April 7th, 2008
9. Adam Sandler, Undeclared ("The Assistant")
Before Judd Apatow was anointed overlord of Hollywood comedy, he was regularly abused on network TV, pouring his heart into short-lived original shows like The Ben Stiller Show and Freaks And Geeks, which couldn't survive on their sizable cult followings alone. Premièring just two weeks after 9/11, his doomed campus sitcom Undeclared suffered many last-minute preemptions, time-slot changes, and other indignities before Fox finally pulled the plug. Still, Apatow employed his powerful friends to give the ratings a boost, including a hilarious Will Ferrell as a meth-driven townie who writes term papers for college kids, and Ben Stiller as the father of a student's deranged ex-boyfriend. But he scored a real coup when he convinced Adam Sandler to appear as himself in a painfully funny episode about the awkward nature of celebrity. When the freshman dorm-dwellers get a chance to "hang out" with Sandler after a show, it seems like a dream come true, but their star worship completely paralyzes them.
10. Jerry Seinfeld, 30 Rock ("Seinfeldvision")
Nabbing one of the biggest sitcom stars of all time normally would be a major coup for a struggling TV show. But when Jerry Seinfeld appeared on the season two première of 30 Rock, one of the best sitcoms on television became yet another cog in the obnoxiously ubiquitous ad campaign for Seinfeld's middling animated feature Bee Movie. The low-rated 30 Rock hardly seemed like a smart choice for a man looking to cram his cute li'l insect movie down the throats of every man, woman, and child in America, but 30 Rock came out on the short end of the deal, with the Bee Movie backlash finally making the seemingly untouchable Seinfeld unlikeable and, worse, unfunny.
11. Milli Vanilli, Sister Kate ("Eugene's Feat")
Is there a better time capsule for 1989 then a pre-scandal Milli Vanilli lip-syncing "Blame It On The Rain" for a pre-90210 Jason Priestley on the short-lived sitcom Sister Kate? Also starring British acting institution Stephanie Beacham and featuring a theme song by Christian-music phenomenon Amy Grant, Sister Kate had a can't-miss, blockbuster pedigree. But NBC decided to grease the wheels by inviting Milli Vanilli to "perform" one of the monster hits off the mega-successful album Girl You Know It's True. Shockingly, this comedy about a nun running an orphanage and occasionally hosting impromptu concerts by supremely silly pop stars lasted only one season, and Milli Vanilli would be disgraced as phonies the following year.
12. Quentin Tarantino, All-American Girl ("Pulp Sitcom")
Quentin Tarantino made his name by spinning pop-culture trash into arthouse-approved gold, though he actually seems content with just the trash, as his checkered IMDB entry shows. Rivaling his stint as a celebrity judge on American Idol as the least distinguished entry on his résumé is his role as criminal video supplier Desmond Winocki on Margaret Cho's forgettable mid-'90s sitcom All-American Girl. Humbly recognizing that Pulp Fiction was a slightly more important cultural touchstone than All-American Girl, the show didn't bother integrating Tarantino into its well-worn family-sitcom fabric. Rather, the show tried to integrate itself to Tarantino, spinning off a series of lame references to his movies already picked over by every sketch-comedy troupe in the country. (The mysterious briefcase! The twist contest! The samurai sword!) All-American Girl lasted just one more episode.
13. Casey Kasem, Saved By The Bell ("Dancing To The Max")
There's no rhyme or reason for why the producers of Saved By The Bell would have considered American Top 40 host Casey Kasem a "get" for its Saturday-morning kids' show: By the time Kasem cameoed in 1989, he had already handed the reins of his syndicated radio program over to Shadoe Stevens and more or less retired to a lifetime of voiceover acting and the occasional co-hosting gig on Jerry Lewis' telethon—hardly something that would appeal to SBTB's primarily preteen demographic, who were no doubt wondering what this funny old man with the oddly familiar voice was doing in The Max. Nevertheless, Kasem guest-starred as himself, playing the host of the world's smallest dance competition and giving props to "The Sprain"—a last-ditch effort of awkward choreography necessitated when Lisa injures herself—while the kids of Bayside High fawn over him as though he were Johnny Dakota. Kasem must have enjoyed the attention: He returned two years later to narrate "Rockumentary," an extended dream sequence in which Zack fantasizes about achieving rock stardom. Hey, in a world where Casey Kasem counts as a "star," anything's possible.
14. Robin Williams, Homicide: Life On The Streets ("Bop Gun")
The first season of Homicide ran for nine episodes in the winter and spring of 1993, and in spite of critical raves and the showcase of a post-Super Bowl première, ratings started low and then dropped into the sub-basement. Nevertheless, NBC renewed the show for a four-episode run in January of '94, in large part because executive producer Barry Levinson promised the network that he could convince his friend Robin Williams to appear. In a role far more substantive—and dramatic—than NBC probably expected, Williams played a vacationing man whose wife is shot and killed. It's a powerful performance in a heart-wrenching episode, though not exactly audience-friendly fare. Nevertheless, the guest-shot kept Homicide in production at a critical juncture, which helped earn the show a full-season order for the fall. So without Mork, no Meldrick.
15. Jay "The Critic" Sherman, The Simpsons ("A Star Is Burns")
In what was effectively a reverse-engineered ratings-boosting guest-shot, the lead character on Fox's animated series The Critic showed up in Springfield to judge a film festival—and to use the cachet of Fox's most popular show to raise the profile of one of its least. Simpsons creator Matt Groening, whose punk sensibility often put him at odds with network business decisions, hated the idea of a crossover so much that he took his name off the credits and refused to sit in on the commentary track for the season-six DVD set. He's also publicly called "A Star Is Burns" his least-favorite Simpsons episode, which, given how lousy some of the episodes have been over the last decade, is really saying something. But on its own merits, "A Star Is Burns" is a funny episode, which shouldn't be surprising, given that The Critic was a funny show. Plus, it gave movie-writers everywhere our own catchphrase: "It's not that tough being a film cricket."
16. Sparky Anderson, WKRP In Cincinnati ("Sparky")
How could a TV series set in Cincinnati not invite one of the mechanics for "The Big Red Machine" to make a guest appearance? Sparky Anderson had jumped from managing the Reds to managing the Detroit Tigers by the time he showed up on WKRP In Cincinnati, and to some extent, the episode feeds off the mutual hurt feelings of Anderson and his former favorite city. Hired to be the host of a new sports call-in show on WKRP, Anderson (playing himself) proves to be terrible at the job, and yet station manager Mr. Carlson (played by Gordon Jump) can't bring himself to fire one of his heroes. "Sparky" is a smart, funny look at the limits of hero worship and the trials of leadership, as well as what it's like to go from being a VIP to persona non grata.
17. C+C Music Factory, Blossom ("You Must Remember This")
With her vests and funky clothes patterns, Mayim Bialik's eponymous character from the early-'90s sitcom Blossom†suggested in every way that she was a determined non-conformist. So what musical act made her passionate enough to recruit her best friend Six into camping out all night for tickets in a 1992 episode? Pearl Jam? L7? Tad? †No, it was pre-fab dance hitmakers C+C Music factory, who rewarded Blossom's devotion with a cameo in which they may or may not have made her sweat.
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