Dr. Greene Will Be There To Pronounce "ER"

Bryan Christian — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:28:00 GMT

Anthony Edwards is coming back to guest on the final season of ER as Mark Greene, the bespectacled surgeon who fell prey to a brain tumor back in 1990-something, just around the time we quit admitting we'd still watch ER at all. Before you say "Wha?????" too loudly, he will not be rising from his dusty grave to feed on the brains of John Stamos or anything. (If only!) He'll be showing up in flashbacks depicting him and cast newcomer Angela Bassett knowing each other back in the day, which sounds sort of thankless to us unless they have a torrid affair or, you know, build a time machine to save Kellie Martin from getting stabbed in the operating room.

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Angela Bassett on "ER": Best News We've Heard All Day

"30 Rock" Crossing Way Too Far Into Stunt Casting With Oprah, "Gossip Girl" Appearances

Bryan Christian — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:29:00 GMT

So, 30 Rock guys. 30 Rock. Look, we could try and make it seem like we love everything they do, but the fact is, no, there are too many guest shots on that show. And now it's getting worse.

Jennifer Aniston, Gossip Girls Blake Lively and Leighton Meester, and Oprah Goddamn Winfrey are the latest nobodies to get a slot on the show that Alec Baldwin recently called NBC's "red-headed stepchild." (Yeaaahhh... Maybe he's got a different definition of that term than we do?) There was even a story last year about Spitzer scandal hooker Ashley Dupre showing up. (Though our guess: the hangtime's been way too long for those jokes if she's playing herself...)

And, you know, granted, they are dominating the Emmys in the Guest Appearance in a Comedy category, but we'd like to point out that the best performances on 30 Rock have rarely come from the big, high profile stars. We'd take lo-pro guests like Tim Conway, Paul Reubens, or Will Arnett any day over David Schwimmer, Al Gore, or Steve Buscemi, each of whom came with a big cache and kind of blew. As far as we can tell, the only big star guest stars to really pull it off have been stage vets: Matthew Broderick, Elaine Stritch, and Nathan Lane. We don't remember seeing Broadway on Serena and Blair's resume, you?

EW.com says it best:

There is a dangerous amount of stunt casting going on with this show. Does it really want to be the new "Will & Grace"?

We sure don't want it to!

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The Remote Island : guest stars

Dr. Greene Will Be There To Pronounce "ER"

"30 Rock" Crossing Way Too Far Into Stunt Casting With Oprah, "Gossip Girl" Appearances