season of Only Murders in the Building. 

Romany Malco (Jay)

Romany Malco played Jay in the movie, and he’s certainly seen his career grow over the last eighteen years. He’s been in movies such as Night School, Almost Christmas, Holiday Rush, When The Bough Breaks, Gulliver’s Travels, Think Like A Man and more. 

Malco also appeared in TV shows in main roles such as Weeds, No Ordinary Family, A Million Little Things, Mad Dogs, Blunt Talk and others. He also frequently guest stars on podcasts. 

Seth Rogen (Cal)

Rogen played Cal here, and has certainly made a name for himself in Hollywood over the last few years. He’s been in so many movies, it’s hard to name them all, so I’ll list some of his best – The Fabelmans directed by Steven Spielberg, This Is The End, Knocked Up, The Interview, the Neighbors franchise, and more. He’s also done voice roles in movies such as Sausage Party, The Lion King and the Kung Fu Panda franchise. 

Rogen has also been very successful in television. In terms of acting, he’s had recurring roles on Arrested Development, The League and done plenty of voice roles. He also had a lead role in the Pam & Tommy cast. Rogen also works as an executive producer, and worked on the popular Amazon Prime series, The Boys, as well as the superhero series, Invincible. Coming up, he’ll be in a television series called Platonic, and working on many other television shows as a producer.  

Elizabeth Banks (Beth)

Next up on this list is Elizabeth Banks, who played Beth, and she’s done so much since the film was released. Her best roles in movies so far include Brightburn, The Hunger Games franchise, Invincible, Lovely, Call Jane, The Lego Movie and its sequel, the hilarious Pitch Perfect movies and Magic Mike XXL among more. She also directed Cocaine Bear. 

Banks also had a role in Scrubs, as well as a major role in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, and a major role in Mrs. America. Coming up, she is going to be in movies such as The Beanie Bubble, Migration, A Mistake, and Signal Hill.

Leslie Mann (Nicky)

Moving on is Leslie Mann, who portrayed Nicky. Mann has been in movies such as Knocked Up, 17 Again, Rio and its sequel, The Comedian, Welcome to Marwen, The Bubble, Cha Cha Real Smooth, the stop-motion film ParaNorman and more. 

Mann has also been in many guest roles on television in shows such as Modern Family and The Simpsons, and also narrated Makers: Women Who Make America. Coming up, she is going to be in Rocking the Boat, a comedy also starring Rebel Wilson. 

Jane Lynch (Paula)

Jane Lynch’s Paula was one of my favorite characters, and Lynch only continued to grow in popularity after her appearance in this movie. She is certainly known much more for her roles in television, with one of my personal favorites being Sue Sylvester from Glee, but she’s been in many other television roles. 

These include a recurring guest part in the legendary Two and a Half Men, The L Word, Angels From Hell, Final Space, and more. She also had a guest role on the Hulu original show, Only Murders in the Building. Lynch has hosted several game shows, with some of her best being Hollywood Game Night and Weakest Link. 

The actress has appeared in movies such as For Your Consideration, Julie & Julia, Chimps, Role Models, and more, among voices roles for Wreck-It-Ralph and its sequel. Coming up, Lynch will be in Animals and Fairy Tale Forest.  

Kat Dennings (Marla Piedmont)

Last but not least, we have Kat Dennings, who played Marla Piedmont in the comedy. Dennings has worked on multiple television shows in main roles, including Dollface, 2 Broke Girls, and more, but she also portrays Darcy Lewis in the MCU, a role she’s reprised several times, most recently in Thor: Love and Thunder. 

Other than that, she’s appeared in television shows such as Drunk History, Big Mouth, and others. Dennings has also had roles in movies like The Answer Man, Daydream Nation, Friendsgiving, To Write Love on Her Arms and more. 

With a cast this impressive, it’s not a surprise that they’ve been in so much since the film came out. Maybe now you'll have a new movie or show to binge-watch. 

Unfortunately, it’s well-documented that Hollywood has a tendency to be sexist and ageist as told by various women in the industry over the years. As we continue to observe Women’s History Month this year, we’re looking at the actresses across movies and television currently working today that have carved out a place for themselves despite the status quo favoring younger actresses, whilst it's the norm for the male actors to enjoy careers well into their 60s, 70s and beyond. 

It was reported a few years back by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media that while characters over 50 make up a fifth of characters on television, only a fourth of them are played by women (via Buzzfeed). With that in mind, there’s a gender gap with opportunities being favored for older men much more than women. Thankfully, these actresses have found a way to thrive in Hollywood after turning 50.  

Michelle Yeoh 

Recently, at the 2023 Oscars, the ceremony actually celebrated numerous actresses that are thriving after 50, including Best Actress winner, Michelle Yeoh. The Everything Everywhere All At Once lead accepted the award not only as the first Asian actress to win in the category, but as a “beacon” of hope for more women her age to be seen in major roles. As she accepted the trophy, she said: "Ladies, don't let anybody tell you you are past your prime." 

Yeoh has been over 50 in Hollywood for over a decade now, and is enjoying an exciting era in her career by finding key roles in successful movies like Crazy Rich Asians and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, or finding empowering roles in recent TV series like Star Trek: Discovery and The Witcher: Blood Origin. 

Jamie Lee Curtis

Yeoh’s Everything Everywhere co-star Jamie Lee Curtis also took home an Oscar for the movie in the Best Supporting Actress category after over 45 years working in Hollywood. Curtis was a teenager when she found her breakout role in Halloween, but decade after decade she has continued to be cast in exciting roles, especially after turning 50. In Curtis’ fifties and sixties the actress has revived her role as Laurie Strode in a new Halloween trilogy, starred in Knives Out and has a wealth of roles on the horizon, including Borderlands and Haunted Mansion. 

Angela Bassett 

Curtis’ fellow nominee in the Best Supporting Actress category in 2023 was Angela Bassett, for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, who also remains a working icon into her mid-sixties. Aside from starring as Queen Ramonda in the Marvel franchise, the actress continues to lead the network series 9-1-1 along with appearing in multiple seasons of American Horror Story and recently being part of the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Helen Mirren

One of the most iconic actresses to consistently nab interesting roles for herself following turning 50 is Helen Mirren. The British talent hit the milestone in 1995, before she’d made some of her most beloved and best movies, like 2001’s Gosford Park, 2003’s Calendar Girls or her 2006 Oscar-winning performance in The Queen. Mirren has continued to play leading roles in the past decade, such as starring in the Red films, her incredible role in the Fast and the Furious movies along with leading 1923 and Shazam! Fury of the Gods within the past year. 

Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin

While I could certainly talk about Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in their own right, the fact that this pair got themselves their own hit comedy series, Grace and Frankie, in their late seventies (across seven seasons, no less) deserves to be celebrated. These two have modeled, brought life to and joked about the lives of older women who are best friends, and we’re so blessed it exists. The pair hit 50 in the late ‘80s and thrived, remaining booked and busy. Among the 2023 new movie releases, they are in back-to-back movies together, too, 80 For Brady and Moving On. 

Rita Moreno

One of Rita Moreno’s first roles was in 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain. Seventy years later her career is still very much popping, between starring in Netflix’s sitcom, One Day At A Time, and voicing the role of Carmen Sandiego for the original animated series. This year, Moreno also starred in 80 For Brady and has joined the Fast and the Furious franchise as Dominic Toretto’s grandma. 

Sally Field

Speaking of 80 For Brady leads, Sally Field has continued to remain relevant and very much respected in Hollywood at the age of 76. From being nominated for an Oscar for her role in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln to bringing new life to Aunt May in The Amazing Spider-Man movies, or starring in critically acclaimed movies like Hello, My Name Is Doris and Spoiler Alert, Field has continued to impress after a massive first half of her career. 

Emma Thompson

In the nearly 15 years that Emma Thompson has been over 50, she has accomplished a lot. She gave a powerful performance as P.L. Travers in the sweet Saving Mr. Banks' movie alongside Tom Hanks, she gave Cruella a formidable foe of her own in the titular 2021 Disney prequel, and tackled the usually taboo topic of exploring sexuality past one’s “prime” and filmed nude scenes for Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. 

Ming-Na Wen

When Ming-Na Wen turned 50 back in 2013, she was just getting her start playing Melinda May on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, a badass and highly-skilled operative she continued to play for over 100 episodes. Since finding success with that series, which is now her most famous role outside Mulan, Wen has joined the Star Wars universe as Fennec Shand, a female bounty hunter and master assassin. 

Catherine O’Hara

Catherine O’Hara is well-known to an entirely new generation than those who grew up seeing her in movies like Best In Show, Beetlejuice or Home Alone, thanks to her beloved role in Schitt’s Creek as Moira Rose. O’Hara will go down in history as playing one of the funniest TV characters in a big role she found well after 50. 

Jane Lynch

Jane Lynch booked her most popular role of Sue Sylvester on Glee right as she was turning 50 and played the character for six seasons before finding all sorts of work in showbiz otherwise. She notably voices the role of Calhoun in the Wreck-It Ralph movies, along with having major roles in the hit shows The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Party Down and with hosting 75 episodes of the original celebrity game show, Celebrity Game Night. 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

The Seinfeld star not only found herself a whole other well-loved TV show to lead and produce after 50 with HBO’s Veep, which she also won nine consecutive Emmy awards for, but she’s a major player in the Marvel universe now. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has been consistently quick on her feet on the comedy front and proved to be an impressive dramatic actress as well, with roles in films like Enough Said. 

Jennifer Coolidge

Then, there’s Jennifer Coolidge’s recent comeback for The White Lotus that has the actress literally everywhere right now. Along with the 61-year-old recently winning her first Emmy for her hilarious role as Tanya McQuoid, Coolidge has had loads of projects she has stolen the show in, in the past couple of years in particular, like Promising Young Woman, The Watcher and Shotgun Wedding alongside Jennifer Lopez.

Jessica Lange 

Four decades after Jessica Lange became a star for roles like her Oscar-nominated work in Tootsie and Frances, she is still a huge name, particularly thanks to her move to TV in collaboration with Ryan Murphy on his numerous shows. Lange always provides strong performances in her ever-changing American Horror Story roles, along with portraying Joan Crawford in Feud. 

Allison Janney 

Allison Janney is another actress who got wide recognition for being in one of the best-regarded TV shows of all time, The West Wing. After starring in 155 episodes of the drama, Janney has continued to explore all sorts of interesting characters across her career, especially after 50, whether it be in the sitcom Mom, winning an Oscar for her chilling mother role in I, Tonya or her booked 2022 that put an additional three movies under her belt. Janney is even more famous now than she was when she was a younger actress. 

Julianne Moore 

A new role from Julianne Moore is never too far away these days. The 62-year-old actress has accomplished a lot over 50 and has even been in with the kids because of her key role in the Hunger Games franchise or starring alongside Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard in the recent indie, When You Finish Saving the World. Moore has starred in so many great movies just within the past decade that it can be hard to recall she’s also the same actress from Boogie Nights and Far From Heaven. 

Tilda Swinton 

We don’t have enough female character actors in the world, but Tilda Swinton embodies someone new so frequently that we can barely imagine what she’s like in real life. The majority of Swinton’s best roles have occurred since she turned 50, such as We Need To Talk About Kevin, or her numerous times working with Wes Anderson and Bong Joon-Ho. 

Viola Davis

Viola Davis is one of the most acclaimed actors of our time right now and it feels like she’s also just getting started. Recently, the actress did just about every stunt as a warrior and leader in The Woman King and has become the most-nominated Black actress in Academy Awards history. 

Meryl Streep 

I mean, it’s Meryl. What else do we have to say? The 73-year-old actress has always been magnificent on screen no matter her age and has proven her great talent and ability to be a chameleon on the screen again and again. Since turning 50, Streep has starred in all-time great movies like The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia, and Iron Lady, and looking forward, she's about to guest star in Only Murders In the Building. 

It’s great to see so many women have broken through and found roles for themselves after 50 in the industry. It really comes down to great roles being written for women of all ages for their opportunities to exist. 

With its stellar leading trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, Hulu’s mystery comedy Only Murders in the Building doesn’t need to do anything to win the casting game, because that victory has been secured. Regardless, the streaming hit has built up an excellent ensemble across its first two seasons, with Paul Rudd joining on for a literal last-minute surprise in last year’s finale, and the iconic Meryl Streep was also revealed to be joining the fun in some capacity. But fans can all stop worrying about whether or not we’ll see the show's most excellent guest star, because Jane Lynch herself confirmed with CinemaBlend that Sazz, that despite only briefly appeaaring in the Only Murders in the Building Season 2 cast, she is back on the beat in Season 3.

Or if not on the beat, and not used as another break-up substitute for Steve Martin’s Charles, Sazz is back for more hilarity. It’s definitely safe to say that, for a show where safety isn’t a guarantee. As seen in the video above, CinemaBlend’s Jeff McCobb spoke with Jane Lynch alongside the equally always-awesome Ken Marino to promote the long-awaited return of Starz’s catering comedy Party Down. When asked who was a better screen partner between Marino and Martin — No pressure, no pressure! — she shared the news that those with Hulu subscriptions haven’t seen the last of her A+ stuntwoman. In her words:

While the truly ideal scenario here is for Jane Lynch to sign on for a full season of Only Murders in the Building, it does make sense to not run the risk of overusing her highly specific character. So if it has to shake out to just one episode per season, that’s a fate I can accept.

I can’t wait to see how Sazz shows up in Season 3. It’s probably a longshot to speculate on Lynch’s character being the “her” that was spoken of in the second season’s finale, considering that reveal seems like it’ll require more than a single episode to play out. She’s been an important factor in the mystery across both seasons, so she’ll no doubt fall into a similar lynch-pin mode in the upcoming episode. (Pun too intended, perhaps.) 

Jane Lynch has been a key player in some truly exquisite comedy ensembles, from film collaborations with Christopher Guest like Best in Show and A Mighty Wind to episodic faves such as Glee and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Party Down 100% counts among the best. 

The returning comedy even upped the ante with Season 3’s new cast members. On top of fellow returning stars Adam Scott, Ryan Hanson, Martin Starr, and Megan Mullaly, the show is bringing in new faces such as Jennifer Garner, James Marsden, Quinta Brunson and Tyrell Jackson Williams, the Brockmire standout whose brother Tyler James Williams is Brunson’s fictional would-be love interest in Abbott Elementary. Fans can see that hilarity play out on Starz on Friday nights at 9:00 p.m.

Meanwhile, stay tuned to see and hear and smell (maybe not smell) when Only Murder in the Building will return to Hulu for Season 3. 

After a break of more than a decade, Party Down is finally back with a new season full of new adventures for the struggling actors and career caterers on the cult classic Starz comedy series. The new season, which picks up with the beloved Party Down Catering Company employees (and their pink bow-ties) for a hilarious reunion, brings with it some new characters to share the screen with Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Jane Lynch, and the rest of the gang.

