Three of my favorite actors are still on TV. I use the word still because the fantastic and witty show they were on until last spring was canceled. But they have such staying power and pull with young audiences that they've been snatched up by prime-time television shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC. A genius move on all their parts.
Let's start with Kirsten Bell. She used to be Veronica Mars, the sneaky, yet highly evolved one-woman investigation unit on the CW, formerly known as the WB. Although I dearly miss watching Veronica and her savvy intelligence (probably beyond her character's young years), I await my future purchase of the series DVD collection. She's been hired on not one, but two hit shows. Her voice is used as the narrator for Gossip Girl, the newest guilty pleasure, currently airing on the CW. But she's also the new electric mystery on Heroes - the super smash hit on NBC. She swaggers and spits one liners for breakfast, so manning up the not-as-great-as-Veronica writing should be a piece of cake. And dare I say, it gets her out to a wider audience, which means she could be a bigger household name than Hayden Panetierre? I do dare to say that, since who can resist a cute blond cheerleader who can cut off her toes without tears....
Moving on... Jason Dohring. The former ex-boyfriend of Veronica Mars, who was always toying with the idea of good guy/bad guy in the same body, can now be seen on CBS. Yes, Logan Eckels was the best love him/hate him character on VM, but I personally always liked him when he was making Veronica cry. He's just so much better as a heartbreaker, wouldn't you agree? Well... he takes heartbreaker to new heights on Moonlight. Moonlight is all about a vampire detective, who tries to keep his secret from others, but ends up telling the one woman he might fall in love with in the end. Good guy stuck with a bad eating disorder. Bummer. But Jason? He's no do-gooder! He lives a fabulous and quiet life in Los Angeles, eating up all the honeys in high heels and Gucci. He's the detective's right hand man when things go south and somebody needs a new identity. Yummy takes on a whole new meaning...
Which leaves us with... CHRIS LOWELL! Swoon. We all died and went to heaven when he showed up on that Private Practice teaser in the spring, wearing nothing but surf shorts and waxing his board in front of all the lady doctors. The long camera pan down his lean, rippled torso? .... Sorry, I was daydreaming that I was his surfboard. I'm back. The oh-so-lovable Piz, Veronica's current boyfriend as the show ended, was just what all the music nerdettes in America wanted. Add to the fact that he was so home-grown boyish cute (please, that smile?) and VM was much the wiser for employing him. As is ABC! Dell, the receptionist slash midwife student, is the not-as-quirky glue that keeps the L.A. version of Grey's Anatomy together. The most recent episode (I watch it mainly for Chris, and possibly Taye Diggs too) had Dell ready for his first pap smear. And what kind of pap smear would Dell want? A happy pap! And thank you to the writers for having one of his happy paps be a young, cute twenty-something, who really only wanted to take Dell home with her... It wouldn't have been real without that.
So, here's to the "Private Practice" of "Heroes" in the "Moonlight"!
And here's to the lucky stars of what used to be the best show on television:
Kristen Bell
Jason Dohring
Chris Lowell
I wish you all the best on your current shows! Of course... You don't exactly need it because you are the best part of your current shows. If something happens to your current show (ratings suck, stars leave, plot thickens without you), don't blame yourselves. You've got amazing agents and managers and wonderfully rising stars in Hollywood!
Now, just don't let my lips stick to your ass for too long...