While perhaps not every guest star who appeared on “30 Rock” made comedy gold, I find myself having to dig deep through all the treats to find a dud. Some guest stars made a one-off appearance on the NBC sitcom, and some did multiple episode arcs while others would appear at least once or twice a season.

It seemed like the writers found the perfect characters and wrote to each guest star’s particular strengths. They (mostly) managed to fit seamlessly into Liz Lemon’s personal universe populated by her rag-tag group of co-workers…whom she often had to treat as children.

So, while you may never see another new episode of “30 Rock” you can always look back and remember the good times. Or watch reruns. Heck, according to direct.tv you could even stream them from your DVR to your smartphone or tablet if you’re a DirecTV subscriber. Or log on to NBC.com or even Hulu.com.

Jon Hamm as Dr. Drew Baird

Who wouldn’t want to try to join Jon Hamm in the Bubble? Between Hamm’s stints on “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock,” he proved his versatility as an actor. Add “comedic” as a prefix to “actor,” forevermore. Don Draper, took temporary steps to the side, because Dr. Drew Baird brought the laughs. Thankfully, just because Liz Lemon couldn’t handle the pediatrician’s overwhelming handsomeness–and its subtly manipulative effects on everyone around him–didn’t mean we wouldn’t be treated to repeat appearances from Hamm; handless as he eventually became.

Will Arnett as Devon Banks

Arnett served as the perfect nemesis for Jack Donaghy. Arnett’s portrayal of Jack Donaghy’s formidable foe, whose equally deep voice really should have resulted in a low talker contest between the two moguls, was always fun with his plays for power, as well as his weakness for the ever-naive Kenneth Parcell. With plenty of smarmy charm, it was always a whiplash-inducing tennis match watching him and Donaghy make their respective plays for dominance.

Elaine Strich as Colleen Donaghy

Elaine Strich was perfectly cast as Jack Donaghy’s tough mom who carried general disdain for Jackie boy’s love interests, but she did have as soft a spot in her hard-coated heart as possible for Liz Lemon. Her relative affection didn’t prevent her from giving Liz as tough a time as she gave her son. From Jack backing up and hitting her, seeing only her tights-clad legs fly in the air, to her fantastic funeral, Strich was a classy and indispensable, albeit entirely shrewish, addition to the list of recurring guest stars.

Alan Alda as Milton Greene

Cast as Jack Donaghy’s deeply ironic biological father, Alan Alda is always a good idea. More a self-parody role for Alda since Milton Greene is a fairly accurate portrayal of the “MASH” actor himself. The added bonus of Alan Alda’s appearance was the cavalcade of guest stars his character’s need for a kidney inspired. “Kidney Now” brought together an impressive list that included Sheryl Crowe, the Beastie Boys (Ad Rock and Mike D), Mary J. Blige, Steve Earle, Wyclef Jean and so many other musical artists and actors.

The Honorable Mentions

Maybe this is a cheat, but here are a few more guest stars who deserve a mention. Chris Parnell‘s Dr. Leo Spacemen was always a creepy treat.

Brian Williams, the (real life) NBC Evening News anchor, was another surprise with his dry humor and good sportsmanship.

Guest post written by Scott. Cover photo from Flickr user Daniel P. Fleming.

Christmas has come early! Sure, we have known for a while that Netflix swooped in (after a very long wait for fans who never gave up on the show) and revived Arrested Development for a 10 episode forth season. But now we have word that the season will be expanding by as many as five additional episodes.

Deadline Hollywood broke the news, saying that production has paused as writer/creator Mitch Hurwitz is working on the adapting the original season idea for the additional episodes. Originally, the plan was that each episode would focus on a different member of the Bluth family to catch audiences up with them in time for a big screen version of the show. By the time the series began shooting word was leaked that Hurwitz abandoned the idea of the episodes focusing on single characters and that the new season would match the format of the original series.

