TVSquad

We're far enough removed from Buffy's original run now that there really aren't any surprises left for most of us. By this point we've seen the episodes so many times through DVD, streaming, and syndication that the story has been told. There's still something to be gained from watching again, though.

A little water under the bridge has given all of those bit-part actors that were once feeling lucky to book a Buffy gig a chance to move on to bigger and better things. I'm still occasionally surprised when I catch an old Buffy and realize just who that is standing in the background. After the jump, nine of my favorite small part players from Buffy that went on to bigger successes.

(S04E16) "Her heart won't stop racing. No idea what's causing it." Doctor in inferior hospital.
"Are you sure it wasn't the bus that landed on her?" House.

The season finale of House packed a wallop. I let my Tivo get ahead of my watching it so I wouldn't have to see the commercials, and I had barely begun the episode when my next-door neighbor burst into my living room exclaiming, "Have you seen House???" We barely had time to hit the pause button while yelling at her to leave and leave quickly without saying anything. But that is the kind of impact this kind of episode has. The season finale, which started last week, covered a bus-load of big themes: fear, wish-fulfillment, anger, risk-taking, the nature of friendship, remorse, and love. The episode was written by four writers, including producer David Foster: that was one of my first clues that this episode was going to be significant. They called in the big guns.

[S04E14] "You don't deserve to be happy." House to Wilson.
"And yet I am. You?" Wilson to House

House treats the symptoms, but he doesn't treat the whole person. He doesn't even claim to. He often makes a clear point that he doesn't care. House likes medicine because he likes to solve puzzles, and what greater consequences can a puzzle have than a human life? But ultimately, even someone dying doesn't matter unless House can't figure out the puzzle.

So, if the above paragraph is true, then why does House go out of his way to kidnap a soap opera star he believes to be dying in order to save his life? Is it really because he can't stand the idea of not watching his soap? I don't think so; he even encourages angsty actor Evan Greer (Sex and the City's Jason Lewis) to quit if he's not happy... well, sort of. But, back to the question: If House doesn't care, then why bother? Because it's a puzzle he can see daily, right in front of him, and he has to solve it. Apparently he has made multiple calls about it, because the actor knows who House is, so House simply takes matters into his own hands because that is what House does. House lives a life without consequences.

It seems that both Harold and Kumar will be taking a detour on their way to White Castle and heading toward Fox -- which I guess you would have to be a little "altered" to go to as well.

In addition to his CBS pilot, Cho will have another TV role this fall on Fox's 'Til Death, the Eddie Kay Thomas/Brad Garrett marriage-is-crazy sitcom. Cho is slated for three episodes as the prestigious private school principal that has confrontations with Thomas' public school vice principal character.

Three out, five in. With the resignations of Doctors Eric Foreman and Alison Cameron and the firing of Doctor Robert Chase during the third season finale of House there isn't really anyone that Gregory House can abuse anymore. Don't despair, though, because five new actors are joining the cast of the FOX medical procedural for House to play with like a puppy's chew toy mold into fine healers.

Being added for the fourth season (which begins on September 25th) are Olivia Wilde (The Black Donnellys), Kal Penn (24, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle), Peter Jacobson (The Starter Wife, Transformers), Anne Dudek (Big Day, Bones) and Edi Gathegi (Lincoln Heights). They will all be in recurring roles for a undetermined amount of episodes; however, I have a feeling if one of their characters clicks with the viewing public they may be promoted to full-time status.

Kal Penn, best known for playing Kumar in the flick Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, is going to be hanging around the University of Pennsylvania campus next spring. And not to search for the perfect American meal, Philly-style.

Penn, who just wrapped Harold & Kumar 2 and was most recently seen on TV playing a teenaged terrorist on 24, will be teaching two courses tentatively named, "Images of Asian Americans in the Media" and "Contemporary American Teen Films," according to a UPenn press release, which said his real name is Kalpen Modi.

The networks have added a few new faces to their pilots, because, well, otherwise the shows would just be shot after shot of empty sets, and that's not very exciting. Here's what's goin' on:

Jeffery Tambor (The Larry Sanders Show, Arrested Development) has joined the cast of the CBS comedy The Captain. The series stars Fran Kranz as a writer who moves into an apartment building where Tambor, a retired TV writer, also lives.

Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (which is actually a much funnier movie than it has any right to be) will star in The Call, a comedy from ABC about a group of paramedics in Los Angeles.

Look, I know that his years on NYPD Blue redeemed him from a crash course with the child star curse of reality shows and cultural irrelevance, but he'll always be Ricky Schroeder to me. Ricky Schroeder - Silver Spoons star, friend to "Tap Dance Kid" Alfonso Riberio and owner of the racing car bed. Fortunately for Ricky, he overcame the 80s with the aforementioned three seasons on NYPD Blue, a comedic turn as Nurse Paul Flowers on Scrubs and his latest outing as Dr. Dylan West on Lifetime's Strong Medicine.

Ricky has made another great career move - further distancing himself from that plucky young lad in The Champ. He'll be joining the cast of 24 as CTU operative Mike Doyle. Expect to see Schroder team up with Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer in executing "key field ops." 24 is really pulling out all the stops with its latest casting decisions. Schroder is just one of a list of fancy new cast members including Chad Lowe, Regina King, Powers Boothe, Peter MacNicol, James Cromwell, Kal Penn and David Hunt. That's right - Deadwood's Cy Tolliver meets Babe's Father Hoggett meets The Boondocks' Huey Freeman meets Kumar. Who doesn't want to see that?