Guest Stars! Best and Worst!

[Terry Y]

It seems a little slow in here, so I pose a question.  Who was the best guest voice on either OFF or Futurama?  Also, which ones just never should have happenend?

Best: Al Gore on Futurama.

Whether you agree with his politics or not, you have to admit he was probably the best actor without an acting background. 

Worst: Martin Sheen on OFF ("The Prinipal and the Pauper")

Okay, he did a decent job.  But that episode just sucks.  Plain and Simple.

[Kif White]

Best on OFF: Too many to choose. Kelsey Grammer, Phil Hartman, Joe Mantegna, Albert Brooks, Jon Lovitz, Danny DeVito, Eric Idle, Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, James Woods, Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, etc all stand out.

Worst on OFF: This is the same, but I still think Jack LaLanne was the most pointless and stupid cameo. Following closely behind are Mark McGwire, Evan Marriott, J.K. Rowling, Butch Patrick, Regis Philbin, Kathy Lee Gifford, Oscar De La Hoya, David L. Lander, Baha Men, etc

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Best on Futurama: I'd have to say Sigourney Weaver, who just edges out the Star Trek cast and Bea Arthur.

Worst on Futurama: No guests really bothered me on the show to be honest, but if I had to choose, probably Pauly Shore, just because... well... he's Pauly Shore.

[Sheana_Molloy]

Actually, I thought Regis & Kathy Lee's bit on that one THOH episode was rather clever and amusing.

Best On OFF:  Kelsey Grammer, Phil Hartman, Danny DeVito, Albert Brooks, Dustin Hoffman, James Earl Jones, quite a few others...basically I'm just repeating here.  Danny DeVito so needs to come back, he's a surprisingly excellent voice actor.

Worst On OFF:  Far too many to list.

Best On Futurama:  Various 'Star Trek' folk, John Goodman.

Worst On Futurama:  There is no excuse for Pauly Shore.  Plus, I thought Lucy Lu's bit was very blah and weak, and I plain didn't like the episode either.

[Kif White]

Danny DeVito so needs to come back, he's a surprisingly excellent voice actor.

Half of me agrees. The other half of me dreads what the current staff would do to his character if that were the case though... 

[c_nordlander]

OK, in this post, I'll only list guest stars who appear as themselves, because if they play an actual character (no matter for how long), I consider them as actors. Of course, this means that I'm rather unfair to all the brilliant guest stars who actually have some kind of an impact on an episode, but never mind. I like being cruel and unfair to celebrities.

Best on OFF: bar the good ones who played actual roles, Sting ("Radio Bart"). Good singing and no diva behaviour. EDIT: And I shouldn't have left out James Earl Jones (primarily "'Round Springfield").
Worst on OFF: too many to mention, but I'd personally like to kick Gary Coleman ("Grift of the Magi", "Day of the Jackanapes").

Best on Futurama: the cast of Star Trek ("Where No Fan Has Gone Before")
Worst on Futurama: Lucy Liu ("I Dated a Robot", and a bit in "Love & Rocket"). Nuff said.

[Marco]

Right off the top of my head:

Best: Michael Jackson
Worst:N'Sync

[Hellfish]

Best of OFF: James Earl Jones, that I remember

Worst: John DiMaggio, not because of poor performance though, just bad execution.

[Officer 1BDI]

The Simpsons
Best: Kelsey Grammer (He is Sideshow Bob.)
Worst: Kid Rock (Episode plot aside, he not only failed to add anything to the storyline, I can't even remember if he had any lines; just that song.)  Mark McGuire is a close second.

Futurama
Best: Sigourney Weaver (Her work in L&R was excellent.  I wasn't even aware that the ship was being done by a guest star until I found out through CGEF.)
Worst: Rosanne (Not necessarily because of her voicework, but I always felt her role in that episode was pointless.)

[Sheana_Molloy]

I forgot about Roseanne!  Which may be a good thing.  But yeah, she's on the Worst list as well.

I think it's possible we may see DeVito/Herb again.  He was mentioned briefly in a recent episode, like they were trying to refresh him in people's memories for a reason...

[archonix]

Rosanne as a guest star would have worked better if they didn't have that incredibly stupid bit over the credits. It's been known for museums to hire washed-up stars for stupid edumacational videos before...

[Terry Y]

Of course, this brings up the whole "Amber-griss" vs. "Amber-gree" argument.

[c_nordlander]

I say "Amber-gree", considering it's French.

Ah, it's much simpler in Swedish, where we just call it "ambra" (same word as "amber", apparently). On second thoughts, that's not simpler, only more confusing...

[arpulver]

Most of the above, and a couple others that are worth acknowledging:
Penny Marshall, Ron Taylor, Sam Neil, Kathleen Turner, Patrick Stuart, Mandy Patinkin, Glenn Close.

[Ekko]

I can't say I watch Futurama quite often, so it wouldn't make sense if I fill that category in. Simpsons however...

Best: Not including Kelsey Grammar (Because he doesn't play himself) I'd put my vote with Mel Gibson. That episode was actually ABOUT him! He wasn't just a guy that happened to show up for one scene and have a short, not-so-funny line. His performance added a little extra spark that put him over the top.

Worst: Hmmmm, I don't usually use the words 'worst' and 'Simpsons' in the same sentence, but the lowest rated Simpsons guest star to me would have to be Bob Dylan. (I'm not sure if it even WAS him) Not only was it short, but he didn't even have an understandable line! (Something about converting religions )

[Hera_Potter]

Best: Phil Hartman, Danny DeVito, etc. Oh, and June Foray. 

Worst: *sigh*... Kid Rock (enough said, I think  ), Gary Coleman (TWO appearances- I'd never even heard of him, and that stupid Funzo episode...) Britney Spears (AGH!), Jack LaLanne (he had an exercise show. Wow.), and pretty much every other pointless cameo.