TVSquad

The legacy of Star Trek includes many memorable guest stars, Joan Collins as Edith Keeler in "City on the Edge of Forever," Ricardo Montalban as Khan on "Space Seed," Jane Wyatt as Spock's mother on "Journey to Babel." And those are just the ones that come first to mind.

But what about the less celebrated stars who appeared on ST? There were many who made a great impression because of the larger than life character they were given to play, and the ability to seize the spotlight.

Here are five of my favorite, and most memorable, though less celebrated, Trek stars...

Here is Reason #243 why I like Neil Patrick Harris, or NPH as people have taken to calling him: He thinks that How I Met Your Mother is perfectly OK without all the guest stars. And, yes, that includes that nutty gal from Louisiana.

"I worry that if they start Will and Grace-ing us too much, that the show will suffer, " NPH told Erin Carlson of the AP. He's referring to the fact that W&G spent many of its later years building comedy around a parade of high-profile guest stars. He went on to say that "we're all really proud of the content of the show. I mean, viewership is not our game. It's the network and the studio's game, you know. It's the promotion department's game."

NPH feels he's in "the minority" with his view, according to the article, and he thinks the fact that the show is opposite Dancing with the Stars (or, as he calls it, "an awkward reality dancing competition") has caused the network, as well as creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, to scramble for viewers.

(S03E01) Welcome to season three of How I Met Your Mother. If you read my Early Look post on the season premiere, you'll know that season three picks up where season two left off.

Well, kinda. Yes, Robin and Ted have gone their separate ways after a year together. Yes, Marshall and Lily have just gotten married (and I guess are back from their honeymoon, but they never say).

But something didn't happen --at least not right at the start of the episode -- that I think almost every HIMYM fan expected to happen.

When we last left the group of five intrepid twenty-somethings from How I Met Your Mother, Ted and Barney were smoking cigars after Lily and Marshall's wedding. Ted had just finished telling the tale of how he and Robin broke up. And, after some uncharacteristic sympathy, Barney gets all charged up about being a wingman for Single Ted. The season ends with Barn launching into his signature line: "Ted, my boy, this is going to be legend... wait for it..."

Well, we waited all summer. And Carter Bays and Craig Thomas know how long we waited; they named the third season premiere, which airs on CBS at 8 PM ET on Monday, "Wait For It." Was it worth the wait? Some non-spoilery thoughts after the jump.

Since the very first season, The Simpsons have had numerous guest stars. Some have only appeared once, while others have returned again and again. Now, with the eighteenth season recently wrapped up and no end in sight, The Simpsons have had roughly twelve billion guest stars. That number might not be accurate, but I think it's close.

I mention this because our friends at AOL (which owns TV Squad), want to know who your favorite Simpsons guest stars are. If your brain needs a bit of prodding, you can check out this list I made a year ago, but I think my fellow Simpsons fans should be able to come up with a list of actors just fine on their own.

Oh yeah, and AOL also wants to know what your favorite episode of all time is, so be sure to mention that, too.

So, start filling up the comments, folks. The most popular choices will be featured on AOL TV sometime in the near future. We'll keep you posted.

One day after the series finale of The Sopranos, TNT will dedicate twelve hours to a Law and Order marathon focusing on episodes featuring actors from The Sopranos.

The marathon begins Monday, June 11 at 2:00 p.m. and features episodes with appearances from Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Jerry Adler,John Ventimiglia, Vincent Curatola, Dan Grimaldi, Joseph R. Gannascoli, Ray Abruzzo, Robert Funaro, Dominic Chianese, Vincent Pastore, Sharon Angela and Frank Vincent.

Dog Whisperer meet Ghost Whisperer. Ghost Whisperer meet Dog Whisperer. In what is either a new low or absurdly funny high in stunt casting, Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan will be guest-starring as himself on an upcoming episode of Ghost Whisperer. It looks like Homer the Ghost Dog is having problems "crossing into the light" so Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Delia (Camryn Manheim) seek Cesar's post-mortem doggy advice.

Cesar is, of course, the star of his own Dog Whisperer vehicle on the National Geographic Channel. You may remember him in his animated incarnation from South Park when Cartman's mom turned to him for parenting advice. Cesar's aggressive, alpha dog methods have their detractors, but the story of his journey to the United States and daily routine today are something else. Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker piece on Cesar if worth a look regardless of what you think of his methods. Then again, isn't anything by Malcolm Gladwell worth a look?

