Just this past week, HBO announced the addition of Gretchen Mol to the cast of its upcoming series 'Boardwalk Empire,' starring Steve Buscemi as Atlantic City gangster Nucky Thompson. With a string of respectable supporting roles, Mol's made a career out of not-quite making it, starting with her famous 1998 'Vanity Fair' cover that asked the entirely premature question: "Is Gretchen Mol Hollywood's New It Girl?"

But though Mol didn't exactly fade into obscurity (she earned kudos for her eye-opening turn in the indie 'The Notorious Bettie Page' and co-starred in ABC's short-lived 'Life on Mars'), neither did she become the huge success the industry predicted she would be. What happened? Was it luck, timing, bad choices or simply a case of too much hype? Whatever that case, Mol's casting got us thinking about other "Almost It" girls that Hollywood left behind about as quickly as it tried to make them mega-stars.

Everybody's talking about CBS's vampire private investigator show Moonlight. Moonlight's fans are sending garlic to producers and conducting blood drives in an attempt to force executives to knock the show off the bubble and into a second season. AOL's Kelly Woo had a chance to interview Alex O'Loughlin and Jasoh Dohring (Mick and Josef) at New York Comic Con recently, and both stars reported being overwhelmed (in a good way) with fans' dedication to the show. Dohring reported that he's sign up to give blood himself, because it's such an important thing to do anyway.

I got a chance to talk to Jason Dohring, who plays 400+-year-old vampire Josef on the show, last night when he appeared on Shaun O'Mac's internet radio show on BlogTalkRadio (Bob Sassone from TV Squad appears on the show each Wednesday evening to talk TV, and Shaun is a great host-- you should definitely check out the show!).

(S01E08) "Me casa, su casa. That's Spanish for, 'Keep her out of my stuff!'"-- Mick St. John

Despite the fact that the future of Moonlight is uncertain right now (just like every other show on television at the moment, except reality shows), I am amazed by the huge following the show has garnered so quickly! I continue to love how the show builds on itself, episode by episode. Each episode can not only stand alone, but also contributes to the threads that are weaving themselves through the show's mythology and overarching storyline: The love story of Mick and Beth.

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(S01E07) "It's like one of those true stories that sounds more like fiction."-- Morgan Vincent

This was the best episode of Moonlight yet! Excellent. Everything about it was fantastic: It had a gripping storyline, well written, well performed. It was great! Of course, there were a couple of teeny inconsistencies, and I have to mention those, but in this case, think of it as the imperfections that make a Persian rug so exquisite.

First and foremost, it was nice to see Jason Dohring get more to do in this episode. His snarling and showing his teeth was exactly what we needed to see in a vampire who was four years old in 1603. His reluctance to jump to the balcony at Hank Mottola's house was odd, considering he is the one who is always telling Mick to embrace who he is. But I loved how he said, "Ugh," and then flew up beside Mick.

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(S01E06) "Vampires can't really be trusted with pets."--Mick St. John

I'll go ahead and admit it: I like it, in episodic dramas, when subtleties of the plot further a developing theme or subplot. Bear with me here: Moonlight isn't a soap opera, because the storyline isn't continued every week. There are definite cases with beginnings and endings. However, we all know by now that at its heart, Moonlight masquerades or moonlights (ba-dum bum!) as the burgeoning love story between vampire Mick St. John and human Beth Turner. In the backdrop. we also learn more and more about vampirism and its culture. So, I appreciate when the investigation, in its fashion, furthers the love story every week, and this week did not disappoint me.

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(S01E04) "You're a delicate flower, Mick St. John." - Beth

Since Jen is on a trip, I'm taking over reviewing duties this week for Moonlight. Sorry for the delay in posting the review. My phone company thought it would be funny to switch my phone number with someone else's on Friday night. This meant no Internet access until the phone company took care of the problem on Sunday morning! Yikes!

As Jen said two weeks ago, even if a lot of people don't like this series, it seems that I too have a higher tolerance for it and I enjoy vampire smut. Plus, the shows I tape on Friday nights and watch over the weekend are all about me not having to think too much while being entertained (the other show on my Friday watch list is Las Vegas). Moonlight falls right into that category.

Is there anyone left from the original cast of the new CBS show Moonlight?

The latest cast member to leave: Amber Valletta. She plays Coraline, one of the vampires on the show. Or should I say "played." She has been replaced by Shannyn Sossamon. This comes after news that lead actress Shannon Lucio had left (replaced by Sophia Myles), followed by Rade Serbedzija (replaced by Jason Dohring, from Veronica Mars). Lead actor Alex O'Loughlin is staying with the show though, and this supposedly completes the reshuffling.