Alison Brie and Jennifer Lawrence Almost Starred in "Muffy the Vampire Slayer"

R.I.P. Community
For a lot of guys (and I'm guessing more than a few women), Alison Brie and Jennifer Lawrence are a lot of fun to watch based purely on superficial merits. AKA They're hot.

When you tack on that both are genuinely talented actresses, everyone should be very glad that they didn't end up starring in Muffy the Vampire Slayer (sounds like a porno, I promise you it's not) years ago because, as you'll see in a second, it probably would have at least hurt Brie's career, and possibly Lawrence's as well.

Muffy was a show commissioned by Comedy Central in 2007 that basically revolved around a high school girl who killed supernatural beings while being, it looks like, perpetually stupid. As part of the "twist" it's filled with sex puns. Imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer set at the O.C. high school and directed by Friedman and Seltzer* and you've got the idea of it. The pilot was shot and almost aired, but thankfully the TV gods CC came to their senses and realized the show would have been a catastrophe.

I can't embed the clip here, but thanks to MTV News you can check out this link and see a clip in all its horrifying glory. For bonus points, notice H. Jon Benjamin is in it as the unlucky janitor.


*Friedman and Seltzer, for those lucky enough not to be aware, are the directing team behind, among other terrible "films," Date Movie and Epic Movie. Both of these could be candidates for my Fun Times with Bad Movies running series, except they're not fun. They're just bad.

H. Jon Benjamin and Coach McGuirk

I thought I would take a second to recognize the miracle that is H. Jon Benjamin's voice. A lot of people know how he's put it to good use in the (finally) Emmy-nominated show Archer. A slightly smaller group watch Bob's Burgers, which is more light-hearted and nearly as good. Two other brief but successful non-appearances were him as the convenience store dude in Family Guy and the magical Master in the Adult Swim show, Venture Bros (see below for more on that). 

He has also appeared a few times in front of the camera. Benjamin had his own short-lived show, Jon Benjamin has a Van, and appeared several times on Important Things with Dmitri Martin (which was canceled too soon).

However, one of his most overlooked performances is also one of his best: Coach McGuirk on another old Adult Swim gem: Home Movies. He was an alcoholic soccer coach determined to do anything but instruct his team on soccer. Think Sterling Archer if he was overweight and nearly unemployed.

McGuirk is mostly defined by his relationship with the main character, Brandon Small, for whom he is an often-misinformed mentor. It was hard to choose one clip, but this sums him up nicely. If you have Netflix, check out Home Movies; all 3 seasons are on there. There is an endearing innocence to the whole show and the coach is always funny.