If you have watched the show’s return, or at least plan on doing so in the near future, you are probably wondering where you’ve seen the new additions to the Party Down Season 3 cast. Because it’s been so long since Party Down first aired, we’ve also included a little rundown of all those familiar faces who returned for the show’s third season.

Jennifer Garner (Evie)

Leading things off when it comes to Party Down newcomers is Jennifer Garner, who shows up in the show’s third season as Evie, a successful film producer who starts a new journey in life, one that includes dating Adam Scott’s Henry Pollard.

Garner, who was one of the first additions to the Party Down Season 3 cast reported on by Deadline in January 2022, is mostly known for roles in movies like 13 Going on 30, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Dallas Buyers Club, and most recently The Adam Project. However, Garner has long appeared on the small screen as well, including memorable performances on shows like Alias, Camping, and Upload.  

James Marsden (Jack Botty)

Next up for the Party Down Season 3 new additions is James Marsden, who shows up on the Starz original comedy series as Jack Botty, a big-time actor at the center of a massive superhero franchise.

Marsden joining the cast is the latest in a line of TV appearances for the actor who has popped up on The Stand, Mrs. America, Dead to Me, and Westworld in recent years, all while keeping up his film career. Over the years, Marsden has done everything from lead the X-Men movies to help make Sonic the Hedgehog one of the best video game adaptations of all time. He’s also shown up in movies like The Notebook, Superman Returns, Straw Dogs, and most recently, in the Disenchanted cast. 

Tyrel Jackson Williams (Sackson)

The first of two new additions to Party Down Catering Company is Tyrel Jackson Williams, who takes on the role of struggling internet personality Sackson on the revival.

If you were a fan of Disney Channel original shows from the past decade, then there’s a good chance you’ll recognize Williams from his portrayal of Leo Dooley on the Disney XD comedy series, Lab Rats. Williams also appeared in the 2014 Disney XD original movie, Pants on Fire.

Over the years, he has also had small roles on shows like Everybody Hates Chris, Modern Family, Community, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. His film roles to date include Failure to Launch, Thunder Force, and Hollywood Stargirl.

 Zoë Chao (Lucy) 

Also joining the Season 3 cast is Zoë Chao, who joins the catering team as aspiring celebrity chef, Lucy, who has to settle for the party circuit and a pink bow-tie for the time being.

This is the latest in a long line of TV shows for Chao, who continues to be one of the hardest working actresses around today. In the past half-decade, Chao has popped up on shows like Strangers, The OA, Living with Yourself, Love Life, and Modern Love. That also includes The Afterparty, the 2022 Apple TV+ original murder mystery comedy that will once again feature Chao when the show returns, according to Deadline.

Chao is also no stranger to the silver screen, as she has appeared in movies like Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Downhill, The High Note, Senior Year, and most recently, the 2023 Netflix original movie, Your Place or Mine. 

Quinta Brunson (Jaff) 

Last, but not least, when it comes to the cast newcomers is Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress and writer Quinta Brunson, who has become a household name in recent years thanks to her work on Abbott Elementary. Brunson shows up in a guest role as Jaff, Kyle Bradway’s (Ryan Hansen) agent, according to Variety.

Prior to finding success with Abbott Elementary in 2021, Brunson appeared on shows like A Black Lady Sketch Show, Big Mouth, Lazor Wulf, Miracle Workers, and multiple others. Her film appearances include An American Pickle, As of Yet, and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, in which she portrayed Oprah Winfrey. 

Party Down Returning Actors

Though Lizzy Caplan won’t be returning for Party Down Season 3, the rest of the major players from the show’s first two seasons will all be back. Here’s a quick refresher on who’s coming back and where you’ve seen them before.

Adam Scott (Henry Pollard)

As seen in the Party Down Season 3 trailer, Adam Scott will be returning as actor-turned-caterer Henry Pollard, who crosses paths with his old coworkers after more than a decade away.

Outside of saying “Are we having fun yet?” on the cult classic Starz comedy series, Scott is known for appearances on shows like Parks and Recreation, The Good Place, and most recently, Severance. 

Ken Marino (Ronald Wayne ‘Ron’ Donald)

Ken Marino also returns for the revival, once again playing Party Down Catering Company manager Ronald Wayne “Ron” Donald.

A comedy mainstay for more than 30 years, Marino has made a career out of playing over-the-top characters on The State, Childrens Hospital, and The Other Two, to name a few. His notable film work includes Wet Hot American Summer, Reno 911!: Miami, and Role Models. 

Jane Lynch (Constance Carmell)

Jane Lynch is another Party Down alum returning for the revival season, once again playing Constance Carmell.

Outside of her work on this comedy, Lynch is known for iconic performances on shows like Glee, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Hollywood Game Night, all three of which have earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. 

Martin Starr (Roman DeBeers)

Martin Starr, who played the condescending screenwriter Roman DeBeers on the show’s first two seasons, is back once again for Season 3.

In the years since appearing in the Freaks and Geeks cast, Starr has continued to find success on the small screen (as well as in movies), especially as of late with great performances on Tulsa King and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. 

Megan Mullally (Lydia Dunfree)

Megan Mullally also shows up in the new season, once again playing the chronically optimistic Lydia Dunfree.

Mostly remembered for her award-winning portrayal of Karen Walker on Will & Grace, Mullally has also worked on shows like Childrens Hospital, Bob’s Burgers, and Parks and Recreation over the years, the last of which was alongside her husband, Nick Offerman. 

Ryan Hansen (Kyle Bradway)

And then there is Ryan Hansen, who is back once again as actor, model, and musician Kyle Bradway on Party Down.

Outside of slinging hors d'oeuvres on the Starz comedy series, Hansen has also appeared on 2 Broke Girls, Teachers, and A Million Little Things. 

You can see these faces (as well as some major guest stars) on Party Down, which airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Starz. If you want to know what other new and returning shows are coming to the airwaves this spring, check out our 2023 TV schedule.

It has been more than a decade since we last caught up with pink-bow tie-wearing actors-turned-caterers in the cult comedy Starz series Party Down. No one would hold anything against you if you were under the impression that the June 2010 Season 2 finale would have been the last we saw of Adam Scott, Ken Marino, and the rest of the Party Down cast together, but after a very long stretch of time, the wise-cracking sextet is back for a Party Down revival.

That’s right, soon we’ll be tuning in to Starz to watch Party Down Season 3 like it's 2009 all over again and as if the past few years never really happened. Below is a quick rundown of several quick things we know about the upcoming revival of the cult comedy series about struggling actors finding a new way to support themselves in Hollywood.

The Party Down Revival Premieres February 24th On Starz

Party Down originally debuted in March 2009, with its second (and final) season ending June of the following year, at which point it seemed like the series, which later became a cult classic, was done for good. Well, those who loved the show nearly a decade-and-a-half ago, or have fallen in love with it since then, will be able to pick up with the Party Down catering company when the revival premieres Friday, February 24th on Starz.

The Party Down Revival Cast Includes Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Jane Lynch And Martin Starr

When Party Down comes back, the revival will see the return of most of the show’s main stars from the first two seasons. Upon announcing the return, Starz revealed that Adam Scott (who is also one of the show’s executive producers) will be returning as Henry Pollard. Joining him will be Ken Marino as Party Down team lead Ronald Wayne “Ron” Donald, Jane Lynch as Constance Carmell, Martin Starr as Roman DeBeers, Ryan Hansen as Kyle Bradway, and Megan Mullally as Lydia Dunfree.

Although most of the original Party Down cast will be returning for the upcoming revival, one of the major stars won’t be joining them. In November 2021, Deadline reported that Lizzy Caplan, who played Casey Klein in the first two seasons, will not be around for the latest slate of episodes, but it’s not because of ill will or anything like that. According to the report, Caplan was already committed to the FX on Hulu limited series Fleishman Is in Trouble.

The Party Down cast had its share of guest stars during the show’s original run, and that trend looks to continue with the upcoming revivals. In January 2022, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Jennifer Garner, Tyrel Jackson Williams, Zoë Chao, and James Marsden would all appear throughout the latest season. There is no word if previous guest stars like J.K. Simmons, Ken Jeong, or Kevin Hart will be appearing at any point.

The Party Down Revival Picks Up Ten Years After The Events Of The Original Series

The Party Down Season 2 finale, which ended up being the final episode of the original show’s run, ended with a chaotic wedding and Henry Pollard making the decision to skip out on work and audition for another acting gig. When the revival series picks up in late February, it will see the former coworkers at the Party Down catering company crossing paths 10 years after we last saw them, according to Variety. 

In an exclusive first look of the Party Down revival, Entertainment Weekly revealed that the new season will pick up with the old familiar gang as they begin to pick up catering gigs for random parties and events throughout Los Angeles. Not much else has been revealed about the plot of the Party Down revival at this point, but with series co-creators Rob Thomas, John Enbom, Paul Rudd, and Dan Etheridge all coming back as executive producers, and John Ehbom once again serving as showrunner, it sounds like it will be more of the same fun and games. 

The Party Down Trailer Shows The Returning Cast Celebrating In Their Iconic Pink Bow Ties

In January 2023, Starz gave the world its first full look at the return of Party Down with the release of a trailer showing the various returning members of the cast getting back together for a reunion after 10 years apart.

In addition to showing returning stars like Ken Marino, Jane Lynch, and Adam Scott – who appears to be going through some kind of existential crisis – the trailer also introduces new members of the Party Down cast, including James Marsden’s character who mockingly yells “Are We Having Fun Yet?” much to the chagrin of Adam Scott’s Henry. 

Adam Scott Has Said The Party Down Revival Will Give The Show A Chance To ‘Finish The Story’

Even though Party Down had die-hard fans during its original run, the show was never a ratings smash-hit and failed to really capture the attention of the general population not familiar with its creators and actors’ previous works. During a February 2022 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Adam Scott took time out of his promotion of the Apple TV+ original series Severance to talk about the Party Down revival, which he said was giving the show a chance to ‘finish the story,” stating:

Earlier in the chat, Scott told Colbert that only around 13,000 people watched the Party Down finale back in 2010, and that the show, which later became a cult classic, only became popular after the fact. The 2023 Golden Globe nominee also said the revival is a result of those people finding the show in the years since its cancellation.

Party Down Season 3 Will Consist Of Six 30-Minute Episodes

The first two seasons of Party Down consisted of 10 episodes apiece, but the new revival will be much shorter. In November 2021, Starz announced that Party Down Season 3 will be made up of six 30-minute episodes, nearly half the amount as the first two seasons. No details have been revealed as to what the members of Party Down will be getting themselves into during the limited series, but it is all but guaranteed to be more of the insane hijinks and situations similar to those featured in the first go-around.

The Party Down Revival Spawned From A 2019 Reunion Of The Cast And Crew

There has been a lot of support for a Party Down revival of some sort for years now, with star Ryan Hansen even saying he’d “chop off a toe” for a movie at one point. Despite a small yet diehard group of fans, cast, and crew wanting to see the show’s characters return in some shape or form, nothing ever panned out for Party Down for a decade before everyone got back together for a panel discussion at Vulture Festival LA in November 2019.

According to Deadline, the panel featured the full Party Down cast and the executive producers who made the show a reality in the first place. During the discussion, co-creator Dan Etheridge revealed that a reunion was in the works:

A little more than a year later, co-creator Rob Thomas said in a statement (via Vulture) that this 2019 Party Down retrospective was the catalyst for the revival before saying everyone had such a great time and wanted to find a way to get them back together again.

There is still a lot we don’t yet know about Party Down, but expect to hear more about that in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out all the other shows on the 2023 TV schedule.

Harriet the Spy, the timeless children’s novel first written and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh in 1964, has received multiple sequels and adaptations over the years, and the fearless and precocious pint-sized spy is back once more in the new Apple TV+ animated series. This time around, the Harriet the Spy cast is led by the incomparable Beanie Feldstein as the voice of the iconic amateur sleuth, Jane Lynch, Lacey Chabert, and multiple other notable voice actors. And after watching the first set of episodes, you may be wondering where you’ve seen and heard all those voice actors before. Well, you don’t have to spy too hard because we have everything you need to know…

Beanie Feldstein (Harriet M. Welsch)

Providing the voice of the titular hero at the center of Harriet the Spy is Beanie Feldstein, who has quickly risen through the ranks of young Hollywood since her breakout role in the 2019 comedy Booksmart. Prior to that, the younger sister of Jonah Hill had roles in Lady Bird (one of the best movies on Netflix), The Female Brain, and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Feldstein is also no stranger when it comes to the world of television as she gave outstanding performances on shows like Orange is the New Black, What We Do in the Shadows, and Will and Grace. In 2021, Feldstein landed her biggest role on the small screen yet when she was cast as Monica Lewinsky in the FX anthology series Impeachment: American Crime Story.

Jane Lynch (Ole Golly)

Taking on the role of Ole Golly, Harriet’s trusted nanny, on Harriet the Spy is Jane Lynch, aka one of the most recognizable and prolific actresses in television. Whenever Lynch’s name comes up, it’s hard not to think about her portrayal of the iron-fisted Sue Sylvester on the Fox musical comedy series Glee, a performance that earned her a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award among other accolades. Lynch has also received awards for her involvement with Hollywood Game Night and the Amazon original series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Over the years, Lynch has also given memorable performances in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the Wreck-It Ralph franchise, and numerous others.

Lacey Chabert (Marion Hawthorne)

Providing the voice for the snooty and antagonistic Marion Hawthorne on the Apple TV+ Harriet the Spy animated series is Lacey Chabert, which makes perfect sense when you consider one particular role from her past. In 2004, Chabert portrayed Gretchen Wieners, aka one of “The Plastics” in the iconic comedy Mean Girls, though that is just a small part of her career. In the years since then, Chabert has become one of the most prominent faces on the Hallmark Channel, appearing in more than two dozen original movies and specials. Chabert is also no stranger when it comes to voice acting as she has appeared on classic Nickelodeon shows like Hey Arnold!, The Wild Thornberrys, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. Chabert’s other voice work includes Family Guy, Doc McStuffins, Robot Chicken, and so much more.

Kimberly Brooks (Janie)

Taking on the role of Janie, one of Harriet’s two best friends, in Harriet the Spy is Kimberly Brooks. A prolific voice actor, Brooks’ career dates back to 1996 when she provided the voices for numerous characters on Dexter’s Laboratory. Since then, she has appeared on shows ranging from The Powerpuff Girls to The Big Bang Theory and Gravity Falls to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and dozens upon dozens of live-action and animated series in-between. Brooks’ film credits include Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Spies in Disguise, and Space Jam: A New Legacy. And ever since the mid-1990s, Brooks has provided voices for a number of video games including but not limited to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the Mass Effect series, and Minecraft: Story Mode.

