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.

Reaper is not just one of my favorite TV shows. It's also one of my TV's favorite surprises. Every time I watch an episode, my TV suffers a moral dilemma.

"This show is funny, witty, very entertaining and unafraid to be absurd and just plain bat#*$& crazy," my TV said to me during last week's episode. "Why the #*$& am I letting you watch it?"

It looks as though my TV is about to get its way. It always does. It cuts all my favorite scenes from Top Gear before they are transferred from the British to the American version. It never lets my TiVo keep an All in the Family episode past a couple of days. It would broadcast nothing but Billy Mays commercials in my head if it developed telepathy, and trust me, it's working on it. I'd throw the thing out the window, but that's not covered in the warranty. The manufacturer may not call that an "act of God," but I sure as hell would.

How'd Reaper do this week? As much as I enjoyed it, this episode has left me with a few longings for more. Don't worry, I wasn't wishing I was watching the 13 American Idol wannabes performing over on FOX, but I do think there are places that Reaper could go that would be extremely satisfying.

In fact, they went there at the end of season one. The conspiracy with Sam's dad (um, does Sam even know that his dad is alive?), the demon rebellion, Sam's true parentage ... I want more! When I saw Andrew Airlie's name in the opening credits, I got excited, thinking we were headed back to the darker side of Reaper, to the secrets of Sam's family (remember his mom digging up his dad at the end of season one?) and really getting to some good stuff.

Bah, I guess I'll have to wait for that, but I'm hoping they'll deliver. Reaper did deliver laughs and a bit of a story arc tonight.