Can we just meet the dang mother already?

Tags: How I Met Your Mother, How to Make It in America, Married With Children, The Middle

It's always a challenge for an actor to play a well-known part on TV and then to start over on a new show as someone entirely different. Audiences will always be tempted to see them as that first character, leading to typecasting and premature cancellations of new projects. However, recently, actors like Ray Romano have turned this theory on its head. After nine (nine!) seasons on Everybody Loves Raymond, he's deftly crafted a new persona on Men of a Certain Age that, for all intents and purposes, is the anti-Ray Barone. As the second season comes to a close tonight on TNT (and as we count down to the return of Breaking Bad), we take a look at other performers this summer who moved from a career-defining role to successfully portraying its polar opposite. (Yes, we know Sons of Anarchy isn't really a summer show, but we couldn't resist.)

Tags: Aaron Paul, Angels in America, Big Love, Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, Charlie Hunnam, Everybody Loves Raymond, Justin Kirk, Katey Sagal, Malcolm in the Middle, Married with Children, Mary Louise Parker, Men of a Certain Age, Queer as Folk, Ray Romano, Sons of Anarchy, Weeds

When it comes to TV, there are way more fabulous and high-profile roles for moms and the poor dads get the short shrift. However, we spent minutes weeks hunting through Wikipedia and our collective minds the annals of television for the best and worst TV dads that we could remember. Well, at least these are the ones that left an indelible mark on us, and not with wire hangers or anything (though we may not put that past some of the dastardly daddies on our naughty list). So in honor of Father's Day, here's our slapped together long-awaited list in alphabetical order (because we just couldn't decide if Jack Bristow or Keith Mars would be the No. 1 perfect patriarch).

Tags: alias, all in the family, Arrested Development, brady bunch, dexter, friday night lights, gossip girl, grey's anatomy, how i met your mother, lost, malcolm in the middle, married with children, the cosby show, the o.c., the sopranos, The x-files, tv dads

After starring in films such as The Sweetest Thing, View from the Top and Surviving Christmas, all Christina Applegate needed to rise from the pits of Blockbusters' clearance bin was a little sexual harassment from Ron Burgandy and a highly praised network television show. With new episodes of Samantha Who? returning April 7, the last thing Christina would want (or so I think) is a reminder of her past as a bimbo with a peroxide addiction, but as luck would have it, the complete eighth season of Married... With Children hit the DVD racks yesterday! So for shits, giggles, and to (hopefully) embarrass Christina, here's an episode of Married...With Children from season eight where she shines like an Emmy trophy that has just been polished and bleached blonde.



Visit the Samantha Who? forum to discuss this and other topics.

Tags: christina applegate, married with children, samantha who