Crispin Freeman (Mr. Welsch)

Providing the voice of Harriet’s father, Mr. Welsch, on Harriet the Spy is Crispin Freeman, who has made a career out of dubbing anime films and series into English. Throughout his career, Freeman’s voice has appeared on shows like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Naruto, and countless others. Freeman has also lent his voice to characters on Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Young Justice, and Wolverine and the X-Men. His film work includes the Studio Ghibli classic Grave of the Fireflies, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

Grey Griffin (Mrs. Welsch)

Taking on the role of Harriet’s mother, Mrs. Welsch, on Harriet the Spy is Grey Griffin, another veteran voice actress with an impressive body of work. Over the years, Griffin has voiced characters on Rugrats, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Batman, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and scores of others shows, movies, specials, and video games. In November 2019, Griffin took over the role of Martin and several other characters on The Simpsons following the death of voice actress Russi Taylor.

Charlie Schlatter (Sport)

Charlie Schlatter provides the voice of Sport, one of Harriet’s best friends on the Apple TV+ animated series. Prior to joining the Harriet the Spy cast, Schlatter spent more than 30 years appearing in movies like Bright Lights, Big City, Police Academy: Mission to Moscow, and Ed, as well as television shows like Shameless, NCIS, and the short-lived Ferris Bueller series, which saw him play the titular high school student. But the vast majority of Schlatter’s career has been spent in the world of animated series, with dozens upon dozens of shows featuring his voice. This long list includes Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Jackie Chan Adventures, The Fairly OddParents, Curious George, and The Loud House, to name only a few.

The first five episodes of Harriet the Spy are currently streaming on Apple TV+, with the second half debuting on the streaming platform at some point in Spring 2022. While you wait for the new episodes to premiere in the near future, check out our rundown of the best Apple TV+ shows you should be watching.

Fans have had their pink bowties in hand ever since Starz announced the revival of its cult classic 2009 series Party Down earlier this year. The comedy about a group of wannabe actors and celebrities who are stuck in the catering business boasted a star-studded cast of Ken Marino managing the likes of Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Martin Starr, Jane Lynch and many  more. But when the series returns for a six-episode run, not all of the original stars will be able to return.

While Ken Marino, Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Ryan Hansen, Martin Starr and Megan Mullaly will all return, Deadline reports that Lizzy Caplan will not be back as the downtrodden comedienne Casey Klein, due to conflicts in the production schedule. As Party Down is expected to begin production in January 2022, Caplan had an existing commitment to Fleishman Is in Trouble, an FX limited series that will prevent her from being part of the revival.

This news is obviously crushing for fans of the series, as Lizzy Caplan’s on-screen chemistry with Adam Scott — and the Mean Girls star's overall disgruntled demeanor — was a huge part of the series original two-season run. Along with its A+ cast, the comedy also featured a starry ensemble behind the scenes as well, notably with Rob Thomas and Paul Rudd creating the series alongside Dan Etheridge and John Enbom. They will also return for the revival, with Enbom serving as showrunner. 

Party Down ran for two seasons on Starz from 2009-2010, and although it had trouble finding a strong audience in its time, the die-hard fans it's collected since have been clamoring for a revival of some sort for over a decade. Ken Marino starred as Ron Donald, the incapable manager of the titular catering company. With this, Ron found himself in charge of hapless employees such as Henry Pollard (Adam Scott). As fans probably remember, Henry found 15 minutes of fame on a beer commercial with the oft-quoted line, “Are we having fun yet?” Meanwhile, Lizzy Caplan played Casey Klein, who connected with Henry as her marriage deteriorated and her comedy career showed flashes of potential.

I’m excited to catch up with these beloved characters ten-plus years later. Did Roman DeBeers (Martin Starr) find success in the world of “hard sci-fi”? Did Kyle Bradway (Ryan Hansen) smolder his way to stardom? Assuming the catering company will still be the focus of the series, it’s a safe bet that many of our heroes never did find fame — or at least lasting fame. It’ll also be fun to see Jane Lynch and Megan Mullaly catering together, as Mullaly replaced Lynch on the staff in Season 2.

And if the series is anything like the original, fans are likely to see some impressive names as guest stars when Party Down returns. Actors like Kristen Bell, J.K. Simmons and Ken Jeong left lasting impressions in their guest appearances back in Seasons 1 and 2, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of those faces pop up again. With production on the revival starting in early 2022, you'll be able to watch Party Down Season 3 in February 2023.

During its syndicated eight-season run, Monk wasn't simply a cornerstone of USA Network's continued brand. It became one of the most acclaimed and meticulously watched original shows of the '00s. So much so that the unconventional detective procedural was the most-watched scripted drama show when its series finale aired.

Suffice to say, Monk was a very popular program, and it helped usher in the careers of several prominent actors today, while also hosting several notable celebrity cameos that might've slipped your mind over the years. If you're wondering what pre-famous stars appeared on this show, we're here to help. Here are the celebrities you might've forgotten were on Monk, including Jennifer Lawrence, Danny Trejo, and several more.

Jennifer Lawrence (Mascot)

Everyone needs to get their start somewhere. Before the future A-list actress became an Oscar-winning, franchise-topping superstar — and, you know, one of the biggest movie stars of her generation — Jennifer Lawrence earned her first acting credit by playing a character credited solely as "Mascot" (though she's referred to as "Jen") in Season 5's "Mr. Monk and the Big Game." The cameo is quite quaint in retrospect, knowing that the young actress in this minor part would become the major league mega-star behind The Hunger Games franchise, Silver Linings Playbook, and the recent X-Men prequel series, but the first-time actress makes the most of her screen debut.

Reflecting back on the experience on Conan, Jennifer Lawrence considered her time on Monk to be "really cool" but also "the most humiliating thing in my life." The reason? The up-and-coming soon-to-be-famous actress believed that she would have a bigger role than she ultimately had. She even told her church as much — much to her chagrin. But JLaw has no reason to be embarrassed! It's an amusing appearance and a fun debut.

Nick Offerman (Jack Whitman)

Before he became Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation, Nick Offerman was Jack Whitman, a rug importer with unlawful intent, in "Mr. Monk and the Election." Prior to this appearance, Offerman was still coming into his own as a performer. His other acting credits remained limited to minor characters in City of Angels, Speaking of Sex, and Stealing Havard. Also, the TV actor appeared in Deadwood, The Practice, The West Wing, NYPD Blue, and 24, though Offerman was rarely seen in more than one episode. Arguably his most notable credit at this point was his recurring role in George Lopez.

Suffice to say, Nick Offerman didn't have nearly the same acclaim and notoriety that he has today, so it's understandable if you forgot about this brief pre-fame cameo in Monk.

Jane Lynch (Dr. Julie Waterford)

Before she found fame with her Emmy-winning star turn in Glee, Jane Lynch was proving her sharp comedic talents in a number of movies and shows, including Party Down, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Likewise, Lynch took on the role of Dr. Julie Waterford, a marriage therapist, in Season 2's "Mr. Monk Gets Married."

Though her appearance was limited to one episode, Jane Lynch showcases her dry wit and signature deadpan delivery throughout this performance. Even from this brief clip, it's easy to see why the actress found such an exceptional career in the years to follow.

Danny Trejo (Spyder Rudner)

With upwards of 400 credits to his resume (and counting!), Danny Trejo has been seen in a hell of a lot of movies and shows over the past three-plus decades. Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that Trejo found some time in his ever-busy schedule to appear in Monk. In the episode "Mr. Monk Goes to Jail," Trejo plays Darnell "Spyder" Rudner, a convicted quadruple murderer whom Monk corresponds with during his investigation. The convicted criminal and the eccentric detective form a connection from there.

At this stage of his career, Danny Trejo was a standout supporting player in Robert Rodriguez's Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and the Spy Kids trilogy, along with other notable '90s/'00s movies like Heat, Con Air, Anaconda, Bubble Boy, and Anchorman, though he wasn't heading movies like Machete and Bad Ass just yet. Still, Trejo always makes the most of every moment. Monk is no exception.

Sarah Silverman (Marci Maven)

Between 2004 and 2008, during the advent (and first season) of Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Project, that show's title-bearing comic had a recurring role as Marci Maven, an obsessive superfan who forms a deep longing for our neurotic sleuth, in "Mr. Monk and the T.V. Star," "Mr. Monk And His Biggest Fan," and "Mr. Monk's 100th Case."

Prior to this notable performance, Sarah Silverman was a proven stand-up comedienne who became popular in the public eye through Saturday Night Live and other guest star appearances. She was certainly a name, albeit not as big as she is today; her concert film, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic, even premiered in select theaters. But her time on Monk came just shortly before she would find greater success, both as a comic and actress. Nevertheless, this energetic supporting role showcased her developing talents.

Jon Favreau (Dr. Oliver Bloom)

Just a few short years before he jumpstarted the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man, called the shots on one of the highest-grossing movies in film history with The Lion King (2019), and became the showrunner behind The Mandalorian, Jon Favreau had a standout cameo as Dr. Oliver Bloom, a nefarious endodontist, in "Mr. Monk Goes to the Dentist." While it's a prominent appearance, the character ultimately only lasted a single episode — though it came at an interesting point in Favreau's expanding career.

Already established as both an indie-darling actor-writer thanks to Swingers and top-grossing director through Elf, Jon Favreau was well-proven at this stage of the game, but the actor-writer-director wasn't necessarily a household name. Therefore, it's hard to call this role a celebrity cameo per se — at least, in the strictest sense. But in retrospect, it's interesting to see Favreau in a minor guest role shortly before his career propelled.

Stanley Tucci (David Ruskin)

Admittedly, Stanley Tucci was well-established as an actor, writer, and director by the time the character actor appeared in Season 5's premiere, "Mr. Monk and the Actor." Nevertheless, it's a real kick to see the esteemed thespian reunite with his Big Night co-star to play David Ruskin, a method actor who vigorously tries to nail down Adrian Monk's whole persona. This inspired performance was such a delight that Tucci won an Emmy for this guest role, which admittedly makes it more memorable than the other cameos that we've listed. It's fitting, though, because it's arguably the best of the bunch.

Howie Mandel (Ralph “Father” Roberts)

There's something cosmically perfect about Howie Mandel appearing in Monk. In a pair of Season 6 episodes titled "Mr. Monk Joins a Cult" and "Mr. Monk's 100th Case," Mandel played Ralph "Father" Roberts, a supposed cult leader, in what appeared to be a winking nod to the actor's personal life. More specifically, Mandel is an outspoken germaphobe, much like Adrian Monk, which has hindered him throughout his life.

Likewise, Monk's detective career is often disrupted by his own individualized fears and phobias. The titular TV sleuth and the child actor-turned-game show host are, in a way, kindred spirits. One may argue that their paths were destined to cross, as they did here.

Snoop Dogg (Murderuss)

Playing the part of Russell Kroy, i.e. Murderuss, a rap artist who wants Monk to clear his name after he's accused of murder, Snoop Dogg proved to be an amusing guest star in Season 6's "Mr. Monk and the Rapper." Though the musician isn't the type of actor who disappears into his characters, Dogg is game to play up the heightened absurdities of this rap personality. The result isn't a "before they were famous" appearance, unlike many other celebs listed in this article, but Dogg is always an exceptional entertainer.

Ken Marino (Lester Highsmith)

Ken Marino isn't necessarily a household name, but there's a decent chance that you're familiar with his work. In 2004, following his time in The State and Wet Hot American Summer but years before he made Party Down, Children's Hospital, or Burning Love, Marino played Lester Highsmith, the ex-husband of the victim behind "Mr. Monk Takes His Medicine." It's a brief appearance and it might not have made a huge splash for anyone who wasn't a fan of Marino's brand of alternative comedy. But it's an amusing cameo that came only a few years before his profile rose — both in front and behind the camera.

Monk is available to stream on Amazon Prime and Peacock.

Party Down, the Starz comedy about a catering company in Hollywood, was an instant classic, boasting series regulars like Adam Scott and Martin Starr in its group of lovable losers moonlighting as caterers who are trying to break through to stardom. It’s been over a decade since we’ve seen the Party Down gang slinging d’oeuvres under the incapable leadership of Ron Donald (Ken Marino). When it was announced recently that the Starz underground hit would be rebooted, fans raised their beers to a collective cheer of “Are we having fun yet?” So as we plan to reunite with our favorite disgruntled waiters — and wonder what astonishing A-list guest stars might grace our screens in this reboot — let’s take a look at what the Party Down cast has been up to since the series last aired in 2010.

Ken Marino (Ron Donald)

Ken Marino, who played the most unlikely candidate for responsibility possible in Party Down’s Ron Donald, is seemingly the exact opposite off-screen, as Marino has stayed busy both in front of and behind the camera. He reprised his role as rival private investigator Vinnie Van Lowe in the long-awaited new season of Veronica Mars in 2019, and also had recurring roles on such shows as Fresh Off the Boat, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and most recently, the Showtime dark comedy Black Monday. He’s taken his turn behind the camera directing the web series Burning Love, a hilarious satire of the Bachelor franchise, and a handful of episodes of Adult Swim’s Children’s Hospital — acting in both shows as well.

Ken Marino has two movie director credits, with How to Be a Latin Lover and Dog Days, and if that’s not enough, he wrote Wanderlust, co-starring Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd and the bewitching Kathryn Hahn. Marino also had a hand in the screenplay for Role Models. In 2020, Marino reunited with the cast that started it all — MTV’s sketch comedy The State — to raise funds for the NAACP and the California Immigrant Resilience Fund, which helps undocumented California residents affected by the COVID pandemic. I mean, these credits are good, but how do they stand up next to running a Soup R’ Crackers?

Adam Scott (Henry Pollard)

Adam Scott’s Henry Pollard was a one-hit wonder on Party Down, finding 15 minutes of fame on a beer commercial with a memorable tagline before flaming out and quitting acting. Scott’s career as an actor has thankfully gone the other direction, and he’s stayed pretty busy since his fictional catering days. We liked him and we loved him as Ben Wyatt on Parks and Recreation, and he also had recurring television roles in hits such as The Good Place and Big Little Lies. Many of these actors run in the same circles (see Veronica Mars), and Scott reunited with Ken Marino for Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later and the web series Burning Love. On the big screen, he and Lizzy Caplan reignited their red-hot chemistry to again play lovers in Bachelorette. Other movie credits include The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Krampus and Sleeping with Other People.

Adam Scott has also found success in the world of podcasts. His initial project, U Talkin’ U2 to Me?, dissected his love for the iconic band U2. That led to R U Talkin’ R.E.M. RE: ME?, a similar show about REM, and in 2020 launched U Talkin’ Talking Heads 2 My Talking Heads. Next up he’s slated to star in the Ben Stiller-directed workplace thriller Severance on Apple TV+, which is currently filming and set to air sometime this year.

Lizzy Caplan (Casey Klein)

Lizzy Caplan was wonderful as sarcastic aspiring comedian Casey Klein, but much of her post-Party Down career has skewed away from comedy. Caplan picked up nominations for a Primetime Emmy, two Satellite Awards and a Critics’ Choice Award for her portrayal of Virginia Johnson in the Showtime series Masters of Sex. Most recently Caplan was in the Apple TV+ thriller series Truth Be Told with Octavia Spencer and played Annie Wilkes in the Season 2 of the Stephen King-inspired Castle Rock. Caplan’s next project stays in the horror realm, with Cobweb, starring opposite The Boys’ Antony Starr. The movie, which filmed in Bulgaria in late 2020, is in post-production.

