Today's cuppa: chai spice black tea
Here's this week's edition of my print column "We'd Like to See," which addresses TV resurrection:
Despite having died of brain cancer in 2002, Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) returns to NBC's "ER" on Thursday, Nov. 13, one of the events planned for the long-running medical drama's final season.
This proves what I've always said: Death is no impediment to future guest appearances.
There are many departed characters -- dead and and otherwise -- whom I'd like to see come back, but I don't see why they have to come back on their original shows. Wouldn't it be more fun to mix and match?
Let's imagine...
Omar Little on "Ghost Whisperer": The scarred stickup man from HBO's "The Wire" was the scourge of
drug dealers in West Baltimore. In the end, he fell victim to a boy with a gun in a convenience store. No doubt Omar had a few unresolved issues, because he died so unexpectedly. Medium Melinda Gordon has dealt with some pretty
rough characters from the Other Side. Let's hope she can help Omar release his anger, remember that he's the sort of man who didn't want to kill people on a Sunday, and find his way to his ultimate reward.
Dave Starsky on "Knight Rider": Sure, we could bring back David Hasselhoff's Michael Knight, but that's too easy. Besides, the car at the heart of this new
version of the show is a souped-up Ford Mustang, and the brunet half of "Starsky and Hutch" drove a tomato-red Ford Gran Torin, so he might have a few handling tips to pass on to KITT's new driver. And he wouldn't talk any back talk from KITT either.
Colleen McMurphy on "House": It's amazing how Dr. House functions 
pretty much nurse-free, except for yelling at them, that is. He gets his team of doctors to do much of the work that nurses usually do (the shoe's most unrealistic aspect). So let's send the tough Irish-American nurse from "China
Beach" to give House a taste of reality. If the North Vietnamese didn't cause her to back down, a cross
word from House will bounce right off. And if he tries to use the cane -- well, let's put it this way: This woman had small-arms training.
Cigarette Smoking Man on "Fringe": I'm sorry, even if she has a Rob-hand, executive Nina Sharp of the mega-corporation Massive Dynamic just isn't scary. She has nice hair and dresses well -- she probably 
has those little wrapped guest soaps in her private washroom. If you want real menace, you've got to go back to the original bogeyman from "The 
X-Files," that tall, haunted fellow with the deceptively calm voice and the hangdog face continually wreathed in cigarette smoke. In the first episode, he didn't even have to talk. Now, that's scary.