CBS Cancels 'CSI: Miami,' 'Rob' & 'NYC 22,' Renews 'CSI:NY'
'Community' Renewed For Season 4 On NBC
The What the *#@#%! Were They Thinking? Award: Call for considerations
by Joel Keller, posted May 22nd 2008 1:23PM
If you ever want to get a good idea about how a TV series comes into being, see the movie The TV Set, which stars David Duchovny as a schlumpy writer whose autobiographical series gets picked up by a network. One of the most telling scenes is where Duchovny presents an over-the-top ham that he thinks is so bad that he knows the network will reject him in favor of the more subtle actor he wants to play the lead. Unfortunately, the ham makes the network execs laugh and the subtle guy comes off as weird. Guess who the network picked to star in the show?The reason why I mention this is that is but one of many reasons why even starring roles in television series get severely miscast. The most widely-cited case this year was Michelle Ryan on Bionic Woman; she was so busy trying to squelch her British accent that she came off as charmless and boring. But there have been other casting boners during the 2007-08 season, such as the otherwise-great Parker Posey choking on Amy Sherman-Palladino's words in Jezebel James. Also remember that not a lot of people liked the appearance of Britney Spears on How I Met Your Mother. And, heck, the Law & Order family must have a casting mistake in there somewhere, after all, they did unleash the horrible Elizabeth Rhöm on an unsuspecting public.
What are your choices for the season's most severe miscasting? Let me know in the comments.
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