It hasn’t been all horror and thriller for Lizzy Caplan, however, as the Mean Girls alum has also had recurring roles in New Girl, The League and Children’s Hospital. Movie credits include The Interview from James Franco and Seth Rogan, as well as the sci-fi thriller Extinction, (no word from Party Down’s Roman on if that counts as “hard sci-fi”).

Martin Starr (Roman DeBeers)

We fell in love with Martin Starr as a lovable nerd on Freaks and Geeks, and aspiring sci-fi author Roman DeBeers could certainly be an older version of Bill Haverchuck — albeit more cynical and beaten down by life. Hopefully Starr’s acting career is slightly less frustrating than trying to make it in the world of hard sci-fi. Starr co-starred as the fantastically named Bertram Gilfoyle on all six seasons of HBO’s five-time Emmy nominee Silicon Valley. Starr also had small roles in the CBS comedy series Life in Pieces and Hawaii Five-O and played multiple characters on Comedy Central’s Drunk History.

Martin Starr’s been no stranger to the big screen either, playing Daniel in Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead, and teaming up with his Apatow buddies in Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's apocalyptic comedy This is the End. And speaking of old buddies, Starr had a couple of projects with Party Down guest star Kristen Bell, playing Stu Cobbler in Veronica Mars and Bell’s friend Todd in the uncomfortable drama The Lifeguard. Starr has also joined the MCU, playing Mr. Harrington, the teacher with the unenviable task of keeping tabs on teens like Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Far from Home and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Up next for Starr is a supporting role in the dark superhero film Samaritan, starring Sylvester Stallone and set for a June 4 release.

Ryan Hansen (Kyle Bradway)

As previously noted, the cast of Party Down is strongly connected to Veronica Mars, and none more than Ryan Hansen, who played the douchey Dick Casablancas on the smart mystery series. Hansen and Kristen Bell became best friends, and his resume boasts numerous projects with The Good Place star, including Burning Love and Hansen’s YouTube Red series Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television. Hansen had a hilariously awkward guest role as Bell’s lover on her Showtime series House of Lies. He also played a part in the movie Hit & Run with Bell, which Bell’s husband Dax Shepard wrote, directed and starred in.

That doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of his work either, but some of Ryan Hansen’s projects have failed to find critical acclaim. Hansen took a couple of swings on NBC comedies, playing the lover of Kate Walsh’s Rebecca Wright in the lone season of Bad Judge and starring as Ben Lewis on the short-lived comedy Friends with Benefits, but Hansen’s bread and butter seems to lie in guest roles and recurring spots. He’s made appearances on Key and Peele, Parenthood, The Mindy Project and Santa Clarita Diet. He had a recurring role as Andy in Season 2 of 2 Broke Girls, played Doug Weiner in the Hulu series Resident Advisors and played Brent in the TV Land series Teachers. Hansen had roles in three movies that came out in 2020: Friendsgiving, Fantasy Island and Like a Boss, all of which were panned by critics.

Megan Mullally (Lydia Dunfree)

Megan Mullally joined the Party Down crew in Season 2 as the well-meaning but desperately lonely Lydia Dunfree. While Lydia struggled as momager for thankless daughter Escapade, Mullally’s path couldn’t be further from her character’s, as she was a force to be reckoned with both before and after Party Down on pretty much any platform she chose in entertainment. Most recently, on top of reprising her role as Karen Walker on Will & Grace, the actor has lent her voice to a number of animated projects including Bob’s Burgers and The Great North. In 2015 her voice acting led to a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for her work on Sofia the First: The Enchanted Feast.

Mullally was also a series regular on Children’s Hospital and had a memorable recurring role as the second ex-wife of Ron Swanson (played by real-life husband Nick Offerman) Tammy Two in Parks and Recreation. In 2014 she starred in Annapurna off-Broadway with Offerman and on Broadway in It’s Only a Play alongside Matthew Broderick, Stockard Channing, Nathan Lane and more. In 2021 she is slated to play Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre in London. And don’t forget to add “author” to the multi-hyphenate’s resume. In 2018 she and Offerman published The Greatest Love Story Ever Told about their “epic” romance.

Jane Lynch (Constance Carmell)

No personal business on company pond for this hard worker. Constance Carmell’s optimistic attitude always had her willing to go the extra mile to hone her craft. (Have you seen her cow? “Are you milking me for information, Old MacDonald? I’m not in the mooooood.”) And if that’s the effort Jane Lynch puts into her real-life acting career, it’s working. Unfortunately Lynch had to leave the catering company after Season 1 because of a contractual obligation to Glee for her brilliant role as Sue Sylvester, but that worked out in her favor, if not ours, as it led to five Primetime Emmy Awards from twelve nods, two SAG Awards from six nominations and one Golden Glove from two nominations.

Lynch has had recurring TV roles on numerous shows, such as Criminal Minds and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She’s leant her voice to animated TV and movies alike in The Simpsons, Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph Breaks the Internet and UglyDolls. She’s hosted game shows, such as the reboot of Weakest Link and Hollywood Game Night. Lynch even has her own record label, KitschTone Records, on which she released a Christmas album with her cabaret group See Jane Sing.

Lynch has also tried her hand at theater, making her Broadway debut as Miss Hannigan in Annie in 2013. She’s also done a ton of charity work, most notably to support equal rights in the LBGTQ community. In 2013, Lynch was honored by The Trevor Project for her advocacy of marriage equality. In 2020 she co-hosted the live telethon Love in Action to help raise funds for the Los Angeles LGBT Center during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Party Down fans, myself included, are eager to see our favorite caterers don their pink bowties again and reveal if the last 10 years has brought them any of the same success as the actors who portray them (assuming not, if they are in fact still catering). Be sure to check back for more information on the reboot, and find something else to stream on Starz in the meantime.

The West Wing boasted a star-studded cast that has stood the test of time, with series regulars including Martin Sheen, Allison Janney and Robe Lowe. But many of the young actors who guest starred on the political drama, which aired for seven seasons from 1999-2005, went on to have phenomenal careers of their own, such as Elisabeth Moss, who played the youngest of President Jed Bartlet’s three daughters, and Amy Adams, who helped the White House staffers after they were stranded at a farm in Indiana. With more than 150 episodes, The West Wing’s sets were graced by hundreds of actors, so it’s to be expected you might have forgotten that these future stars were among them.

Evan Rachel Wood - Hogan Cregg

Long before True Blood and Westworld, and even before she was a troubled teen in Thirteen, a 14-year-old Evan Rachel Wood played press secretary C.J. Cregg’s niece Hogan Cregg in Season 3’s “The Black Vera Wang.” C.J. (Allison Janney) and Hogan, accompanied by a Secret Service agent (Mark Harmon) went shopping for a dress for Hogan’s junior prom. Evan Rachel Wood oozed star power on screen with acting heavyweights Allison Janney and Mark Harmon. You likely didn’t recognize her back in 2002, but this performance is hard to forget.

John Gallagher Jr. - Tyler

You might know John Gallagher Jr. from the 2020 horror Come Play, or as Liam Dempsey, who had a relationship with Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores in Westworld’s third season. But back in The West Wing Season 4’s “20 Hours in America: Parts 1 and 2,” a 17-year-old John Gallagher Jr. played Tyler, who tried to help Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) and Donna Moss (Janel Moloney) get out of Indiana after they missed the motorcade on a campaign stop. John Gallagher Jr. gave an understatedly comedic performance, as the group was flummoxed by Tyler’s ex-girlfriend, a time zone snafu and a train headed the wrong way down the track. Though John Gallagher Jr. went on to star as Jim Harper on the The Newsroom, another Aaron Sorkin creation, the actor said on “The West Wing Weekly” podcast that Sorkin didn’t remember Gallagher’s decade-old stint on The West Wing until they were filming the last episode of The Newsroom, Season 1.

Amy Adams - Cathy

Amy Adams has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Actress for American Hustle, and won two Golden Globes. She’s been in everything from kids movies like The Muppets and Enchanted, to the dark thriller Sharp Objects to the 2020 drama Hillbilly Elegy and even three episodes of The Office. But before all that, Amy Adams was Cathy, a farmer’s daughter in Season 4’s “20 Hours in America: Part 1.” Cathy’s family hosted an event for President Bartlet’s re-election campaign at their farm in Indiana. When Josh, Toby and Donna were left behind, Cathy tried to help them get back to the motorcade, all while engaging the staffers in a political dialogue about the struggle farmers face. Is there anything this woman can’t do?

Elisabeth Moss - Zoey Bartlet

A Hollywood A-lister today, Elisabeth Moss was 17 years old when she began playing President Bartlet’s youngest daughter Zoey (her older sisters were played by Nina Siemaszko and Annabeth Gish, who are no schlubs themselves). Zoey was featured in 25 episodes of The West Wing, as she had an on-again-off-again relationship with Dulé Hill’s Charlie Young, and she even had a major story line, getting kidnapped at the end of Season 4. So while she’s not exactly forgettable in the role, Zoey Bartlet seems a lifetime away from Mad Men’s Peggy Olson, The Handmaid’s Tale’s June Osborne and scores of other acting credits and accolades.

Ashley Benson - Suffragette

In Season 4, Episode 6, “Game On,” 12-year-old Ashley Benson got one of her first acting credits, playing one of three children helping to campaign for a candidate in California’s 47th Congressional District who passed away. Will Bailey (Joshua Malina), who managed the campaign, called the trio “Sally and the Suffragettes,” and they recited the poster they made to encourage voters: “It doesn’t matter who you vote for. Make sure you vote.” Just two years later, Ashley Benson landed a recurring role as Abby Deveraux on Days of Our Lives and is today most best known for playing Hanna Marin on Pretty Little Liars.

Danny Pudi - Santos Aide #2

In his first credited role, Danny Pudi played an aide to presidential candidate Matt Santos, specifically “Santos Aide #2” in the Season 7 episode “Two Weeks Out.” It was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance, but it goes to show that even the smallest roles on The West Wing were filled with now-familiar faces. Danny Pudi is best known for playing Abed Nadir on Community, but he also does a lot of voice work, including the voice of Huey Duck on the DuckTales series that premiered in 2017.

Bellamy Young - MaryLou Meriwether

Many came to know Bellamy Young as Mellie Grant, first lady in the Shonda Rhimes political drama Scandal. But that wasn’t her first time in the White House. Back in 2014 a blonde Bellamy Young played North Carolina lawyer MaryLou Meriwether in The West Wing Season 5 episode, "The Stormy Present,” as she met with Josh Lyman about a copy of the Bill of Rights that was stolen from her state at the end of the Civil War. Bellamy Young went on to have roles in series including CSI: Miami, Dirty Sexy Money, Scrubs, Criminal Minds and Prodigal Son. In addition to Scandal, Shonda Rhimes’ other creations Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and How To Get Away With Murder featured a bevy of actors who first appeared on The West Wing, including James Pickens Jr., Joshua Malina, Taye Diggs and Michael O’Neill.

Liza Weil - Karen Larsen

Speaking of Shonda Rhimes actors, Liza Weil of Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder fame had a role early in her career as Karen Larsen, a governmental aide who leaked Chief of Staff Leo McGarry’s medical records to expose his history of drug and alcohol abuse in Season 1’s “Take Out the Trash Day.” Karen (a fitting character name, though it didn’t hold any significant meaning back in 2000), is fired and then un-fired by Leo McGarry (John Spencer) after the two have a conversation about how addiction has affected their lives. Just months after this episode aired, the world would meet Liza Weil in perhaps her most recognizable role, Paris Geller on Gilmore Girls.

Jane Lynch - Lucy The Reporter

When you’ve got stars in the press pool, your casting directors are doing something right. Jane Lynch wasn’t a household name back in early aughts when she played reporter Lucy in two of The West Wing’s best episodes, “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen: Part I” and “Two Cathedrals.” Jane Lynch is widely known for her role as Sue Sylvester on Glee, and has most recently been seen as the host of the rebooted game show Weakest Link. With more than 200 acting credits to her name, Jane Lynch has come a long way from The West Wing press room. What’s next?

Nick Offerman - Jerry

Before Nick Offerman became a pop culture sensation as Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation, he got his start with a guest role as Jerry in The West Wing Season 1’s "The Crackpots and These Women.” Jerry was part of a three-person team who met with C.J. Cregg to pitch an 1,800-mile wolves-only road — a cost to taxpayers of only $900 million. The trio played it completely straight as C.J. practically laughed them out of the room. It was a great early look at how talented Nick Offerman is at dry humor.

Omar Benson Miller - Orlando Kettles

Before starring on Ballers with The West Wing regulars Richard Schiff and Dulé Hill, Omar Benson Miller was hilarious as Orlando Kettles in the Season 4 episode “Election Night.” Orlando found himself in legal trouble — and unable to play in his final high school football game — after getting pulled over with an open can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Omar Benson Miller shined opposite Charlie Young (Hill), as Charlie accompanied Orlando to cast his vote in the presidential election. Since The West Wing, Omar Benson Miller has also appeared on CSI: Miami (with another West Wing alum, Emily Procter) and The Unicorn.

Ty Burrell - Tom Starks

Eight years before we met our favorite real estate agent Phil Dunphy on Modern Family, Ty Burrell guest starred as Tom Starks in the Season 3 episode “The Women of Qumar” to talk about seatbelt laws with Rob Lowe’s Sam Seaborn. In an otherwise-dry scene, Ty Burrell brought the deadpan humor, as he defended the honor of Rotarians like his father and himself to Sam, whose father was an Elk. “You won’t catch a Rotarian not wearing his seat belt,” Tom told Sam. “An Elk, maybe.”

Eric Stonestreet - White House Counsel Staffer

Speaking of Modern Family, before playing the hilarious Cameron/Fizbo the Clown on Modern Family, but after working security at a Garth Brooks concert, Eric Stonestreet played a staffer in the White House counsel’s office on Season 2’s “Bad Moon Rising.” Eric Stonestreet was a competent assistant to White House counsel Oliver Babish (Oliver Platt), and even got to use the series’ secret code about “an old friend from home,” which alerted White House staff of an emergency without panicking those around them.

David Burtka - Bruce The Intern

David Burtka made his TV debut on The West Wing in the Season 3 episode, “The Black Vera Wang,” as Bruce, a White House intern who found himself in trouble after putting some re-gifted moose meat up for auction on eBay. Bruce was confronted by Donna Moss, who had received the meat from Josh Lyman after a trip to Helsinki. Bruce came out on top of that situation, though, as he got to keep his job and the $210 Donna paid to get the moose meat off eBay. David Burtka is known for his work on the stage and screen, a common thread amongst West Wing actors. He was also on seven episodes of How I Met Your Mother with now-husband Neil Patrick Harris,

The West Wing is currently streaming on HBO Max, including A West Wing Special To Benefit When We All Vote, a stage production of the Season 3 episode “Hartsfield’s Landing” performed by the original cast ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Check back regularly to CinemaBlend to stay up to date on all the latest streaming news.

