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Actress and singer Rita Moreno, who has won every major entertainment award in the industry, is returning to television as the mother of Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) on Law and Order: Criminal Intent. I fondly remember Moreno from The Electric Company, but recently she's appeared on television in guest roles on other Law and Order series SVU and Trial By Jury, and also played Sister Peter Marie on the HBO series Oz. No word on whether her role will involve a lot of singing and dancing and teaching the detectives on the series about words and spelling, though if any writers for the series are reading this, feel free to use that suggestion.

According to David Boreanaz's Bones blog, actor David Duchovny will be directing an upcoming episode of Bones. The crew had just finished taping the episode "Aliens in a Spaceship," and Boreanaz writes that Duchovny will be directing the "next episode" which is listed as "The Headless Witch in the Woods," an episode that currently has no specific airdate at the moment. Boreanz also writes that Duchovny may appear in a future episode. Duchovny has been absent from television for awhile now as he ventures further into his film career, so if you've been anxiously waiting to see him on television again, this is your chance. Duchovny last appeared on TV in an episode of Sex and the City in 2003.

[via Dark Horizons]

The lovely and hilarious Amy Sedaris will be playing a role on the October 12 episode of My Name if Earl as a love interest for Randy. Amy will play Judy, a woman who loves cats. This turns out to be somewhat of an obstacle for Randy because he's allergic to felines. Meanwhile, Earl tries to return a prize cat to Judy after sabotaging a cat show to help Joy. I personally never watch My Name is Earl, though I did watch it a bit when it first aired, and even though network sitcoms ain't m' thang I'll contend it was better than most of what's out there. Being an Amy fan, though, I just might have to tune in for this episode. Who knows, maybe I'll get drawn back into the show again.

Jerry Seinfeld will be appearing on the October 21 episode of TalkShow with Spike Feresten. Of course, TV Squad readers should already know that, since Spike himself told Joel back in September. He told Joel he wanted Seinfeld to host his own segment of the program, but the Zap2It article only says that Seinfeld is set to do some new stand-up material and sit down for an interview. Whatever ends up happening, it should be a great night. Seinfeld does pop up on TV now and again, but not very often, so anything featuring him is always nice to see. The show airs Saturdays at midnight on FOX.

Isn't it always interesting to learn who's going to guest star on your favorite show? I definitely like reading these press releases, mainly because I like hearing how some sort of high-profile guest is going to affect the chemistry of an established ensemble. It's especially important with sitcoms, because you never know if the guest's comic ability (if they have any) will mesh well with that of the show's cast.

But I don't think I'm going to have anything to worry about when Jane Seymour and Bryan Cranston guest on the Oct. 25th episode of How I Met Your Mother. According to this press release, Seymour plays a law professor of Marshall's that Barney hits on to help his buddy get better grades, and Cranston plays Ted's crappy boss. Seeing these two veterans with the younger (but no less experienced) cast should make for a pretty funny episode.

[via The Futon Critic]

After you've read Mike's review of the second season premiere of Weeds, you should check out this review by Steve Bloom, editor-at-large of High Times. I suppose if anyone can talk about the show with any authority, it would be someone who works for a magazine devoted completely to marijuana and marijuana culture (though I've never been impressed with the mag itself, which rarely has anything new to say on its single topic). Bloom wrote the guest piece for the blog BC Beat, the online companion to Broadcasting and Cable. Unfortunately, I don't have Showtime, so I haven't had the pleasure of watching the show, but it sounds like something I would enjoy. I have thought about checking it out on iTunes, however. What do you guys think? Is it worth slapping down a bit of cash?

Not long ago, I started blogging for our sister site AdJab, mainly so I can get paid for asking questions like "Who the heck is that big-eyed girl under the umbrella in those Cingular ads?" In fact, I asked that very question in a post last week, and a commenter was kind enough to answer my query, which I wrote about yesterday. The girl in question is Angela Sarafyan, and a quick check of her IMDb profile shows some interesting appearances. It seems, though, that her most significant credit to date is a recurring role on 24 this past season.

Since I don't watch the show, I have no idea who she played, but it looks like her character went by two names: Inessa Kovalevsky and Jenny McGill. Can any 24 fan out there let me know what her role was and how it played in the plot? She looks like she has some potential... but I could just be mesmerized by her eyes.

When I was in high school, I had a thing for redheads (I think it was because I had a long unrequited crush on this girl Tracy, who just happened to be the only person ahead of me academically in my class... oh, it's a long painful story that I'll tell one day... for profit). So, in the entertainment world of the mid-eighties, that meant that I lusted after the same two girls every other ginger-crazed teen did: Allison Smith and Molly Ringwald. I haven't seen a lot of either lately (and judging by the most recent shots of Allison, if I had seen her, I wouldn't recognize her).

Indeed, the last time Molly did TV was in a TNT movie in 2002. But in May, she'll come back to TV in an episode of Medium. She'll play some woman in distress that Patricia Arquette's character will use her psychic powers to help. It really doesn't matter; I'll probably just tune in to see Molly. Or not; I'm a little more into brunettes these days.

Yesterday as I was getting ready to Tivo the Ricky Gervais episode of The Simpsons, I started to think about whether something like this had been done before, where an actor not associated with a cartoon was brought in to contribute to an episode. While I'm sure there's many, the only one I could think of was the Looney Tunes' short "The Mouse That Jack Built" which featured Jack Benny and his fellow stars from his famous radio and television program playing themselves as mice. The result was a hilarious short about Jack and his friends going out to eat at the Kit Kat Club, which turns out to be an actual cat. In the end, we're treated to a live-action shot of the real Jack Benny waking up from his nightmare, only to see the two mice from his dream crawl from his cat's mouth and scurry into a mousehole. Benny didn't write the episode, but by bringing in new voice actors with a more cerebral and less "cartoony" approach to humor, it resulted in one of the more unique Warner Bros. animated shorts when mixed with the slapstick and sadism for which these cartoons had become famous. Also, it should be noted that Mel Blanc, who voiced ninety-nine percent of the Looney Tunes characters, was also a regular on the Jack Benny Program, so maybe ol' Jack didn't need much convincing to appear in animated form. Rumor has it he asked for no money, just a copy of the cartoon. Oh yeah, and just to bring it full circle, the foppish shop owner on The Simpsons who says, "Yeeeeeesss???" is based on a character on Jack Benny's show. It's like a big ol' Mobius strip o' comedy.

So, my fellow cartoon-lovin' peeps, can you think of any other cartoons to turn themselves over to "new management" if only for one episode?

Vacuous socialite Paris Hilton may be lending her voice to an episode of The Simpsons. Creator Matt Groening says she's "on the list." I'm taking that to mean it's not official just yet but that they're giving serious consideration to having the hotel heiress on the show. I just wonder if they plan on using her for a brief gag or if she'll actually be given a more substantial role. Either way, her appearance on The Simpsons will solidify her place in pop culture. Of course, I also consider Circus Peanuts a part of pop culture, so it doesn't really mean much.