15 Maj 2000
By Matt Roush
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As the official TV season winds down, what better time to appreciate some of the unsung heroes who make our weekly viewing
habits more pleasurable?
Take NBC's The West Wing, with its first-rate acting ensemble. Somehow, I always find myself eagerly awaiting the next hilariously crabby entrance of the president's mother-hennish secretary, Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten). Once, after nagging the president (Martin Sheen) about his diet, she didn't flinch when he grumpily threatened to beat her with a head of cabbage. Unfazed, she continued, "Once again you display an immaturity about vegetables that I think is not at all presidential." You go, Mrs. Landingham. Many of us West Wing fans believe this woman truly runs the Bartlet administration. Similarly, while we tune in to Fox's Malcolm in the Middle to get a load of Malcolm's (Frankie Muniz) mad family, it wouldn't be the same without his pal Stevie (Craig Lamar Traylor), who looks like something out of a politically correct after-school special: black, brainy, in a wheelchair, asthmatic. But this kid's no sentimental patsy. Recently seen playing goalie in a game of street hockey, the ready-for-anything Stevie blocks the puck and gasps, "In your [takes a deep breath] face." No kidding. Equally outrageous is Felicity's campy muffin of comic relief Javier (Norm's Ian Gomez), who manages the Dean & Deluca where Felicity (Keri Russell) and Ben (Scott Speedman) work. Like Auntie Mame in nerd clothing, the ebullient Javier lavishly adores the college cuties under his supervision. They love him right back. So do we. And as much as I enjoy the tortured romance between Lily (Sela Ward) and Rick (Billy Campbell) on ABC's Once and Again, who'd have imagined getting equally - if not more - engrossed in the story of his ex-wife, Karen (Susanna Thompson)? As the series progressed, entire episodes were spent following this uptight yet beautiful woman's emergence as a passionate object of desire. I actually began resenting having to return to Lily and Rick's world. Still, I wouldn't want her, or any of these actors, to get a spin-off of their own. That would be too much of a good thing. |