All of the episodes are expected to be released in the same day come Spring. All of the main players are back, including Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, David Cross, Will Arnett, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Michael Cera, and Ron Howard as the Narrator.  Announced guest stars include Mad Men’s John Slattery, along with other newcomers to the series Isla Fisher and Terry Crews, and returning guest stars Mae Whitman, Scott Baio, Henry Winkler, Judy Greer, and Liza Minnelli.

Do you have Netflix and are excited for the new season of Arrested Development? Will you be getting Netflix just for the new season?

The 4th, previously unknown, Mortal Kombat DLC character has been revealed and it is a pretty interesting choice, non other than horror icon Freddy Krueger. Yeah, I’m not kidding here, the master of nightmares is now a playable character in Mortal Kombat. He joins previously released DLC characters Rain, Kenshi, and Skarlet, all of which have appeared in past Mortal Kombat games in some form or another. Krueger has gotten ready for a kombat by adding a second glove with finger knives. I just hope he has the power to summon a giant snake demon to devour your opponents or a phone to lick them through. Freddy will set you back $4.99 when he is released on August 9th.

It looks like the long awaited Dumb & Dumber sequel (we don’t count the horrid prequel) might happen afterall. A few weeks ago it looked like it was dead in the water after Jim Carrey walked away from the project, but that might not be so according to Carrey’s co-star from the original, Jeff Daniels. Daniels spoke during the TCA panel for his HBO show, The Newsroom, saying “Jim wants to do it. I want to do it. The Farrelly’s want to do it… The Farrellys wanted more work done on it so they got working on it and I think last week they decided to push the shooting of it to next year, possibly because I wasn’t going to move [shooting for] The Newsroom.” The Farrelly brothers have been very hit of miss the past few years, so I’m totally cool with them taking the time to do this project right.

America’s Got “Drama”? Reality competition judge Sharon Osbourne has abruptly quit NBC’s America’s Got Talent and has accused NBC of discrimination against her son Jack and firing him from the upcoming reality series Stars Earn Stripes due to him revealing he has MS. The NBC chairman, Robert Greenblatt, has fired back, saying “Although we did not ask Jack to participate in the competition, we were able to offer him two substantial alternative roles on the show, both of which he declined. This network does not discriminate on any basis.” He also said that “Stars Earn Stripes that requires dangerous water stunts, strenuous physical activity and uses live ammunition- we required all potential participants to undergo medical vetting to ensure that they could safely participate.” That sounds pretty reasonable and I think Sharon might just be overreacting. Without America’s Got Talent, what reality series will she scurry off to next?

Today is the magic day. After years of rumors and a never fading hope from fans, Arrested Development is back in production today! The whole cast, including Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, Portia de Rossi, David Cross, Jessica Walter, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat and Tony Hale, are all expected to return along with the “voice” of the series, Ron Howard. Mitch Hurwitz will once again be providing the words for the Bluth family. All 10 new episodes will be released only on Netflix at some point in 2013 and I can not wait. A big screen Bluth adventure is expected to follow the new season.

The fall television season is in full swing and we have lots of casting news and the axe has fallen on the first new shows of the season. Read on…

Lets start with the breakout hit of the season, the Zooey Deschanel sitcom New Girl, after an awkward actor swap between the pilot and second episode — Lamorne Morris took over for Damon Wayans Jr who appeared in the pilot, but then his low rated series Happy Endings was surprisingly renewed which didn’t let him continue with New Girl. Not only has the series been picked up for a full season, but they just scored an awesome guest star, Zooey look-a-like Lizzy Caplan, who will be a love interest for Nick (Jake Johnson). She’ll be around for multiple episodes.

When 30 Rock returns (at some point midseason?) look for X-Men‘s Cyclops James Marsden to be appearing in at least one episode if not more. This might be the last season of the NBC comedy, with Alec Baldwin thinking about bowing out after the new season. Other announced guests for the new season include Denise Richards and Will Arnett (who might be pulling triple duty between this, his new series Up All Night, and the rumored return of Arrested Development in mini-series format).

