So NBC has just announced a few more additions to the big blow-out post Super Bowl episode -- Jessica Alba and Cloris Leachman. They'll be joining Jack Black as the stars of a fictional bootleg movie Dunder Mifflin Scranton gets a hold of. Who's next, Seth Rogen and Bea Arthur?
I have to say, I like the Black and Leachman casting decisions, given their natural comedic abilities. Alba, though? I'm not so sure about here dramatic range, let alone her comedic chops.
And I hope this celebrity stunt casting is just a one-time thing to capitalize on the special time slot. "Friends," if you'll recall, did the same thing years ago when it had a post-Super Bowl episode. It also did it more and more as the show grew older, to increasingly diminishing returns. Then, of course, there is the odd show like "30 Rock," which uses the celeb guest starring turn to brilliant effect (if you've seen the recent episodes with Steve Martin and Jennifer Aniston, you know what I mean). But that's a show about a fictional television show on NBC. "The Office" is about a paper company in Northeast Pennsylvania, where celeb sightings are news events. So, please, keep the celebrities to a minimum.
