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Casting Couch: Harold Perrineau Gets "Unusual"

"You can go now, Michael."

Truer words were never spoken than on last week's season finale of Lost, which saw cast returnee Harold Perrineau's Michael seemingly killed after the freighter exploded after he got a send off from the mysterious and ghostly Christian Shepherd.

Perrineau's return to Lost--which he exited at the end of Season Two when he and Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) sailed off into the sunset after he betrayed his fellow castaways to secure freedom for himself and his son--seems phenomenally short-lived: his character's sole purpose in returning to the series was to be Benjamin Linus' man aboard the Kahana and to devise the plan to freeze the battery so as not to trigger a widespread C4 explosion.

Perrineau, in an interview with TV Guide, says that he was "disappointed" by the fact that producers killed off his character after bringing him back and said it was "disappointing and a waste to come back, only to get beat up a few times and then killed."

Ouch.

Luckily, ABC seems to have realized that they are lucky to have the talented actor on their network and have cast Perrineau in drama pilot The Unusuals, where he'll play Detective Leo Banks, a cop plagued by paranoia that he'll be killed. It's a bit of a role-reversal for the actor, especially after we saw Michael unable to die all season on Lost.

In other casting news, Rick Gomez (What About Brian) has joined the cast of Rob Thomas' dramedy pilot Cupid, where he'll play Felix, the owner of a dive bar who rents a room above the bar to Trevor (Bobby Cannavale), despite thinking he's a complete nutter for claiming to be the titular god of love.

And Gail O'Grady (Boston Legal) has landed a lead role on the untitled Dave Hemingson legal dramedy pilot; she'll play cutthroat attorney Susan Oppenheim, who is married to one of the firm's partners. Also cast in the pilot episode as guest stars: George Segal (Just Shoot Me), Lolita Davidovich (Dirty Sexy Money), and Alexandra Holden (Friday Night Lights).

I'm actually very excited to see how this one turns out. Fingers crossed that it's a keeper.

Stay tuned.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Bang Theory/How I Met Your Mother (CBS); Gossip Girl (CW); The Bachelorette (ABC; 8-10 pm); Bones (FOX)

9 pm: Two and a Half Men/Rules of Engagement (CBS); Dateline (NBC); One Tree Hill (CW); House (FOX)

10 pm: CSI Miami (CBS); Dateline (NBC); The Mole (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Gossip Girl.

Looking to relive the freshman season of the teen soap? On tonight's repeat episode ("The Wild Brunch"), Blair tells Serena she knows all about her past betrayal and shuns her; Chuck hosts a fundraiser brunch, to which Serena brings an unwelcome Dan.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Michael's comeback on Lost was a little anticlimactic. I think if it had been more of a secret it would have been okay but since word got out early that he was returning to the show, it wasn't surprising to see him on the boat. Which is sad because if I hadn't known it was him, I think it would have been a more satisfying storyline and quite a shock too! And he really never made amends with Walt, either, which is kind of sad.

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