Hey good looking

Like Barbra Streisand, I am guilty. And I freely admit my crime: I love Melanie Griffith.

Yesterday I noticed that my TiVo had kindly TiVoed an episode of "Twins," the WB sitcom that stars Griffith and also Sara Gilbert, the tart-tongued comedienne famous from "Rosanne." Intrigued, I watched. I won't burden you with any details of plot, or even with the show's premise, which I get drowsy just contemplating. (I will tell you that the episode featured a drag queen named "Coco.")

But there, by god, was Melanie Griffith on the small screen, in all her woozy glory. Watching "Twins," I flashed back to my favorite Melanie Griffith works: the really excellent 1994 film Nobody's Fool, in which Griffith plays the sleepy mistress of a grizzled Paul Newman; and The Bonfire of the Vanities, Brian De Palma's widely despised take on Tom Wolfe's famous novel, in which Griffith plays the sleepy mistress of a smug and panicked Tom Hanks.

Will I watch more episodes of "Twins"? Perhaps not. But sometimes it is nice to be surprised when an old friend shows up.

(The Bonfire of the Vanities also stars another of my guiltiest pleasures, Bruce Willis. I think the film is mostly misunderstood, and is not a retelling of the novel but a parody of same. But I'll save that topic for another blog entry.)