Glee is a series that had a strong start, but then kind of slipped off. However, it’s a series that, whether you love or hate it, has forever made its mark on the television world. It produced tons of memorable musical moments and made stars of its cast, including Lea Michele, Naya Rivera, Amber Riley, and Darren Criss. The Glee cast includes many actors and actresses who went on to have successful careers beyond the series.

Show creator Ryan Murphy assembled a talented bunch of young actors who likely have a long future in the show business world. Let’s take a look at what the Glee cast has been up to since the series ended.

Lea Michele (Rachel Berry)

Rachel Berry was the, slightly annoying overachiever whose talent spoke for itself. Even if Rachel wasn’t the most likable character, you respected her talent and drive. Lea Michele stayed within Ryan Murphy’s orbit after Glee, appearing in his horror-comedy Scream Queens as Hester. After Screen Queens was canceled after two seasons, Michele had a lead role on The Mayor. That series was also canceled after one season.

Lea Michele released two solo albums post-Glee, Places, and Christmas in the City. In 2019, she also appeared in the holiday movie Same Time, Next Christmas. In 2020, she gave birth to her first child with her husband Zandy Reich.

Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel)

Kurt was Rachel’s biggest competition in terms of ambition and need to be seen. Eventually, Kurt becomes part of Glee’s most popular couple with Blaine (Darren Criss). Colfer has made some guest appearances on series like Julie’s Greenroom, RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars, and Visible: Out on Television. However, most of Colfer’s post-Glee life has been devoted to his writing career.

As of 2020, Colfer has written at least 15 books and six in his main book series, The Land of Stories. His most recent book is A Tale of Witchcraft.

Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester)

Sue Sylvester appointed herself as the person who had to take down the Glee club, and especially Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). Lynch has been one of the busiest former Glee cast members. She has appeared in the series The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show, Angel from Hell, The Real O’Neals, The Stinky & Dirty Show, and Will & Grace.

Lynch has also appeared in multiple episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Good Fight, and Space Force. She now hosts the new version of The Weakest Link. Lynch has appeared in the films The Late Bloomers, Mascots, Ralph Breaks the Internet and UglyDolls.

Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester)

Will was a teacher and coach of the McKinley High’s glee club, New Directions. His questionable involvement and teaching methods helped the Glee team win many championships. Morrison has had recurring roles on The Good Wife and Grey’s Anatomy. He also teamed up with Ryan Murphy again in American Horror Story: 1984.

Morrison returned to the theater world in 2015. He played J.M Barrie in the original Broadway run of Finding Neverland. He also appeared in the movies Tulip Fever and Crazy Alien. The Grinch fans were either treated or traumatized when he played The Grinch for NBC’s version of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical Live!

Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams)

Artie was a male vocalist in the Glee club, who also happened to be in a wheelchair. He sometimes made attempts to rap. Kevin McHale appeared in the miniseries When We Rise. In 2019, he was a contestant on the UK X-Factor spin-off, The X Factor: Celebrity. He made it to the quarter-finals.

Hale appeared in episodes of Elite and the Darren Criss Quibi series, Royalties. In 2019, he released an EP called Boy.

Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang)

Tina Cohen-Chang was a little shy, but she used music to come out of her shell. Jenna Ushkowitz appeared in the films Yellow Fever, Hello Again, and 1 Night in San Diego.

Ushkowitz also returned to theater life post-Glee. She had roles in Broadway productions of The Wedding Singer, Waitress, and The 24 Hour Plays. Ushkowitz has gained her most success as a producer. She has produced Once on the Island, Be More Chill, and The Inheritance. She won a Tony award for Once on the Island.

Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones)

Mercedes Jones was one of the best vocalists in the Glee club, and just as deserving of leads, though it seemed like Rachel tended to get most of the vocal leads. Amber Riley appeared in NBC’s production of The Wiz Live! as Addaperie, and ABC’s production of The Little Mermaid Live! as Emcee. She also appeared in the series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and A Black Lady Sketch Show. Riley has appeared in the films Nobody’s Fool and Infamous.

Riley has also appeared in the theater productions of Dreamgirls and Little Shop of Horrors. She played Effie White in Dreamgirls and Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. In 2020, Riley was cast as the lead in NBC’s upcoming musical comedy series Dream. She also released an EP called RILEY in 2020.

Heather Morris (Brittany S. Pierce)

Brittany was a little bit on the unique side of things. She hosted a series with a cat and had some crazy theories. Brittany was also part of another popular LGBTQ+ couple with Santana (Naya Rivera). Heather Morris competed on Dancing with the Stars Season 24.

Morris then appeared on the series Glow, The Troup, and Raven’s Home. She appeared in the TV movies Psycho Wedding Crasher and Pretty Little Stalker. She also appeared in the movies Most Likely to Die, Folk Hero & Funny Guy, and the upcoming film Moon Manor. In 2020,She started her own Instagram series called Hubbell Home, which is basically just a short look at her and her husband Taylor Hubbell’s life and their DIY home projects.

Chord Overstreet (Sam Evans)

Sam Evans joined New Directions in Season 2 of Glee, then he became a main character in Season 4. Sam was also not the brightest bulb in the box, but he was a sweet kid who ended up having romances with many of the female Glee characters.

Chord Overstreet appeared in the series Pickle and Peanut, The Bold Type, and Royalties. In 2020, he appeared in the film The Swing of Things. The cast of The Swing of Things also included Olivia Culpo, Adelaide Kane, and Luke Wilson. It’s about a groom who accidentally books his honeymoon at a swingers’ resort. Overstreet has released two albums since Glee. They are Tree House Tapes and Hold On. He also released a single called Water Into Wine in 2020.

Darren Criss (Blaine Anderson)

Blaine Anderson started off Glee as a member of the Warblers, a rival glee club of the New Directions. Eventually, Blaine and Kurt fall in love and become one of the most popular couples on Glee. Darren Cris reunited with Ryan Murphy for several projects.

He appeared in a couple of episodes of American Horror Story: Hotel. He teamed up with Murphy for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, and he won an Emmy for that role. In 2020, he was one of the leads in Murphy’s Hollywood. Criss also teamed up with some of his former Glee co-stars by playing Music Meister in Supergirl and The Flash. Also in 2020, Criss had his own Quibi series called Royalties. It also featured some appearances by former Glee cast members.

In 2020, Criss launched a Podcast and web series called Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye. Post-Glee Criss also appeared in the film Midway, returned to Broadway in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and recorded an EP called Homework.

Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang)

Mike Chang started Glee as more of a background dancer but as the show went on, he became more of a main figure in New Directions. Harry Shum Jr. played Magnus Bane on Shadowhunters from 2016 to 2018. He then appeared in the second season of Kevin Williamson’s series Tell Me A Story. Shum also appeared in an episode of Awkwafina is Nora from Queens.

Harry Shum Jr. appeared in the popular film Crazy Rich Asians and in the films Burn and Escape Plan: The Extractors. In 2020, he appeared in All My Life. Also in 2020, it was announced that Shum will appear in Netflix's rom-com Love Hard.

Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray)

Quinn Fabray was the typical queen bee but became more than just a mean girl and teen mom. Dianna Agron has lent her voice to Robot Chicken and Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph Breaks the Internet. She has appeared in the films Against the Clock, Berlin, I Love You, Shiva Baby, and upcoming The Laureate.

She also appeared in the stage production of McQueen and a virtual performance of Is Edward Snowden Single?

Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez)

Santana was the mean girl, who could hurt every member of New Directions’ feelings in two-seconds flat, but you also knew there was some truth to her quick jabs. She was never afraid to deflate Rachel’s ego or bully Mr. Schuester.

Naya Rivera appeared in the film Mad Families in 2017. She also had a main role in the Step Up TV series. Tragically, in 2020, Rivera went missing after renting a boat with her son. Days later, Rivera’s body was found, and she was pronounced dead from accidental drowning.

Mark Salling (Noah Puck Puckerman)

Puck was McKinley High School’s resident bad boy. He ends up sleeping with his best friend Finn (Cory Monteith)’s girlfriend Quinn and impregnates her. Mark Salling hadn’t appeared in any shows or movies post-Glee. In 2015, the actor was arrested on suspicion of possession of child pornography, for which he later pled guilty and in 2018, he committed suicide by hanging.

Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson)

Finn Hudson was another Glee character that was kind but not that smart. He was a football player who loved singing. He was Rachel Berry’s main love interest throughout Glee. While appearing in Glee, Cory Monteith also appeared in the films All the Wrong Reasons, McCanick, and had a guest appearance on MasterChef.

Cory Monteith last appeared on Glee in 2013. Sadly, he died in July 2013 from a toxic mixture of drugs and alcohol, before the series ended.

Glee aired from 2009 to 2015. If you’re in the mood to rewatch some of your favorite Glee characters, the series is available to stream on Netflix. Stream it here.

Spoilers ahead for the premiere of NBC's Weakest Link reboot.

The latest game show reboot hit the airwaves on September 29 with NBC's Weakest Link, led by Glee alum and longtime Hollywood Game Night host Jane Lynch. The original show launched in the United Kingdom in 2000 and then debuted on NBC in 2001, at a time when the original Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? had already become one of the biggest shows on television. Anne Robinson became iconic as host with her delivery of "You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" So, how does Jane Lynch stand as a host, especially when comparisons to Robinson are inevitable?

After the series premiere of Weakest Link on NBC, Jane Lynch has already proved that her Hollywood Game Night hosting skills translate perfectly well to the reboot, in my book. She brought her signature sense of humor, with a bit of bite but not so much that it was uncomfortable, and she kept the action moving.

It's worth noting that Weakest Link isn't the most visually spectacular or dazzling game show on television, so it doesn't have the glitz of some other shows or star power other than Jane Lynch. Over on Fox, The Masked Singer has singing and dancing with elaborate costumes and a panel of celebrity judges. On ABC, To Tell the Truth features celebrities as well, as do (of course) Celebrity Family Feud with Steve Harvey and Match Game with Alec Baldwin. Jimmy Kimmel's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? reboot on ABC is probably the closest thing to Weakest Link coming to television.

As of the premiere, I would argue that Jane Lynch is stronger on Weakest Link than many others on the game show circuit with her years of Hollywood Game Night experience. That show launched back in 2013 and has run for six seasons and 74 episodes so far. Lynch tackled the Weakest Link challenges like she's already been doing the show for years, because she has been handling game show duties for quite a while and simply adapted to the format.

That said, Weakest Link has an established formula and rules that are pretty straightforward, even for viewers who are coming into the reboot without watching Anne Robinson's first version of the show. Jane Lynch's top task is to keep the game going and to drop some one-liners in between rounds. She did it remarkably well in the premiere, and I have no reason to believe that she will drop the ball as the weeks pass. It might have been hard for her to flop!

Throw in the fact that enough time has passed that any comparisons to Anne Robinson's tenure as host probably won't be too impassioned, and the stage is set for Jane Lynch to lead the Weakest Link reboot to become NBC's next game show hit. It should be interesting to keep an eye on the ratings and discover if Lynch's next long-running series will be Weakest Link.

New episodes of NBC's Weakest Link reboot air on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Be sure to vote in our poll below about how well Jane Lynch did as host, and check out our 2020 fall TV premiere schedule for some upcoming viewing options!

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Following the months-long lockdown brought on by the global health crisis, many TV shows are now returning to the studio to film. Things will look quite different, however, as producers are installing new safety practices to ensure the well-being of cast, crew and audience members. Game shows arguably have a particularly difficult task given their interactive and contestant-driven nature. This is something Weakest Link host and executive producer Jane Lynch and her colleagues have considered as the new show enters production.

While speaking about her work on the 2020 Weakest Link reboot, Jane Lynch explained that the show has put various new policies into effect such as practicing proper distancing and wearing the appropriate masks. She’s also feeling good when it comes to her interactions with contestants:

Jane Lynch definitely sounded enthusiastic about the effectiveness of these methods while speaking with TV Insider. Elements like distance markers and shields are key for a show of this nature, and it’s good to see that these kinds of measures are being implemented.

Weakest Link isn’t the only game show that’s taken steps to adapt to the times, as Steve Harvey’s Family Feud has also had to make an adjustment or two. The producers of that show are requiring crew to wear protective gear, use masks and undergo regular temperature checks. And while it’s not exactly a game show, America’s Got Talent has also made significant changes to continue production for this past season.

It’s been interesting (and encouraging) to see just how seriously producers and networks are taking our current situation. Whether it be multi-camera comedies or talk shows, TV seems to be finding ways to safely carry on in the era of COVID-19. Even Saturday Night Live, which will restart its new season with a studio audience, has put detailed guidelines in place for potential attendees. This includes on-site COVID-19 testing, temperature checks and answering a serious of questions used to gauge their susceptibility to the virus.

There’s no telling how long this will be the norm for TV shows, but it would appear that many are ready for the long haul should things remain the same. One thing that can certainly be said though is that when it comes to the level of safety precautions, no one wants to be the figurative “weakest link.”

Weakest Link makes its debut tonight, Tuesday September 29 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

The family, friends and fans of Glee actress Naya Rivera are, obviously, still mourning her sudden and tragic passing after she drowned in California's Lake Piru last month. In the weeks since Rivera's death, several of her former Glee co-stars have come out to talk about their memories of her and what it was like to work with her, and now Jane Lynch, who played cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester to Rivera's Santana Lopez on the Fox hit, has spoken out about what it was like to work with Rivera, calling her "a force of nature."

Jane Lynch recently stepped in to co-host the fourth hour of Today with Jenna Bush Hager while Hoda Kotb was out, and talked openly about her experiences while working with Naya Rivera on Glee. After noting how "gut-wrenching and heartbreaking" it is that Rivera is no longer with us, Lynch said:

Well, Jane Lynch certainly has a point about the Glee cast being stacked with impressive young talent. The socially relevant comedy didn't win several Emmys and Golden Globes, along with a Screen Actors Guild Award and Peabody Award, for nothing, after all. But, among all the fuss over some of the other cast members, Lynch thinks that Naya Rivera's performance as the smart, snippy Santana often got lost in the shuffle. Still, there's no denying that she made a big impact on the show, as evidenced by the number of Santana rants you can find catalogued online, like this one:

Oh, man. That is so good, right? As Lynch noted, Naya Rivera was quite capable of making the very most of her time on screen, and shined in all of her scenes, even with so many others doing such great work around her. This particular rant probably wasn't quite one of the three-page monologues which Lynch spoke of, but it's certainly close enough to help remind us all how much self-assured flair Rivera brought to Glee with Santana.

Heather Morris, who played Rivera's on screen friend-with-benefits turned girlfriend turned wife, Brittany, for all six seasons of Glee, opened up recently about how much their characters meant to the fans, and Jane Lynch echoed her sentiment, noting that Rivera was "a great advocate" who understood the importance of portraying a lesbian relationship on the series. So, it would seem that the young star truly landed in the right role at the right time.