It's a cross-promotional party over at CBS for Grammy Week '07. In anticipation of the February 11th broadcast of the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, nominees Mary J. Blige and Nelly Furtado will be making special guest appearances on CBS shows. Blige will be playing opposite lackluster recording artist Jennifer Love Hewitt on an episode of Ghost Whisperer, and Nelly Furtado will be playing a dead hooker on CSI: NY. Oops... actually she's not playing a dead hooker. I just saw "network crime procedural" and "attractive woman" so I thought "dead hooker."

A third season of Ricky Gervais' Extras is in the works. This is good news for Gervais fans as the show was rumored to be getting a self-imposed axe after season two a la The Office. But, Gervais is back, and he's got a dilly of guest-star wish list.

For season three, he's looking to snag Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Dick van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Considering that the show has managed to score Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson, David Bowie, Orlando Bloom and David Bowie in the past, Gervais shouldn't have any trouble. My personal fave was the episode with Daniel Radcliffe and Diana Rigg. Seeing Harry Potter send a "johnny" flying into Dame Rigg's hair is worth the price of premium cable. And, as far as celebrities taking themselves down a peg, going on Gervais' Extras seems a far better tactic than hosting SNL or waiting around to screw-up and then make a public apology on The Tonight Show. At least with Gervais, you know that you'll actually come off as funny.

God damn it, Monk takes a midseason break and then tosses one new episode out in November and I totally miss it. What's doubly upsetting about that is I'm the one who posted about it in October. This may be a sign that my plan to stop reviewing the show is a good idea. I still love Monk, and I'll keep watching it, but I find I just don't have as much to say about it as I do other shows. Monk is kind of like popcorn to me: it's a lot of fun, and when it's all gone I wish I could have more, but there's just not a lot I have to say about it once it's over.

Now then, before the fifth season finishes off in January, there will be another episode airing on December 22, "Mr. Monk and the Leper." I'll try not to miss that one, though being so close to Christmas, who knows what'll happen? The episode will actually air twice, once in black and white (9 pm) and again in color (10 pm).

The latter half of the fifth season, which kicks off January 19, will feature several guest stars including Sean Astin, Steven Weber, Charles Durning and Andy Richter, among others.

(S02E06) Sometimes having guest stars on your sitcom is a boon; seeing well-known actors or other celebrities mix with the established cast is great to watch and makes the episode memorable. But a lot of other times, bringing in a guest star dampens the chemistry of that established cast and slows down the comedic flow of the show, almost bringing it to screeching halt.

This week's HIMYM episode has two guest stars: Bryan Cranston as Ted's touchy boss, and Jane Seymour as Marshall's testy law professor. And, in this case, one guest star gave us a good result and the other gave us a bad one. I'll tell you who's who after the jump. You might be surprised at who I thought was the chemistry killer.

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]

I managed to get a copy of the first three episodes of the new season of My Name Is Earl yesterday, and I watched the first episode "Very Bad Things" last night. After a successful first season and a summer of wondering how the show will evolve, I, at the very least, got a chance to get some perspective on how things will go.

The guest train at Everybody Hates Chris continues to chug along. First it was announced that Whoopi Goldberg would appear in a couple of episodes of the Chris Rock-produced comedy. Now comes word that Jason Alexander will be appearing in two episodes, playing the principal of Corleone Junior High, where the title character goes to school. He will also direct an episode.

Hm. I wonder if these high-profile guest spots are happening because stars saw the show last year and liked it, or is this an attempt by the producers to garner a bit of attention for a show that seemed to get lost in the shuffle last year? Not sure. But its Sunday at 7 timeslot isn't exactly going to encourage me to watch.

The Simpsons has been using guest stars since the very first season. Some have returned on several occasions, sometimes as different characters (Albert Brooks), sometimes as the same character (Kelsey Grammer), and sometimes as both (Jon Lovitz). By my calculations there have been exactly twelve thousand guest stars on the show so far, so obviously a list of just five is going to be lacking just a tad. Nevertheless, these are five guest stars who stick out in my mind. Got some more? That's what the comments are for. Here we go:

Albert Brooks: Brooks first appeared in season one as Jacques, the man with the fake French accent who tries to woo Marge away from Homer with his knowledge of bowling and women. He later appeared as Hank Scorpio, a rather paradoxical character who is both very friendly and yet extremely evil. I think my favorite Brooks episode, however, was the episode "The Heartbroke Kid" when he played Tab Spangler, a ticking time bomb of a coach who tries to coerce Bart back to health after Bart gains weight and suffers a heart attack. "Every sign is wrong!" He'll also be appearing in the Simpsons movie, which is very cool.