Squee! It’s…

Squee! It’s triple squee spotting on Lie to Me tonight. You may remember the rapture I experienced when Randolph Mantooth showed up on Criminal Minds a few weeks ago. Now his Emergency! partner in crime, Kevin Tighe, pops up as well. Roy DeSoto : Johnny Gage as Jon Baker : Francis Poncherello and Frank Hardy : Joe Hardy. You may also remember Tighe as the athletic governor Josh didn’t want entering the primary after President Bartlet’s MS was announced on The West Wing and as Locke’s no-good, kidney-stealing dad on Lost. He’s also appeared on everything from Leverage and the Laws and Orders, ER and Chicago Hope, to Freaks and Geeks. He’s joined by D.B. Woodside, aka Pretty Principal Robin Wood from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He’s filled other positions of authority as a president on 24, as well as appearing in Numb3rs, Grey’s Anatomy, and Once and Again (and, heaven help him, Viva Laughlin). Both Woodside and Tighe were in the gone-too-soon Murder One, as well.

Finally, Jason Beghe is also in tonight’s episode. If you’re an old-school X-Files fan like I am, you might be looking at Beghe’s name and thinking, “That seems familiar. Did he date Gillian Anderson once upon a time?” But then you will remember that it was actually David Duchovny. Well, not that Beghe dated Duchovny, but that he kind of shoved Duchovny into acting. So we kind of have Jason Beghe (who has also appeared in fare such as Life, Veronica Mars, American DreamsMelrose Place, and Picket Fences, among many others) to thank for The X-Files. Of course, that means he’s also kind of to thank for Californication–you be the judge. You can catch Tighe, Woodside, and Beghe on Lie to Me on Fox tonight at 8pm Eastern and Pacific. Since ABC has bumped Scrubs and Better Off Ted to next week to accommodate the presidential news conference, you can even catch them with no guilt involved (unless missing the presidential news conference makes you feel guilty, too).

Squee! It’s…

Squee! It’s Zeljko Ivanek on Numb3rs tonight. You can have your Andre Drazens from 24; you can take your Governor Devlins from Oz; you can even keep your Steve Atwoods from The West Wing and your John Dickinsons from, well, the American Revolution. I’ll always love Zeljko Ivanek for ADA Ed Danvers on Homicide: Life on the Streets and for giving me the first moment where I knew I loved The X-Files (when we return from commercial to find that the body of the scientist Ivanek’s possessed janitor Roland has killed by sticking his head in a vat of liquid nitrogen has been outlined with tape–including hundreds of little tape Xs for where the shards of his frozen head shattered on impact. Niiiiiiiiice.).

Perhaps a notable guest spot on a network show like Numb3rs will mean Emmy voters will have Ivanek on their minds and will remember to nominate his striking turn as troubled attorney Ray Fiske on Damages this year. Because I’m not sure there was a better performance on TV last season than that.