You can revisit Naya Rivera and Jane Lynch's work on Glee by streaming the show on Netflix, but for more to watch in the coming weeks, be sure to check out our guide to fall TV.

Only one season is left of Criminal Minds, and after 14 years, there are a lot of loose ends that will undoubtedly need to be tied off before the credits roll for the last time. Well, Season 14 hasn’t even ended yet, but one unforgettable guest star has already revealed that she’ll be back at least one more time in the fifteenth and final season. Jane Lynch will be back as Reid’s mom, Diana, and she shared the news herself via social media. Take a look:

Unfortunately, Jane Lynch didn’t reveal anything about what she’ll be doing during Criminal Minds Season 15 in her tweet, but we can bet that any episode she appears in will be an emotional ride for Reid. His mother’s health has deteriorated over the years of the show, and her dementia diagnosis had her realizing that she would likely forget her son. Lynch last appeared in the Season 12 finale, when she was held hostage by Reid’s nemesis.

We’ll probably have to wait until closer to Season 15’s premiere to learn what brings Diana back to the show, but showrunner Erica Messer stated to TVLine that her return is “related to a revelation” from the Season 14 finale, and the wait until that episode isn’t much longer. It hits the airwaves on Wednesday, February 6 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

Given that Season 15 will be the end of the show, we may want to brace ourselves for a tragedy. That said, the news that Diana will be back because of “a revelation” in the fourteenth season finale may indicate that she’s not going to die of natural causes, if she dies at all. If the revelation has something to do with a case, her health may not be her biggest problem. If the revelation is that she is dying, then… well, at least we’ll have hiatus to prepare for what would undoubtedly be a tragic twist.

Erica Messer went on to say this about the “unpredictable” Diana in Season 15:

No matter how happy or sad her return will be, Criminal Minds viewers can at the very least look forward to seeing Jane Lynch as Diana one more time, and her return provides something to speculate about over the hiatus. Now, what about Hotch? Could he be back, or will Thomas Gibson’s controversial exit mean that Hotch remains off-screen for the rest of the series?

The fifteen and final season will run for ten episodes. The cancellation of Criminal Minds didn’t come as a huge surprise to fans who keep tuned in to news about the show. The ratings haven’t been nearly as impressive as they once were, and the end seemed nigh for a while before the official cancellation news finally broke.

Tune in to CBS on February 6 at 10 p.m. ET for the Season 14 finale of Criminal Minds. If you need some shows to watch once Criminal Minds is done for the season, swing by our midseason TV premiere schedule.

Played by Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch, Fix-It Felix and Sgt. Calhoun were two of the most important supporting characters in 2012's Wreck-It Ralph - but their roles are definitely diminished in the new sequel. While they do appear at both the beginning and end of Ralph Breaks The Internet, they're absent for the majority of the film. This may be upsetting news for those who fell in love with the duo in the first feature, but co-director Phil Johnston recently explained the very simple reason why their parts aren't bigger in the follow-up:

Killing your darlings is hard but necessary work in feature film making, given that it's a medium with limited narrative real estate, and that's the basic story behind what happened to Felix and Calhoun in Ralph Breaks The Internet. Apparently directors Phil Johnston and Rich Moore came up with some great stuff for the characters during the storybuilding process at Walt Disney Animation Studios, but when it came to piecing the final movie together it wasn't material that made the finished cut.

I brought up the subject of Felix and Calhoun when I sat down with the two Ralph Breaks The Internet directors earlier this month, curious if there were versions of the movie that featured more of them. After all, there is a perfect set-up established in which the two wedded heroes become parents to all of Vanellope's fellow Sugar Rush racers, who need to be taken care of after their game is unplugged. Rich Moore not only revealed that there was initially going to be more Felix and Calhoun check-ins, but also discussed an early idea for a subplot that would have seen the worlds of the internet and Game Central Station linked together via a specific new character. Said Moore,

Rather than trying to find some way to weave everything together, the filmmakers ultimately decided that the simpler approach was the better approach. They knew that they had a wonderful pair of protagonists in Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), and it was decided that their story alone was more than enough material for Ralph Breaks The Internet.

You can watch Phil Johnston and Rich Moore discuss the early ideas for Fix-It Felix and Sgt. Calhoun and why their roles in the movie aren't bigger by clicking play on the video below!

As noted, the good news is that it's not like Felix and Calhoun have been eliminated from the film entirely, and fans will definitely be able to appreciate the roles that they do have in Ralph Breaks The Internet. You can actually witness their return (along with most of the other main Wreck-It Ralph characters) right now, as the sequel is in theaters everywhere.

Manhunt: Unabomber was one of Discovery Channel's big hits of 2017. A strong cast that consisted of Sam Worthington, Jane Lynch and Paul Bettany paired with the story of the FBI's hunt for the Unabomber found universal acclaim amongst critics and audiences, though some have come forward to share their gripes with the series. Ted Kaczynski, the actual Unabomber, recently penned a response to how he felt about the show. And he's not a fan.

Not surprisingly, Ted Kaczynski is not a fan of how his story is portrayed in Manhunt: Unabomber. Though Kaczynski admitted he had not seen the series personally, he said the letters he received since the show's airing led him to believe that Manhunt: Unabomber is more fiction than fact. Specifically, Kaczynski noted that much of what is reported about the study he underwent at Harvard that was led by psychologist Henry Murray was not nearly as unpleasant as the general public has been led to believe. Some in the past have suggested that Kaczynski's experience in the Murray study could be tied to his bombing spree later in life, which is why the study has become such a point on interest in telling the story of the Unabomber.

Ted Kaczynski doesn't appear to buy into that theory, and told CNN's Andrew Kaczynski (no relation) in a letter the whole event was "wildly, wildly, exaggerated." Kaczynski also took the opportunity to advertise his new book, and point the reporter in the direction of another person's take on the accuracy of Manhunt: Unabomber, ex-FBI agent Greg Stejskal:

Greg Stejskal's main issue with Discovery's Manhunt: Unabomber was the show's overstating the role of FBI agent Jim Fitzgerald, who he claimed was only a minor player in the hunt for Ted Kaczynski. Stejskal also said that Fitzgerald never interviewed Kaczynski, though the series made it look as though he was the sole player who brought the Unabomber to justice. Fitzgerald didn't deny the claims made by Stejskal, and while he stated the series was largely accurate, he stated his portrayal in the series was definitely a composite character to connect various events.

Manhunt: Unabomber is currently available to stream on Netflix. For a list of other Netflix titles that are worth streaming, be sure to head over to CinemaBlend's Netflix premiere guide to see what new shows and films are on the horizon. For a look at what's coming down the pipeline for television in general in 2018, check out our midseason premiere guide.

Traditionally, Disney is fairly gunshy when it comes to theatrically released animated sequels. In fact, Disney Animation Studios has only ever produced one direct sequel to a theatrical release, The Rescuers Down Under, back in 1990. However, the sequels begin to increase in 2018 when Wreck-It Ralph sees a sequel of its own, Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-it Ralph 2.

The first movie brought us into a world that exists inside our favorite video games. The sequel, as the name implies, will expand on that theme and take on the entire internet. With a scope that large, nearly anything can happen, and, based on what we know, quite a lot of it will. Here's everything we know about the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph.

What Is The Wreck-It Ralph 2 Release Date?

There are several "big weekends" on the release calendar, and Disney is frequently associated with all of them. However, there may be no weekend more synonymous with Disney than Thanksgiving weekend. Movies like Frozen, Moana, and Coco have all been released the day before Thanksgiving, and Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 will be Disney's 2018 representative for the holiday weekend when it gets released on November 21, 2018. Originally, Ralph 2 was going to be released in the spring of 2018. However, likely due to the issues Disney was having producing Gigantic, Ralph was pushed to November. The film will have some competition for that release, as it opens the same day as Creed 2. It also opens the week after Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

What Is Wreck-It Ralph 2 Rated?

It's a bit early to know exactly what the release date for Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 will be. However, the first movie received a PG rating and so it's a safe bet the sequel will fall in line with that. This is Disney that we're talking about, so really a G rating is the only other viable option. At this point, PG is becoming the standard for Disney animation and while the first film likely could have gotten away with a G rating, we expect the tone of the sequel to be on par with its predecessor.

What Have We Seen From Wreck-It Ralph 2?

Lucky for us, after years of waiting to see something from Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, a trailer was finally released at the end of February 2018. In it, we see that Mr. Litwak, the arcade owner, has installed a Wi-Fi router in his business, which is plugged into the same power strip as the games, making it possible for Ralph and Venellope to go from the game world to the internet. While we still don't get much of the larger story in this two-minute trailer, it's easy to see that this sequel will be a lot of fun.

What Is Wreck-It Ralph 2 About?

The first details about the actual plot of Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 came out last summer during Disney's D23 Expo. While we already had an idea where the movie would take place due to the title, we have a bit of information as to why. Apparently, the copy of Sugar Rush inside the arcade from the first movie is in need of a replacement part. This leads Ralph and Vanellope to make use of a router that has been installed in the arcade to jump from the arcade onto the internet in order to go looking for it. This will take the pair to, we assume, a number of different worlds, similar to the way that each game in the arcade was unique in the first film.

Exactly how a couple of digital characters are going to pick up a physical replacement part from the actual internet is unclear. Maybe they need to make nice with an Amazon buy box or digitally alter the results of an eBay auction in order to make sure the arcade wins. Either way, we saw how scary going "Out of Order" was for the people inside Fix-It Felix Jr in the first movie, and clearly that possibility happening for Sugar Rush will make this adventure an equally serious one.

The Writers

The story of Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 comes to us from three Disney veterans who have a strong history behind them. The Head of Story is Jim Reardon, who previously was part of the story team for both Zootopia and the original Wreck-It Ralph. Then we have Pamela Ribon who previously assisted with the story for Disney's Moana. Before that, she had worked on television comedies like Mind of Mencia and Samantha Who? Finally, the third member of the story team for Ralph 2 is Phil Johnston, who co-wrote the screenplay for both Zootopia and the first Wreck-It Ralph. He's also got another big job on this movie, which takes us to our next section.

The Directors

The first Wreck-It Ralph was a solo directorial effort from Rich Moore, who also co-directed Zootopia. He'll be back in the director's chair for Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, but this time he'll share directorial responsibilities with Phil Johnston. This is Johnston's debut as a feature film director, but considering how intimately he's been involved with this franchise, it certainly feels like he's picked the right film to start with.

Wreck-It Ralph

Long before Wreck-It Ralph 2 was official, we knew that it was coming, mostly because voice actor John C. Reilly likes to talk. The original Wreck-It Ralph was all about a character who had been designed to be a particular way, in this case, a video game villain, who tried to step outside his role and find more in his existence. His quest took him outside of his Donkey Kong-esque 8-bit video game and into other games, including modern first-person shooters and kart racers. Ralph succeeded in finding more, but also made peace with his role as the bad guy. One assumes that we'll find Ralph in a similar state as Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 begins. The shift away from video games and into the internet will probably be the biggest shift for him. We certainly got the impression in the first movie that the characters were very much a product of their era, and so Ralph, from a game over 30 years old, likely won't know where to start when navigating the web. We've been promised that the friendship between Ralph and Vanellope will be tested in the sequel, though we're not exactly sure what that means.

Vanellope Von Schweetz

Most of Wreck-It Ralph took place in the game of Sugar Rush, the candy go-kart game and home of Vanellope Von Schweetz, voiced by Sarah Silverman. At the end of the first film, we learned that Vanellope was actually the princess of the land, though her time as an apparent glitch made her feel more comfortable in a hoodie than a frilly dress. Sugar Rush will be key to the sequel as well, as Vanellope and Ralph's journey into the internet is undertaken in an attempt to find a part that will fix the Sugar Rush arcade cabinet. This could indicate a slight shift in the character dynamic. Even though the film's title is all about Ralph, he may take a more secondary role in Vanellope's quest to fix her game.

Fix-It Felix Jr.

Fix-It Felix Jr. was the name of the video game that Ralph came from, and Felix was an important supporting character in the first film. While Jack McBrayer was apparently the last person to know that Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 was coming, it has been confirmed that he'll be back to reprise his role as the guy who fixes everything. It's unclear how big a role Felix will have, but as the character was married at the end of the first movie, there are a lot of opportunities to do some new things with him.

Calhoun

Fix-It Felix Jr's bride at the end of the first movie was the tough-as-nails Calhoun, voiced by Jane Lynch. The actress has confirmed that she will be back for the sequel, and we would expect her part to be on par with that of Felix as far as its size an importance, but that's pure speculation. Calhoun's modern military video game character represented the current generation of more mature games, which are very popular among actual online communities, so, perhaps, she'll be in a better position to navigate the world of the internet than the others.

Mr. Litwak

One character from the first film who has seemingly not been confirmed for the sequel is Mr. Litwak, the owner of the arcade where Ralph and the gang all reside. He was voiced by the hilarious Ed O'Neil and while he wasn't a major character in the first film, with the plot of the game revolving around the Sugar Rush arcade cabinet, there's a good chance that the owner will make another supporting appearance as he did before.

Other Returning Characters

There was a nearly endless number of small supporting characters in Wreck-It Ralph in the form of the Nicelanders of Fix-it Felix Jr. and the additional racers in Sugar Rush. Since this adventure will take our leads out of the arcade, we wouldn't expect any of them to have roles even as large as what they had before. Still, expect the likes of Mindy Kaling and others to appear briefly, if only to keep the worlds feeling lived in and to help give us an idea of what has happened in the intervening years.

Yesss

So far, only one brand new character has been introduced for Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck it Ralph 2. During the D23 Expo last summer, attendees were treated to footage of the character known as Yesss who is voiced by Taraji P. Henson. She plays a digital algorithm for a website known as Buzzaholic, the apparent stand-in for BuzzFeed in this universe. She will be the film's tour guide of sorts as the character who introduces the internet world to our characters and helps them navigate it. No images have been released publicly of Yesss, but she's described as a character with blue hair that dresses fairly hip and has clothes made from fiber optics.

New Voices

Two voice actors have been attached to the movie to play brand new characters that we don't know much about. Ugly Betty's Ana Ortiz was the first name announced for what is being called a "small role," but beyond that, we don't know much. Late night TV host James Corden, who seems to be doing voice acting in everything these days, is also apparently involved in Wreck-it Ralph 2. His casting was revealed by Jane Lynch, so it's possible his role will be involved with whatever Calhoun is up to in the new movie.

Alan Tudyk

There are only about two things you can be sure of when it comes to a Disney Animation Studios movie these days. First, it will open with a shot of a castle, and two, you'll hear the voice of Alan Tudyk at some point. He's been in every animated Disney movie for the last several years, including voicing the major role of King Candy in the first Wreck-It Ralph. Tudyk has confirmed he'll be back for the sequel, though in a different role. It could be another major role like it was last time, though in Moana he voiced a sidekick chicken, so, really, anything is possible.

