Fametracker :: 2 Stars 1 Slot :: Battle of the Slightly Crazy Cougars :: Joanna Cassidy vs. Jean Smart:
You probably know Cassidy best as Margaret Chenowith, Brenda's selfish jerk of a mother on Six Feet Under. Clearly set up to stoke our sympathy for Rachel Griffiths's Brenda -- what hope did Brenda have of turning out normal if this nightmare was her model for womanhood, and so forth -- Margaret was a little bit awesome. Yeah, she made some bad choices, and we're glad she's not our mother, but she always seemed to be having fun, her boisterous guffaw a relief in contrast to Brenda's intractable dourness. Margaret had a rewarding career and a sufficiently happy marriage to Robert Foxworth's Bern that she wed him twice, and after he died, she decided to coug it up with a sexually ambiguous French art teacher. We should all be so joyfully retired.
What of Smart's coug cred, you may ask? Shame on you for forgetting her delightfully inappropriate role in Garden State. As Carol, the blowsy mother to Peter Sarsgaard's Mark, she got up late and condoned pot smoking and slept with one of Mark's peers -- and not just that, not just a kid her kid's age, but one who had a job that required him to wear a suit of armor. Carol was equal parts horrifying and bad-ass: classic cougar.
Which cougar deserves to vanquish the other and claim the highest, flattest rock on which to preen and sharpen her claws? Really, it's no contest. Cassidy may be the veteran in this matchup, with twice as many credits to her name as Smart has been able to amass. However, Smart is the most bracing and fun thing about the current season of 24, as First Lady Martha Logan. Advantage: Smart
huh I'd've tht Cassidy. recently on Boston Legal, too, in good role (follow up for me to 6 Feet Under) whereas I can only recall liking Smart in Garden State and that was just a few minutes. But, I've never watched 24. so.