signed on

It's amazing how people's careers can develop. Think about it: did anyone who saw Meredith Vieira on 60 Minutes seventeen years ago think she was going to end up hosting Today and Millionaire? Exactly. So, post-9/11, when men were drooling over NBC's Ashleigh Banfield and her glasses as she paraded around Afghanistan, did anyone think she'd be hosting a show discussing the cross between celebrity and the justice system?

Probably not. But that's what's happening, as she has signed up to host CourtTV's Hollywood Heat, taking over for Lynne White. She joined the network in July 2005, after her profile at NBC was reduced during 2003 and 2004. She will still co-host Banfield & Ford: Courtside with Jack Ford. But, don't worry, librarian-lovers: she'll still be wearing those signature horn-rimmed frames. That alone might get me to watch.

He's played the flustered dad on Malcolm in the Middle. He's portrayed a dentist who converted to Judaism for the jokes. And he's also played Ted Mosby's egomaniacal boss. Now Bryan Cranston has signed on to play a role he seemed to be born to play: Beelzebub.

That's right. Cranston will be playing Lucifer on the ABC Family limited-run series Fallen. The series is a continuation of a movie that ABCF aired over the summer; in it, an 18-year old kid named Aaron struggles to come to terms with his new identity when he finds out that he is half-human, half-angel (I wonder which parent was the angel. If it's the mom, I'd love to meet her for coffee).