Guest Stars

Ever since scripted television series have existed they have carried with them a certain stigma: TV is the lesser actor's Hollywood.  Many an actor would make the leap from the small screen to the big screen, but hardly ever did movie stars "belittle" themselves by doing the opposite.  Well, folks, I have news for you.  TV is the new Hollywood and actors (such as Lena Olin, pictured above) are practically flocking to guest star on - or sometimes even headline - primetime series.

It is no wonder why.  NOW Magazine writes: "Bored with movies? No wonder. TV shows like Lost, The Office and Mad Men offer way more compelling narratives. Have you noticed how unsophisticated most movies are these days? How the editing of romantic comedies just cuts mechanically from one mid-shot to the next, or how dramas are now built on the most basic of story concepts? There’s a reason for that. All the sophistication is on television. The last decade has seen spectacular advancement in long-form small-screen storytelling."

Hollywood's creativity is struggling and dragging the opportunity for diverse, interesting characters down with it.  Scripted television series, on the other hand, are more popular than ever.  According to Entertainment Weekly, this season alone gained an impressive number of viewers for the season finales of Grey's Anatomy (15.03 million), CSI (14.2), The Mentalist (15), and the series finale of Lost (13.5). With whole seasons to tell stories, scripted series are allowed rich, emotional developments that films cannot always achieve in a two-hour running time.

Five time Oscar Nominee Glenn Close has headlined (and garnered two Emmys for) FX's Damages for three seasons after a  celebrated stint on the same network's The Shield.  Oscar winner Anna Paquin now stars in HBO's True Blood.  Jason Segel (I Love You Man) finds time to balance a popular film career with his duties as a weekly regular on How I Met Your Mother, while Jane Lynch, known for her Emmy nominated turn as deliciously wicked cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester on Glee, has done the same, appearing in such recent hits as Role Models and Julie & Julia.

The 2001-2006 spy series Alias managed to draw an undeniably impressive guest roster including Sir Roger Moore, Quentin Tarantino, Terry O'Quinn, David Carradine, Ethan Hawke, Djimon Hounsou, Richard Lewis, Christian Slater, Danny Trejo, Vivica A. Fox, Isabella Rossellini, Ricky Gervais, Joel Grey, and Michael McKean.  These talented actors stem from a variety of backgrounds ranging from theatre to television to film.  Most notably perhaps, Oscar nominated actress Lena Olin joined the Alias cast as a regular during its second season.  As Jennifer Garner's duplicitous on-screen mother, she earned critical acclaim and an Emmy nomination.

The line between movie and television star is blurring.  Some series even manage, like Alias, to draw the best of both worlds and beyond, proving that television and Hollywood can co-exist peacefully and that important, praiseworthy, performances are not limited to the big screen.

Above image: Lena Olin as Irina Derevko on Alias;
Credit: Alias-Media.com.  Click here for source.

Adaptation

A commonly occurring theme in the television field, as well as the arts world in general, is that of adaptation.  We live in an age of sequels, song covers, spin-offs, and remakes that are often met with disdain and heavy criticism.  Leave it to Glee, however, to accomplish the unthinkable.  The hybrid musical-drama-comedy series has taken a song that I despise (Christina Aguilera's Beautiful) and re-imagined it, transforming it from an annoyingly overplayed pop ballad into an emotional anthem that is incredibly honest, outstandingly performed by actress Amber Riley (eat your heart out Aguilera), and extremely poignant.

Adaptations can be bad.  I mean, really bad.  That being said, there is something to be said about the artistry in taking one aspect of the industry (in Glee's case a song) and gift-wrapping it for a new audience.  Sometimes, as Glee has now proven, the adaptation might even be - dare I say it - better.

Behind the scenes video of Beautiful, courtesy of Hulu.com

To hear Amber Riley's moving rendition of Beautiful, click here.

Above image: Amber Riley in a Glee promotional image; 
Credit: Flickr Creative Commons.  Click here for source.