Disney References

Disney has become a massive entity in recent years and Wreck-it Ralph 2 will actually make reference to this fact with a major scene that they showed off at the D23 Expo last year. The characters will actually go to one of Disney's real homes on the internet, OhMyDisney.com, where they will see elements of Star Wars and Marvel as well as Disney animation. In fact, Ralph and Vanellope will meet all of the classic Disney princesses in one place, in a moment that will be a major joy for all the Disney fanatics out there. All of the original voice actors who are still with us will reprise their roles. With everybody from Snow White to Anna and Elsa making an appearance. Whether this will actually be a scene that is important in the grand scheme of the story or just one for fun is unclear, but it will be a major event either way.

Jane Lynch seems to be everywhere nowadays, and for the most part, she is. With her occasional presence on Criminal Minds and other comedies, game shows and commercials, along with the upcoming Wreck-It Ralph 2 film, Lynch manages to keep a full plate, and she's about to pile on some more! The multi-talented actress has signed on for an NBC comedy pilot that sounds right up her alley, Relatively Happy, and she's joining a ton of talented people for it.

Relatively Happy has Jane Lynch playing the role of Bobbi Martin, a dominant womanizing attorney who drinks well and lives a fast life. TV Line says Lynch will play support to a story that features her employee Henry (Jon Rudnitsky) who moves in with his sister Heather (Genevieve Angelson) after a devastating loss pulls them together. Lynch will play a mentor on screen and perhaps on set to Rudnitsky, who is fresh off leaving the cast of Saturday Night Live, as well as Angelson, who most recently was in the short-lived Amazon series Good Girls Revolt. The three have never collaborated before, but considering their past projects, this could be an awesome combination!

The pilot was written by Will & Grace co-creator Max Mutchnick and Trial & Error creator Jeff Astrof, who say the role of Bobbi was originally written for a man until they realized Lynch was perfect for the part. Considering her past roles, can we really disagree? Relatively Happy's Bobbi Martin sounds like a cross between Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester in Glee and Paula in the 40-Year-Old Virgin.

In fact, most of Lynch's characters exude this outward confidence that makes her feel like she's that ego-forward boss that rarely hears no, and then doesn't accept it when she does. It's an acting persona she's really capitalized in her career and I can't think of any actress who does it better than her. Just the character description alone gives me a visual that thinks she's already knocked it out of the park, even though she likely hasn't filmed anything yet.

Relatively Happy will be the first feature sitcom role Jane Lynch has had on network television since the cancellation of her CBS series Angel From Hell. The series lasted 13 episodes before being axed. Of course, many remember that Glee was her last successful stint on network television where she played the always menacing Sue Sylvester. While it's not a sitcom, Lynch is currently serving as the host for NBC's Hollywood Game Night, a game show which has celebrities compete in party games with contestants. Hosts have to be bossy too, right?

As of now, there's nothing in the cards for Relatively Happy other than an NBC pilot, but we'll keep you posted if that changes. We're well into the final leg of some of our favorite fall series, and while there's plenty to be enjoyed on our midseason premiere guide you might also want to look ahead to our summer premiere guide and see what's in store for you when the weather warms up.

Whenever former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno would appear on TV during her governmental tenure, it was more often than not the actual Janet Reno on the screen. And if it wasn't her, then it was Will Farrell giving it his all for his hilarious Saturday Night Live impressions. But for Manifesto, the upcoming TV miniseries focused on the infamous Unabomber, Ferrell didn't get tapped for the role of the late Janet Reno, but it was given to someone usually known for similarly comedic roles: Jane Lynch.

That's right, former Glee regular and current Hollywood Game Night host Jane Lynch will don the spectacles to play Janet Reno for Manifesto, an eight-episode limited series bringing the Unabomber's tale to TV audiences hungry for more true crime programming. The first female to take on the role of U.S. Attorney General, Reno was heavily involved in the capturing of Ted Kaczynski, as well as the conviction, and she was part of the release of the wild manifesto that he detailed all of his irrational thoughts in. It's unclear in THR's report how big Lynch's part will be, or how often she'll be seen, but considering she's in the first handful of big names acquired, that's a good sign.

The main thrust of Manifesto will center on the hunt for Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski, played by Paul Bettany of Marvel films fame. (Hopefully his Vision powers aren't a part of Kaczynski's arsenal.) The slippery terrorist was a deadly blight to U.S. law enforcement officials from 1978 until his 1995 arrest, and the Discovery series has Avatar's Sam Worthington as FBI agent Jim "Fitz" Fitzgerald and his partner Tabby (played by Game of Thrones's Keisha Castle-Hughes) on the hunt to track him down, with Law & Order vet Chris Noth as the divisional FBI head in the Bay Area who supervised the takedown. The Knick's Jeremy Bobb is also part of the ensemble. (For what it's worth, Will Ferrell wasn't tapped for any other roles, either.)

An Emmy and Golden Globe winner, Jane Lynch has been a crazy prolific actress since the late 1990s, appearing in seemingly 60% of the TV shows and movies that have come out in the time since, from The X-Files to Arrested Development to all of her Christopher Guest collaborations. And though she's always making audiences laugh in recent years on Hollywood Game Night and Portlandia and Two and a Half Men, she's no stranger to dramas. And in fact, she will soon be seen reprising her recurring role of Diana Reid on Criminal Minds for the first time in nine years.

Manifesto, which boasts the actual Jim Fitzgerald as a consultant, has Banshee and Quarry director Greg Yaitanes as director and co-showrunner alongside screenwriter Andrew Sodroski. No date has been set just yet for Manifesto on Discovery, but now that the casting is looking a little more rounded out, you can bet that more announcements will be on the way soon. In the meantime, head to our midseason premiere schedule to see what you can start watching and rewatching in the coming months.

With all the drama going on at Criminal Minds lately, it's good to know that some familiar old faces will be around. Now, we know that one guest star is coming back into the fold after a long time away. Actress Jane Lynch will be returning to the show after a whopping eight years away from the series.

Jane Lynch will make her first appearance on Criminal Minds since 2008 to again play Spencer Reid's mother Diana. According to TV Guide, she will guest star in two episodes early next year, with her first appearance coming in episode 11 of the new season. Her last episode on the show came in November of 2008, just one year before Glee premiered and set the TV world on fire. With her CBS sitcom Angel from Hell no longer on the schedule, this marks the first time in seven years that Lynch hasn't had a show of her own to work around when trying to make guest appearances. So, while it's unfortunate that her show got canceled, it looks like it turned out to be good news for Criminal Minds fans.

Diana Reid is, like her son, a genius, but she's also dealt with schizophrenia for most of her life. Her diagnosis led to her marriage to Reid's father falling apart, and she was forced to raise him as a single mother. It was under her tutelage that Reid learned his love of research, but, when he was 18, he had to make the difficult decision to put her in a home so he could live his life without worrying about her care constantly.

Criminal Minds executive producer Erica Messer told TV Guide that a big Reid centric story is coming up for early next year, and that's why Diana will finally show up again. As long time viewers know, just because the character hasn't been on screen in almost a decade doesn't mean she's faded from the memory of the show. Reid's mother is very important to him, and, as such, Diana has been mentioned several times over the years. Just last season, Reid took a leave of absence to go visit his mother after she'd taken a turn for the worst. Luckily, by the time he was ready to return to his work at the B.A.U., she had rallied. The two then took a vacation to Paris that fans can expect to be referenced in the Season 12 opener.

It sounds like this arc will be a big one for Reid, but I can't imagine what could be on tap for the character. If you have an idea, be sure to let us know in the comments. Criminal Minds returns to CBS for Season 12 on Wednesday, September 28 at 9 p.m. EST.

Criminal Minds has been on the air for 11 seasons now, and in that time, the show has featured a slew of awesome guest stars playing roles as varied as victims, unsubs and even family members. It’s hard to choose the best of the best, so we recently culled through all of the big names to ever appear on the series and came up with a list of the best Criminal Minds guest stars, ranked. From foes to friends, there are some interesting picks here. You can check ‘em out, below.

10. Aaron Paul

Three years before Aaron Paul started calling people “bitch” on Breaking Bad, he played a Satanist who was really into eyeliner on Criminal Minds. In the episode "The Popular Kids," Paul copped some attitude with the BAU and snorted at the idea that one of his peers could be a virgin. Seriously, how could you not want to go back and give this episode a re-watch?

9. Robert Englund

Criminal Minds isn’t exactly a horror series, but it is horrifying on many occasions and what better way to show that than to bring in one of the horror genre’s most famous faces? Intriguingly, Englund’s big role was not that of a villain at all, but a detective appearing in the episode “Heathridge Manner.” Sure, his role wasn’t as intricate as the one played by Veronica Mars alum Kyle Gallner in the Season 7 episode, but the creepy manner and the Halloween-esque feel of the episode make this gig a perfect fit for the actor. Who better to play that role?

8. James Van Der Beek

James Van Der Beek is currently starring in his own procedural on CBS, but long before he landed the CSI: Cyber gig, the actor got his own guest stint on Criminal Minds. Van Der Beek took on the role of yet another serial killer on Criminal Minds, but his character was even more nuanced than usual, showing a split personality disorder that was memorable and has been mentioned on the series several times since. In one of Van Der Beek’s two episodes "The Big Game," he even got to play a role opposite actress Meredith Monroe, who was also formerly in Dawson's Creek.

7. Cameron Monaghan

Years before Cameron Monaghan was "shameless" on Showtime and even before he played a joke or two on Gotham, he was already shaking things up on TV, appearing in a Season 2 episode of Criminal Minds as a troubled kid who turns into a serial killer when he figures out how to lure kids into the woods and kill them with a baseball bat. This was an awesome guest appearance, not only because it came during a time when Criminal Minds took more chances with kids involved with crime, but also because Monaghan was terrifying in the role, even as a young man. The actor was good at playing tortured even before Fox’s villain-oriented comic series came calling.

6. Jane Lynch

It’s hard to think of Jane Lynch's character Diana Reid as a guest star, as she’s so integral to Dr. Spencer Reid's existence and the troubles he's dealt with throughout his life. Still, she’s only appeared in five episodes across several seasons as Spencer Reid's mom, although she’s referenced quite a bit more often. Now that Angel From Hell has been cancelled, maybe we'll see more of Jane Lynch on the long-running procedural.

5. Frankie Muniz

Frankie Muniz popped up in a Season 3 episode of Criminal Minds shortly after his gig on Malcolm in the Middle ended. His character on Criminal Minds was quite a bit different than his comedic gig, as he was forced to watch his girlfriend get raped and killed before being left for dead himself. This caused the character severe PTSD and ended up leading to him suffering a psychotic break and becoming a serial killer himself. The performance was a memorable one, due to the events leading to Muniz's character Jonny’s psychotic break and the reasons for the kills themselves.

4. Ben Savage

Ben Savage’s guest stint on Criminal Minds is memorable not because he played a psychopath, but because his role on the series was unique and different. In the episode, Savage played a younger version of Jason Gideon who was working with a young David Rossi in flashback sequences. We really liked this gig, as it was tied to the episode when Jason Gideon was killed off of the show. Criminal Minds hasn’t always been super fond of flashbacks related to its main characters, but in the case of the Season 10 episode "Nelson’s Sparrow," the device really worked.

3. Aubrey Plaza

It’s hard to believe that 11 seasons into its run, Criminal Minds is still cobbling together intriguing plotlines related to the personal lives of the main characters. In the Season 11 episode "Entropy," Parks and Recreation actress Aubrey Plaza played a hitwoman lured into a setup by Spencer Reid and the team. He posed as her date during the episode. Then, they played an intricate game of cat and mouse. It was all connected to the network that has been hassling Penelope this season, too, which added to the drama. Plaza was reportedly stoked to play a badass murderess and we were pleased as punch to see her take on the role.

2. Michelle Trachtenberg

The 2013 Criminal Minds episode "Zugzwang" was a really personal episode for Dr. Spencer Reid. Spencer had been dating a mystery girl for a good chunk of the season, but she had refused to meet him, living in fear of a mystery stalker. In this particular episode, it was revealed that Michelle Trachtenberg's character was the stalker and her reason for stalking related to some crazy research work she had been a part of while working under Spencer’s girlfriend Maeve. All was not well in the end, and the haunting way the episode ended is still permanently stuck in our heads.

1. Jason Alexander

Although we've been digging his guest stints on The Grinder, Jason Alexander’s character on Criminal Minds is incredibly memorable. He plays a long-haired serial killer who poses as a professor at one of the BAU’s lectures in the Season 4 episode "Masterpiece." He’s obsessed with David Rossi, as Rossi put his brother in jail. Like other killers who crave attention, he admits to killing women and keeping others captive, setting a death trap for them and the members of the BAU. It was some pretty wild stuff, but it gave Rossi a chance to really shine in the face of a foe. Close But No Cigar: Wil Wheaton, Elle Fanning and Keith Carradine. Who were your favorite picks?

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Glee’s Jane Lynch will soon be able to add game show host to her resume. NBC has brought the Emmy-winner on board the network’s new show Hollywood Game Night, the brainchild of Will & Grace’s Sean Hayes that will see A-list Hollywood stars sit down to play games with non-celebrity contestants.

Hollywood Game Night is described as a fun and raucous show that is nothing like the average game show. It will give contestants a chance to win cash prizes for spending some time hanging out with celebrities in a “cocktail party atmosphere” and playing pop culture-based games. The idea comes from Hayes’ own game nights and will include service of hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, and a house band playing as the guests mingle and play games. It doesn’t sound to me like they will even need to hand out the cash prizes to get people signed up for this show - it's a chance to hang out and party with celebrities Hollywood-style, and I know plenty of people who would happily do that for free.

Jane Lynch, who is best known to TV viewers for her role as Sue Sylvester on Glee, is also a Broadway star and has provided voice talents to a number of animated movies, including Wreck-It Ralph. Her live movie credits include The 40-Year-Old Virgin and the recent Sundance entry Afternoon Delight. She’ll be adding her hosting duties on Hollywood Game Night to a TV resume that includes several recurring roles on shows like Two and a Half Men in addition to Glee.

Hollywood Game Night is executive produced by Sean Hayes along with Grimm’s Todd Milliner, Michael Agbabian, and Dwight D. Smith. No word yet on when it will premiere, but it sounds like it will be a lot of fun to watch.

Wreck-It Ralph isn’t a great movie just because of its astoundingly creative story, beautiful animation, and its impressive world-building – it also has some truly top-notch vocal performances. Featuring the likes of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch, the feature is cast perfectly up and down and while their voices are familiar, all of the stars are still able to disappear into their characters and give them independent life. They made most of their chances to pair up in the recording studio, and the result is fun, improvised banter that adds to the film’s humor. They make a great movie even greater, and I was beyond happy to have the chance to speak with all of them.

I recently had the opportunity to attend a press event for Wreck-It Ralph in Los Angeles and below you’ll find my interviews with the movie’s stars. Watch the videos to see Reilly explain unwillingness to be typecast; Silverman discuss how she developed the sweet, nasally voice for the little Vanellope von Schweetz; and Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch talk about the strange experience of watching themselves in an animated film And, of course, I had to ask all of them what it was like being part of the incredible Disney Animation Studios legacy.

