I know that this may come as a surprise to some of you, but many of those iconic television roles that we associate the likes of Bryan Cranston, Steve Buscemi, and Jon Hamm with WERE OFFERED TO OTHER PEOPLE FIRST. It’s true! Our television landscape could’ve been completely different: We could be hating on Rob Heubel right now, for instance, or there could be countless Internet memes devotes to John Cusack (man, talk about a terrible left turn that could’ve been).

Anyway, I love to look at the early casting considerations for movies, but I’ve never collected a list of them for television shows … until now.

Take a look at who could’ve ended up playing 20 television roles that are now forever linked in our minds to the actor or actress who made those roles famous.

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If you’re a big fan of Justified, and you have zero reason not to be, you might be interested in Graham Yost’s Nerdist podcast, in which he talks about the writing room of Justified, as well as some of the decisions that went into The Americans, which he’s an executive producer on. The most fascinating tidbit, however, was in the discussions surrounding the central Justified season four mystery: The identity of Drew Thompson. Spoilers ahead, of course.

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Hi, I’m Troy McClure. You may remember me from such supercuts as this one.

That Moment When You Run Into Sharon Stone While Wearing Your Basic Instinct T-Shirt — (UPROXX)

Pete Campbell Bear Attack Update: Now More Plausible Than Ever — (WG)

WATCH: 11-year-old Natalie Portman’s audition for The Professional — (Film Drunk)

An Ode To Billy Horschel’s Octopus Pants — (With Leather)

Joss Whedon Says [SPOILER] Won’t Be In The Avengers 2, Talks Quicksilver — (Gamma Squad)

14 Underachieving Rappers Who Didn’t Reach Their Full Potential — (Smoking Section)

The Dolphins Cheerleaders Make Taylor Swift Bearable — (KSK)

10 Of TV And Film’s Most Beautiful Disasters — (Pajiba)

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Honestly, it’s hard to know exactly what to make of this interview. There are a couple of moments where Russell Brand clearly embarrasses Mika Brzezinski in a benign kind of way, pointing out she’s wearing a low-cut blouse in the early part of the segment, and suggesting there was some phallic subtext to a hand gesture she made late in the interview. But for the most part, it’s Russell Brand according a lot more respect to the “journalists” around the table than they give him. In fact — as someone who considers Russell Brand fairly obnoxious and grating — I still found the journalists treatment of a guest on their show to be condescending and shi**y, ignoring the content of his book and instead focusing on how they can’t understand his accent.

But more than that, it’s the really crappy way they keep referring to him in the third person — despite the fact that he’s SITTING AT THE TABLE WITH THEM — that rubbed me the wrong way. Credit to Brand for calling them on it, with good humor. But really, the whole thing comes off, to borrow a phrase from Dan Harmon, like a bunch of “prep school frat ass f**king dipsh**ts” instead of the so-called journalists they claim to be.

Watch the interview, and no matter what your opinion is on Russell Brand, I think that by the end of the interview, you’ll agree that any humiliation he offers up to the dicks at Morning Joe feels very deserved. It is fun to watch them squirm. Start at the 5:30 mark if you can’t commit to eight minutes plus.

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As you may have heard, screeching Alaskan hair monster Sarah Palin came out of hibernation yesterday to resume her traveling talking head circus act on Fox News. This, of course, is distressing news for all of us who suffer from Sarah Palin fatigue, which is most of us. But then last night on the Daily Show, John Oliver offered some sage advice on how to handle the sudden resurrection of the living, breathing YouTube comment.

“F*ck it, this is exactly what she wants. Just because I walked into a turd supermarket doesn’t mean I have to buy anything,” Oliver said after playing a clip of Sarah Palin being Sarah Palin on Fox & Friends. After pleading with America to “just f*cking ignore her,” Oliver remarked, “I promise America it will feel so good. It will be like we give our brains an enema together.”

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For those unaware, Jimmy Fallon is rolling out his annual Video Games Week this week, which is essentially every major publisher and platform getting one show to show off their wares. First up, last night, was Microsoft. What’d we see? Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier today, my totally righteous bro, Danger Guerrero, brought us the news that once-ousted and now un-ousted Community creator Dan Harmon was not a fan of the fourth season of the NBC sitcom. Now, it would be easy to say that Harmon didn’t like it because NBC had taken his baby away from him and he had to just sit there while it called someone else daddy.

But Harmon is a man of little restraint, and when speaking about the admittedly lacking fourth season on his podcast, Harmontown, the recently rehired showrunner understandably felt at home and let us know how he really felt.

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I’ve never heard of the Cryptic Murmurs prior to today, and I’m guessing you haven’t either, but I have to tip my cap to them for the stroke of marketing genius that inspired them to make a song about Anderson Cooper. The formula is simple: make a song about Anderson Cooper, increase your chances of getting mentioned on his show dramatically. It’s a sure fire formula for success that I’m sure dozens of aspiring rappers will soon imitate.

That said, the song they made isn’t terrible and it’s filled with some pretty fun lyrics. The moneyshot: “Stole his hair from the main of Pegasus.” That’s some inspiring sh*t right there, folks. Enjoy…

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Take Me to Your Mother (Nick Jr, 10 p.m.) — Apparently this show that I’ve never heard of but is now my new favorite program on Nick Jr. follows comic Andrea Rosen, who “just had a baby and dove head first into motherhood. Only problem? She did zero prep work to get there.” In tonight’s episode, she visits Sunny Rest Nudist Resort in Pennsylvania. Nick Jr.’s getting risque. No wonder no one wore pants on Franklin.

Stanley Cup Finals, Game 3 (NBC Sports, 8 p.m.) — Just watch this. Spare yourself from…

The Bachelorette (ABC, 8 p.m.) — Miss Utah needs to be next year’s Bachelorette. Or C*nt Punt, obviously.

Oh, Sit! (The CW, 8 p.m.) — *impatiently looks at watch* Still waiting for that apocalypse.

The Glades/Longmire (A&E, 9 p.m.) — Tonight’s Glades episode, about “Florida’s purveyors of flesh and the women who love them,” is called “Magic Longworth,” which airs right before Longmire. Somewhere out there, an A&E executive is looking for a third long, so he can say, “Three longs make a right.”

LATE-NIGHT GUESTS: Bill O’Reilly and Greta Gerwig on Letterman; Billy Crystal and Pitbull on Leno; Lil’ Wayne, Chris Messina, and Jimmy Eat World on Kimmel; Carson Kressley and Rachelle Lefevre on Ferguson; Howard Stern, Alyssa Milano, and Anamanaguchi on Fallon; and Linda Cardellini on The Daily Show.