Kyle MacLachlan
Former Twin Peaks G-man Kyle MacLachlan — most recently the star of ABC's now-adjourned legal drama In Justice — is joining the cast of Desperate Housewives on April 16 for a multiepisode arc. "He’s a lovelorn, single dentist who is trying to make a connection with Susan," says executive producer Tom Spezialy. "She’s already entangled with her ex-husband and Mike, so he’s very much the fourth wheel in this situation." MacLachlan will appear in a handful of episodes and it’s possible he could return in the fall. "It depends how he plays," says Spezialy. "I would think he would fit in nicely in our world." Another variable: ABC hasn’t officially canceled In Justice. Not sure what they're waiting for.
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Ray Wise
Tonight's two-hour 24 "event" (beginning at 8 pm/ET on Fox) will host a parade of faces new and familiar, including Elisha Cuthbert's return as Jack's beleaguered daughter and the debut of C. Thomas Howell as Kim's (overdue, if you ask me) therapist. The evening also introduces us to Vice President Hal Gardner, who has been choicely cast with Ray Wise, a star of the Oscar-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck and who is familiar to TV fans as Twin Peaks' very bad dad, Leland Palmer. TVGuide.com welcomed the chance to ask Wise about his 24 VP, working with George Clooney
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Question: Someone recently wrote in about the poor chances of Invasion getting a second season. That would sadden me (I like the show), but I have wondered where it would even go for a second or third season. Some shows seem to be able to keep it fresh and fun for years, and others burn themselves out quickly. I know networks want shows that keep making money year after year, but do you think they might keep the "Arrgh, they canceled my show!" viewers happier if sometimes they released a show that was only meant to have one season? Some stories are too big for cinema, but they're not long enough to last five or six seasons. Sometimes one season is just about right. (I got this idea from animé, in which stand-alone 26-episode stories are very common.)
Answer: We'll see how this plays out when the networks experiment this summer and into next season with the telenovela format (on My Network TV), which (from what I understand) tells closed-ended soap-opera stories in season-long formats. I
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Question: I love your column and your candid insights. Matt, do you share my opinion that Lost is on the verge of Twin Peaks-ing itself into oblivion? The first season of Twin Peaks was so awesome and must-see. By the second season, they seemed so full of their own cleverness and press that they forgot what made their show compelling to begin with: awesome, mysterious plotlines and various twists and turns. With Lost, the second season is having the same problem. The show that I ordered all of my friends/family to watch this season has morphed into a scattered, disjointed, meandering story with barely any of the wonderful features of Season 1. Just as Twin Peaks suffered a premature death, I think Lost is headed there as well, particularly when they keep going on hiatus and bombarding us with reruns. 24 blows away all competition for me in the drama department, not only because of the fast-paced action but because I can tune in and rest assured I will never see a rerun. Lost is on the ...
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Ray Wise
Monday's two-hour 24 "event" (beginning at 8 pm/ET on Fox) will host a parade of faces new and familiar, including Elisha Cuthbert's return as Jack's beleaguered daughter and the debut of C. Thomas Howell as Kim's (overdue, if you ask me) therapist. The evening also introduces us to Vice President Hal Gardner, who has been choicely cast with Ray Wise, a star of the Oscar-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck and who is familiar to TV fans as Twin Peaks' very bad dad, Leland Palmer. TVGuide.com welcomed the chance to ask Wise about his 24 VP, working with George Clooney
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A wise man once said, "When two separate events occur simultaneously pertaining to the same object in inquiry we must always pay strict attention." The wise man in question? If you have to ask, you clearly weren't a fan of Twin Peaks' resident java junkie Agent Cooper. Well, I was a fan (a huge obsessive one, in fact) and those sage words came in handy last month when I happened to run into Kyle MacLachlan (Event No. 1) just days after hearing a rumor (Event No. 2) that Twin Peaks cocreator Mark Frost was in early development on a series of TV -movies featuring Coop. Creepy, huh? Well, not only did I pay strict attention to the coincidence, I went a
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Elisha Cuthbert, 24
See what happens when you talk about her too much? In addition to announcing that 24 will air a "special two-hour event" on March 6, Fox is confirming that Elisha Cuthbert will resurface as superagent Jack Bauer's daughter, Kim, "sometime in the next month," says a show rep, and with a therapist friend, played by C. Thomas Howell, in tow. (Is someone still haunted by mountain-lion flashbacks? Besides me, that is?) Also slated to pop up this season are Twin Peaks bad dad Ray Wise as Logan's vice president, Hal Gardner (but you knew that, because we told you a month ago), and William Devane, reprising his role as Secretary of Defense James Heller.
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Who can 24's President Logan count on, if not weaselly Walt? A rep for Ray Wise tells TVGuide.com that the actor — currently appearing in Good Night, and Good Luck, and well-known for playing Laura Palmer's deviant dad on Twin Peaks — has been cast in the recurring role of Logan's V.P. and will first air March 6. This can only mean one thing: Bob is behind the new terror attack.
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Question: As Alias winds to a close, I've had to find a new favorite show. I always have one (Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell, Homefront, Relativity, My So-Called Life) — a show that I fall in love with and can't live without. My new favorite is Battlestar Galactica. Wow! It's definitely the best show on TV right now, and could quite possibly end up as one of the best TV shows ever. I keep asking myself how the networks could have passed on something so awesome, and I'm wondering if they even got the chance. With the obsession for mainstream ratings at the broadcast networks, do you think they would have ever allowed BSG to become the jewel it is now? The story lines are very controversial (gang rape, men and women in the military as equals, promiscuous sex by the lead female heroine, what it means to be human). I think BSG would have been so watered down by now if it were at a network, it would be unrecognizable. Do you see this as a growing trend, or just an anomaly for ...
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Question: I am still annoyed at the network and also at the writers for canceling and not wrapping up the murder mystery on Reunion. I seem to remember a quirky show that was on ABC on Thursday nights back when NBC ruled the night. The show was about an IRS agent sent to investigate a murder in a desert town. It was odd, like Twin Peaks, but was canceled mid-season. The writers gave the audience a quick conclusion to the story. Yes, it was not developed and it was thrown together as the IRS agent was being chased from this crazy town, but at least it was closure for the audience who invested time in watching. What are your thoughts, and do you remember the show on ABC? Thanks.
Answer: You're thinking of Push, Nevada, which aired for eight self-indulgently unwatchable weeks in 2002. I didn't care much for it — for my taste, this was a case of a show way too in love with its own quirkiness— but at least when the boom was lowered, the writers rushed an ending into place, no matter how
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