Check them out!

John C. Reilly

Sarah Silverman

*Note: Here’s a link to the scene from The Way of The Gun that I was talking about during my interview with Sarah Silverman. Definitely NSFW without a pair of headphones.

Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch

Want to see more from Wreck-It Ralph? Head on over to our Blend Film Database!

She’s in the trailers and she seems to be the only thing about the show anyone outside of your average Gleek talks about, but Jane Lynch won’t be in the Glee movie when its released next week.

The film is actually a concert documentary, which follows the cast around on their Glee Live! tour during 2011. Jane Lynch wasn’t on tour with the cast, but her face was. Her Sue Sylvester character appeared throughout the tour in pre-taped video segments. So since she’s not actually on tour, it might make sense that she’s not in the documentary, if she wasn’t so prominently featured in the trailer. There she admonishes fans “Please, save your money. This thing sucks.” I guess she wasn’t kidding. They even used her as part of the movie’s viral marketing campaign. Take a look:

Lynch’s absence from the Glee: The 3D Concert Movie theatrical release becomes even more baffling when you consider that she will be on the DVD release of the doc, when it hits shelves a few weeks later. Glee creator Ryan Murphy confirms to USA Today, “We're doing another version in a couple of weeks on DVD… Jane will be on that. We'll do it that way.” But why do it that way, where’s the sense in omitting the star of your show from any conceivable Glee presentation?

Here’s my suspicion: They didn’t want to pay her. In order to work her into the movie they’d have had to do it through some sort of specially filmed video segments, using the ones they used on tour probably wouldn’t have fit into the format. To get Jane to film those segments they’d have to pay her to appear in the film, and in her current state of rapidly growing popularity, Jane Lynch doesn’t come cheap anymore. She’s a long way away from the barely known actress who appeared for an uncredited cameo in The Hammer. Throwing her on the DVD, will cost them less and it’ll be easier. Maybe she won’t even appear in the feature there, don’t be surprised if they haven’t just stuffed old footage of her into the bonus features somewhere.

The whole point of releasing a concert documentary like this is to make maximum profit with minimum effort. What, you thought it was art? You thought they did it for the love of their fans? Not likely. These concert documentaries are quick and easy cash. They cost nothing to produce and anything they earn is money in the studio’s pocket. Why give Jane Lynch some of the extra money they’ll earn by tacking “3D” on the title and charging higher ticket prices to fans? It doesn’t fit the minimum effort, minimum investment, concert cash-in business model.

Name five, legitimately funny comedies with a female lead (not a co-lead or an ensemble lead mind you), released in the last five years. Ready? Here we go. Easy A, Baby Mama… Mean Girls? No, Mean Girls was 2004. House Bunny? God no, that was terrible. Date Night? Tina Fey was at best the co-lead opposite Steve Carrell. Morning Glory? I'm not sure that was a comedy. Bad news, I can only think of two.

Partly it's a problem of quantity. Hollywood just doesn't make movies in which women are relied upon to be funny. Partly it's a problem of quality. When funny fem movies do get made, they all too often star Katherine Heigl or Kate Hudson, actresses better at pandering to female shopping stereotypes than actually doing anything legitimately hilarious.

This weekend we break through that glass ceiling with Bridesmaids, featuring a cast that's not just lead by a female, it's almost entirely female. That this comedy exists is perhaps enough of a miracle on its own, but here's miracle number two: It's also really good.

Will people support it? Will women show up to see it? Consider this a state of the film industry test. Box office numbers on Monday morning will tell the tale, but if it does well then maybe, just maybe Hollywood will push a button here or there and clear out some space to let a few other funny women take over on film. When Hollywood's ready for legitimately funny ladies, who should they turn to? Kristen Wiig proves she's up to the task in Bridesmaids. Here's five more funny women who could carry a comedy on their own. Steve Carell, stay home.

Emma Stone

She's the obvious choice for the next, and also first to be funny (that Anna Faris one was horrible), female-lead stoner film whenever someone gets around to making it (and not just because her last name is Stone). Let's call it Harriet & Carol Go To White Castle. Girls love weed and tasty little burgers, almost as much as guys do. Emma's the kind of girl you want to hang out with and crack jokes with on the couch, the kind of chick who might actually be talked into mooning the line outside a movie theater as you drive past in your Chevy Nova, just for the hell of it (though with far less disgusting results than those achieved by Artie Lange in Dirty Work). She's got the timing, the charm, those slightly off-kilter good looks, and the girl version of Seth Rogen's voice. She's already proven it, with Easy A, one of the only worthwhile, female led comedies released in recent memory. She's good in an ensemble too, in Zombieland she even managed to upstage ravening zombies (though not the one that was Bill Murray). Putting Emma in one of those corset dramas or turning her into the victim du jour of the next Jason movie would be a huge waste of her talent.

Rachel McAdams

While she's recently become better known for sappy, romantic dramas like The Notebook, Rachel McAdams got her start being funny. Really funny. In fact the first time anyone really noticed her, it was in The Hot Chick, where she was asked to behave as though she'd been possessed by Rob Schneider. She did better. She played a funny version of Rob Schneider. Ok, maybe being funnier than Rob Schneider isn't exactly a feat of comedic kung fu (the days of the Sensitive Naked Man are long gone), but she went on to be pretty much the best thing about Mean Girls. And what about Wedding Crashers, where Rachel held her own opposite Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn? Last year she was even pretty good playing comedic footsie with Harrison Ford in the single girl with a career dramedy Morning Glory. What Rachel McAdams needs is to throw herself wholeheartedly into a balls to the wall funny movie, before she's permanently typecast as the plucky love interest who gets overshadowed by iconic male leads in movies like Sherlock Holmes. She's too good to be stuck playing that girl, opposite Eric Bana.

Jane Lynch

Jane Lynch has proven over and over again, for more than a decade now, that any time she's in anything she makes it not just better, but funnier. On film she's been stuck in smaller supporting roles where she absolutely kills, and now she's doing it on television on Glee. But if you don't believe she can carry a movie comedy then just pick up a copy of The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Role Models, The Hammer, or any of the other dozen or so movies she's appeared in and made better over the past decade. Even in the worst ones, she hits it out of the park every single time. She goes for the surreal, like a female Will Ferrell, using her slightly strange appearance and lanky physique to her advantage in physical moments, and her quick witted tongue in all the talky ones. Unlike most of the other people on this list, she doesn't even need structure, maybe not even a script. Just point her at the camera and let her go. That's why she's done so well with the Apatow crowd, she fits right in to their improve style by swinging and hitting and knocking the jokes down. Jane Lynch is too funny to remain a supporting character. Give her a movie right now.

Anne Hathaway

Here's the great thing about Anne Hathaway: She's up for anything. The actress who first made her way in Hollywood by doing princess movies for little girls has since thrown herself wholeheartedly into acting, by doing just about anything required by the role. There's no part too R-rated, no sex scene too heavy, no subject too taboo, no amount of full-frontal nudity which can dissuade her from giving herself to a role. That's a huge plus in comedy, particularly raunch comedy, where you could find yourself attending a donkey show one minute, only to be covered in feces the next. She's got the timing too. She held her own opposite Steve Carell in Get Smart, and in Devil Wears Prada even when she's not being funny Anne has a naturally awkward sort of goofy charm. That should serve her well whether she's selling sex panther as a legitimate method of attracting members of the opposite sex or just hanging out in New York tripping over her own two feet.

Elizabeth Banks

Like Anne Hathaway, Elizabeth Banks is a gamer, and pretty much up for anything. But unlike Hathaway she's got a proven gift for improv. Her comedy cuts like a knife, whether she's half-naked in a bathtub legs splayed akimbo in 40 Year-Old Virgin, or hanging out with Kim Jong Il in a series of 30 Rock Skype calls. She uses her stunning good looks like a weapon, to hypnotize her audience into submission before stunning them into laughter with a sarcastic expression or over the top exclamation. She's done drama too, enough to prove she's a pretty fine actor, but Keira Knightley can play the next nurse who shows up in a war movie. We need Elizabeth Banks out there as the star of the first ever all girl golf comedy, or as a one-legged competitive swimmer in the new Will Ferrell financed Olympic high-diving movie. Or better yet, give her a comedy no man could ever do. Isn't it about time someone made a stripper comedy? Taking your clothes off for money is, in its own way, inherently hilarious. Anything else is a waste of her time.

Hey, where's Tina Fey? Behind the scenes, where she's at her best. Tina Fey's fine on 30 Rock but when asked to carry the load in Baby Mama audiences and critics responded with a ho-hum. Tina's brilliantly funny but I've always thought of her as a much better writer than a performer. It's thanks to her writing that we have Mean Girls, and I'd rather have her behind the scenes at a typewriter pounding out the genius comedy scripts these other female performers will need, if women are ever to get a real shot at being funny on screen.

Since its return a few weeks ago, Glee has gone out of its way to showcase Sue Sylvester (the peerless Jane Lynch) and her never-ending barrage of one liners, cut downs and snarky remarks. She’s made for an entertaining couple of hours. But her scene stealing rants have set back a number of the other storylines. Last week we delved into Kurt and Finn’s struggles after losing parents, and to a degree Mercedes struggling with weight. Unfortunately, these were fluffy arcs given side glances in terms of depth.

Sue got some comeuppance tonight when her Olivia Newton John impersonation hit the web courtesy of Kurt stealing it from her office. This little storyline led to a lot more Sue, but with the twist of her being the butt of the joke rather than its originator. The problem with a situation like this is it just lends itself to the idea that Sue is the star of the show rather than the glee kids. This might be the writers’ intent, but her character started as nothing more than a comedic foil in a show about teen singers. Now Glee has slowly morphed into a production about a maniacal cheerleading coach lowering herself to fight with high school choral kids.

She’s always played both sides against the middle to achieve her own gains, but tonight it was more about inventing a problem for Sue to solve that allowed her to cut down everyone in her path. This included Emma busting up Will’s perceived promiscuity (even if she was trying to be a nicer version of herself). It also allowed for more chances to put Sue in the heart of the show’s music (like the Madonna video) with her appearance in “Physical.” I just think things like this detract from what made the show so good to begin with.

The rest of tonight’s “Bad Reputation,” had a serial crime show-ish (I had this labeled as Law and Order-ish until Kurt actually said it) side story with the Glee Club members trying to track down the creator of the GList (a chart of the members’ levels of depravity) and each Glee kid attempting to vault up the list by performing new sinful school acts (cheating on boyfriends, singing in the library). I wasn’t exactly sure of the point of this story, and besides getting all the guys to hate Rachel (again) it wasn’t really about anything (almost).

I was a little disappointed that I didn’t identify Quinn as the GList creator, but not devastated because this ended up being the most redeeming aspect of the whole episode. High school can seem all-consuming at the time, but in the end, it means very little. This was a great message lost in an otherwise forgettable episode of Glee.

Some other thoughts:

- I realized I enjoy two types of Glee performances: the huge power ballad types that are totally over the top like “Don’t Stop Believin” and the trimmed down, infectious ones like tonight’s “Ice, Ice Baby.”

- Puck had the perfect line for Rachel when he claimed Jesse didn’t understand Jewish people.

- We need more Jesse St. James. That kid is comic gold and is being severely under-utilized.

- Nice reimagining of “Run Joey Run,” with a hilarious triple twist where Rachel screwed over all the guys in her life (and added Finn at the end)

- I can’t hear “Total Eclipse of the Heart” without thinking of the wedding scene in Old School

For all the Gleeks out there, wait no more. Your favorite group of teeny-bopping, singing and dancing, high school students are back. It’s been a long time so I hope we can get into the sing of things.

I know I saved Glee Club and I guess chicks dig me, but I guess if I’m being honest, it’s more like I’m not over her.” - Finn

I’d have loved to see a multi-episode arc with Rachel acting the over-bearing, annoying girlfriend. Her turn as Finn’s wannabe love interest would be just the kind of thing that’d have Rachel turn into an in-his-face, daily torture session for the young hunk. Rachel is the type of girl who would go so far overboard as a girlfriend that you’d have to throw her a flotation device just to get her back.

Rachel and Finn’s relationship, along with Will and Emma, is bound to be one of those ongoing "will they, won’t they?" questions that’s probably already answered itself (they will). But the writers need to keep the question out there until at least the end of the season. What else would we have to cheer about?

I wouldn’t bury any hatchets unless it’s a clear shot to your groin. – Sue

Sue Sylvester is back in full force as the harbinger of doom and gloom in the hallways of McKinley High. She plays a little roofie-induced, sexual blackmail with the principal to get her job back, sets the two dunce cheerleaders out there to seduce Finn with their four combined brain cells, cuts the pony tail off a random student so as not to further confuse his gender, and antagonizes Will with threats to keep Glee Club out of the auditorium. Basically, she was just classic Sue.

Sue continues to be a true devil in a track suit and Jane Lynch hasn’t missed a comedic step. While every character in Glee adds a little flair or personality to the show, no one comes anywhere close to the rancor-filled humor that Sue brings. It’s absolutely perfect.

I haven’t been intimate with anyone in a long time...like ever – Emma P.

Emma’s virginity is a nice touch to the show considering the relative promiscuity of the other characters on the show (abstinence clubs aside). She is just the kind of soft spoken, good natured, sheepish beauty who’d be wary of getting her heart broken at every turn. It’s also completely believable considering she wouldn’t go out of her way to pursue a guy she liked, a la Will. Of course Will’s been married, but the dysfunctionality of that relationship would have prompted even the most mildly interested woman to speak up against the wrath of Terri Schuester.

What made the admission somewhat damaging (or at least sad) was Will’s insta-temptation at the hands of a self confident and demanding, quite Terri-like coach of Vocal Adrenaline. He did an admirable job of cutting it off before going anywhere, but it highlights the idea that he and Emma are a still a ways away from happily ever after.

“We should do this more often,” – Jessie St. James from Vocal Adrenaline

I instantly loved this character. Whether it was highlighting his college of choice (The University of California- Los Angeles, it’s in Los Angeles) or self praising his choice to give impromptu concerts to the homeless, he is the kind of guy Glee needed in a big way. A high schooler, so full of himself, that in real life I doubt he’d get that he was the butt of his own bragging. He’s also perfect as the kind of guy Rachel would fall head over heels in love with. What I liked about her infatuation with Jessie was it came right after her complaint to Finn that he only cared about his image. I mean what the hell does Jessie care about if not Jessie?

The whole Jessie arc has major legs since he’s working Rachel for motives quasi, but not completely unknown. I assume Vocal Adrenaline wants to comprise Glee’s most potent weapon in Rachel, but after watching their practice performance, would it really matter? Glee is light years behind those superstars.

Glee came back strong tonight and began developing a few nice arcs away from the Will-Terri debacle and Quinn-Finn-Rachel love triangle. It’s a show still hitting its stride and getting better with each episode.