NBC, who canceled the Playboy Club earlier, has now pulled the plug on their new comedy Free Agents, which starred Hank Azaria, Kathryn Hanh, and featured Buffy alum Anthony Head. Surprisingly the network ordered a full season for their struggling new comedy Whitney. With things not looking that promising with their new crop of shows, maybe NBC will go back on calling this season of Chuck its last? Maybe they will throw us fans a bone with a full season order (instead of just 13 episodes)? We can hope, can’t we?

Speaking about Chuck, if the casting of Mark Hamill and Carrie Anne-Moss in guest spots wasn’t cool enough, lets add comic book legend Stan Lee to the mix along with Community funny man Danny Pudi and White Collar‘s Tim DeKay. The new season begins in three weeks with a Halloween-themed episode.

It seems like every couple years we get an all new animated Spider-Man series. I grew up (and was introduced to the webslinger with Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and before I was born there was the very cheesy but loveable Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. In the years since Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man movie we’ve had a decent short lived CG animated series from MTV and The Spectacular Spider-Man. which was geared towards very young children. Now we’ll be getting an adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis’ long running Ultimate Spider-Man series for Disney XD.

Set in high school, the series was a fresh (and updated for the times) look at Spider-Man’s origin and early years. Villains were reintroduced, sometimes with a twist (Spider-Man’s father helped create Venom) and things were a lot more straight forward (Bendis did not have to worry about decades of continuity).  I’m actually surprised that the series hasn’t been brought to the small screen yet, and I think it is ripe for the screen. I skipped Spectacular, but I might just give this series a chance.

The official synopsis:

This animated series from Marvel follows Peter Parker who, as the storyline begins, has been Spider-Man for just one year. He’s fought villains, saved lives, but still has much to learn about being a super-hero. Now, Nick Fury gives Peter the chance to go to the next level — to train to be a real super-hero and become The Ultimate Spider-Man. But before he can do that, Peter will have to learn how to work with a team of fellow teenage super-heroes.

The series will be paired with The Mighty Avengers for a Marvel Comics hour of animated shows!

This past week, Ricky Gervais let it slip that he will be returning to The Office in the season’s final episode, reprising his role of David Brent from the original UK series. He appeared earlier this season in a blink and you’d miss it encounter with Steve Carell’s Michael Scott.  Also guest starring in the hour long season finale is Arrested Development‘s Will Arnett, who Gervais has spoken about wanting to get to fill Carell’s large shoes in the past. Could Arnett be joining the show full time for its 8th season? Or could they be distracting us with Arnett and are really just slipping Gervais into the role he knows so well? We will not know for sure until the end of the season. In the meantime we should just enjoy Carell’s final episodes (the last of which will be in the final week of April).

TV News Blurbs…

TNT has renewed Southland for ten more episodes. Ben McKenzie, Shawn Hatosy and Regina King are all returning for the show’s forth season. The network has also ordered ten episodes of a new crime drama, Perception, which stars Eric McCormack and Rachael Leigh Cook. In the new series, McCormack is an eccentric neuroscientist who uses his unique skills to help the FBI solve crimes.

NBC has finally announced the premiere of The Paul Reiser Show. The new show from the Mad About You star focuses on Reiser as a fictional version of himself as he struggles with life after having a successful TV series and tries to get along with a new group of “friends” – the parents of his kids and his wife’s friend’s husbands. The show shot their pilot in a park that is walking distance to my home, so I’m really interested to see how they used the location and I love supporting stuff that shoots nearby (shout out to Parks and Rec also!)

Phew, all of that writing (and news reporting) really makes me want to take a break. I think it is time that I take a vacation to a nice holiday park for the weekend. Don’t you need a break too?

Dreamworks Animation have released an all new trailer for Monsters vs Aliens, an upcoming 3D animated flick from Rob Letterman (Shark Tale) and Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2).

After aliens invade America (“the only country that UFOs ever seem to land in”, heh), the President is forced to enlist monsters that the military has secretly been rounding up to save the planet. Included in the mix of monsters are a 49 foot 11 inch tall woman, “the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; the macho half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus”.

Continue reading for more details and the new trailer!

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