Dave on Demand | Matchett: Guest star who is unforgettable

Hold all calls. We have a winner. Best guest star of the TV season goes to Kari Matchett. She won it for her turns on

24

as the vice president's disgruntled aide and on

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

as the flirty lawyer who almost made Albie (Matthew Perry) forget his stupid, series-killing infatuation with Harriet (Sarah Paulson).

You may recall the Canadian actress as the star of last year's Invasion. Talk about having it all, ladies. As Mariel, Matchett was a doctor, a mother, a lover and an alien. Or you may know her from the delightful and tragically short-lived Wonderfalls.

But every time Matchett is on the screen, she demands attention. She's the next-generation version of Lindsay Frost.

Her back pages. Speaking of creating an impression, young Jessy Schram did an oustanding job this week playing the teenaged Allison on Medium. She really captured Patricia Arquette's otherworldly mix of gentleness and disquietude. (And did you notice The Wire's Jim True-Frost as the registered sexual offender?)

One quibble: This episode showed us Allison's earlier home life (with Frasier's Peri Gilpin as her waitress mom). So where was Allison's brother? A little effort at continuity would be appreciated, folks.

Now you're talking. TV always makes smooth the path. In this week's Lost, there was an extended flashback for Sayid (Naveen Andrews). The storyline concerned a cluster of expat Iraqis living in Paris.

Luckily for us, they all spoke English.

Here's your TV quiz for the week: How many series can you name that made use of subtitles?

You're a rich girl. It really bugged me this week when Today opened with Meredith Vieira and Ann Curry (sitting in for a vacationing Matt Lauer) getting all flighty and flustered over the Mega-Millions jackpot.

Look, the lottery is the working man's pipe dream. People in Vieira's tax bracket shouldn't be permitted to buy tickets. In my book, when you make upward of $10 million a year, you've already won the lottery.

Down the shore. The Black Donnellys is set in New York. This week, the title characters stole a beat-up old panel van off the street to dispose of a body. If you looked closely, you may have seen an LBI decal on the rusty bumper, code for the affluent Jersey Shore destination of Long Beach Island.

Man, that flower delivery must pay a lot better than I thought.