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As you’ve probably realized, Lynch left Party Down for a spot on television’s hottest (and only) musical comedy. Subbing for her in season two is Megan Mullally, who got her big break a dozen years ago as Karen Walker on Will & Grace. Though Lynch is simply irreplaceable, Mullally is an inspired source for comedy. Here’s what we can expect from her character, Lydia, courtesy of Starz:

“Having left behind her loutish husband, Lydia has arrived in Hollywood with a single goal - achieving stardom for her 13-year-old daughter Escapade. Eternally optimistic and naive, earnest and straight-talking, Lydia is delighted to find herself working alongside the ‘entertainment professionals’ at Party Down, and eagerly cultivates their wisdom and advice about ‘making it’ in show biz.”

My other Party Down favorite would be Ken Marino, who plays Party Down Team Leader Ron Donald. Ron is the type of boss who is super friendly on the surface, but super hard ass when his employees do something a smidge out of line. (Like, say, smoking pot in the bathroom). This would be because he considers Party Down a mere stepping-stone towards his goal of managing his own restaurant or franchise. Unlike the underlings he supervises at catered events, he has come to realize that the food service industry is his niche.

Rounding out the cast is Ryan Hansen as dreamy and aloof Kyle Bradway, Martin Starr as Sci-Fi geek Roman DeBeers, Adam Scott as frustrated ex-actor Henry Pollard and Lizzy Caplan as failed comedian Casey Klein. Scott and Caplan, actually, have a Ross and Rachel thing going on, which I’ll discuss in more detail a little bit later.

”What happened to him? Is that Sulu?” – Alan Duk (Ken Jeong)

One of my favorite TV series to date is Extras, which had Ricky Gervais and Ashley Jensen playing struggling actors who land roles on various productions that offer (at most) a line of dialogue. Oftentimes they’re relegated to the background, or “extra” roles, as the name of the show implies.

The brilliance of Extras was that every episode happened on the set of a particular production, be it a take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest (“Patrick Stewart”), a UK police thriller (“Samuel L. Jackson”) or a fantasy film (“Daniel Radcliffe”). Each episode had a celebrity guest star (or more) playing “twisted” versions of themselves.

My favorite would probably be the one that took place on the set of a World War II Holocaust film, which guest starred a version of Kate Winslet who admittedly booked the film role within the episode to secure her first Oscar win. (Funnily enough, her performance in The Reader, a Holocaust film, later won her that real-life Oscar – her first).

Similarly, Party Down episodes are set at separate catered events. Even better, one, if not more, guest stars support each episode. Season one celebrities include Ken Jeong, J.K. Simmons, Rob Corddry, Steven Weber, Molly Parker, Ed Begley Jr., Kristen Bell, Rick Fox and George Takei. With the exception of Fox and Takei (Sulu!), Party Down's guest stars play fictional people.

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