Joel Murray has been relegated to playing the quirky best friend or neighbor in recent years. He plays these roles to the fullest they can be played without up staging his co-stars. He knows how to balance the fine line of putting the focus on...
[+] Read Full Review

Joel Murray has been relegated to playing the quirky best friend or neighbor in recent years. He plays these roles to the fullest they can be played without up staging his co-stars. He knows how to balance the fine line of putting the focus on his character and taking over the scene from the other actors.

Joel's true potential has not been tested in the roles he has played recently. He is often the center of the laughter, even in his supporting roles. He has very good comic timing and can do subtle and "in your face" comedy with the same great skill. He was able to show many facets of this talent during his run on Dharma and Greg.

I can see Joel carrying his own television show one of these days. He could do either the dramedies that are so popular now days or a sitcom, which unfortunately is on the decline in the US. It is possible that he could follow his brother, Bill, into movies. Even though I see Joel doing comedy, it would not be in the same vein.

I hope to see Joel more on television in the future. He is a joy to watch and always makes me laugh.

Like most people watching Grey's Anatomy when Eric first made his appearence as Dr. Mark Slone, the body and the arrogance got my attention. However, Dane has not stopped there with his portrayal of Dr. Slone. We have seen Dane make Dr. Slone...
[+] Read Full Review

Like most people watching Grey's Anatomy when Eric first made his appearence as Dr. Mark Slone, the body and the arrogance got my attention. However, Dane has not stopped there with his portrayal of Dr. Slone. We have seen Dane make Dr. Slone more than just a body with an attitude. In one scene Dr. Slone starts off arrogantly throwing his weight around ordering his interns to do his errands, then turn into a little lost boy when Addison or Callie appears and dresses him down or when he hears people talk about relationships. In the hands of a lesser actor, either the arrogant side or the sensitive side of Slone would be played down. Dane portrays both sides of Slone with ease and does not show a pause, like in a real life situation, when he goes from one to the other. Even though Dr. Slone's arrogance is very uncomfortable to watch due to the brilliance of Dane's acting ability, I look forward to seeing Dr. Slone appear because Dane can pull of the difference aspects of Dr. Slone so well. All of the characters in Grey's well written and acted, but Dane in my humble opinion is the best at transitioning between the aspects of his character. I look forward to seeing more of Dane in Grey's and in other movies and television shows.

Kate Burton's abilities as an actress are terribly underused on American TV. In her own words, she is usually the sweet wife or the sweet dead wife. Only in the last couple years in her role as Dr. Ellis Grey, mother of the title character, Dr....
[+] Read Full Review

Kate Burton's abilities as an actress are terribly underused on American TV. In her own words, she is usually the sweet wife or the sweet dead wife. Only in the last couple years in her role as Dr. Ellis Grey, mother of the title character, Dr. Meredith Grey, on Grey's Anatomy has she been able to show her range as an actress. In the role as former renown surgeon with Alzheimers we get to see some of Burton's range. One can see the drive that brought Ellis to her former job as head of surgery and pushed away the young Meredith, which could be easily charicaturized by a lesser actress. Burton brings a wide range of emotion in line with her role showing sadness, desperation, and even passion in addition to Ellis' commitment and drive to her medical career. Many years of experience, especially on the Broadway, show in her acting.

I hope to see more of Kate Burton on TV, but I am not holding my breath. Unfortunately, packaging and youth, not quality and substance, are prevalent on American TV nowdays. Hopefully more shows like Grey's Anatomy will give her and other actors of her quality the exposure they and the American viewing public deserve.

Like most Americans I first saw Laurie as Jackie, Roseanne's flighty sister on "Rosanne" back in the 1990s. Even though this role was a comedic, Laurie was able to show a broad range of emotions playing Jackie. It would have been easy...
[+] Read Full Review

Like most Americans I first saw Laurie as Jackie, Roseanne's flighty sister on "Rosanne" back in the 1990s. Even though this role was a comedic, Laurie was able to show a broad range of emotions playing Jackie. It would have been easy to just do a superficial job, but Laurie put her whole body into the role. She has great control over her facial expressions, which made Jackie even more entertaining than just the lines she delivered.

Laurie is able to go beyond sitcom acting and go into more dramatic roles like in "Desperate Housewives". Although this show has many comic elements, the type of acting is very different from "Roseanne". Laurie is able to pull off her role in the show flawlessly. One can feel the intensity she puts into her "Desperate Housewives" role just in the commercials for the episodes she's in. It is too bad that television no longer has live theater on most of the commerical networks on a regular basis because I think this is where we would see Laurie's full range of acting skill. Her ability to express emotions throughout her whole body definitely came from her stage experience, but we only get to see little snippets of this talent on television. At that, we only get to see it really in comedic roles that ask her to be a clown.

I hope to see Laurie more often as she is an incredible talent and very funny. It would be best if a television executive would have the guts to create a show around her like what was done with Julia Louise Dryfuss, another SNL alumna.