Damages/Trivia

All-Star Cast: The closest a TV show has ever come to this: Glenn Close (how many other series can you name that have five time Oscar nominee for their star?), William Hurt, Martin Short, Marcia Gay Harden, Campbell Scott, Lily Tomlin, John Goodman and Ted Danson have all had regular roles on the series and there's not another show on TV with that kind of roster outside of its one off guest cast list.
Career Resurrection: For Ted Danson. While he hadn't completely gone away after Cheers he had sort of fallen into has been territory with parts in unsuccessful films, a failed sitcom (Ink), a fairly unpopular one (Becker) and cameos as himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm. However, when the first season of Damages made it onto the air though, critics couldn't stop talking about his surprisingly strong dramatic performance as Arthur Frobisher which gained Danson his first Emmy nomination in 15 years (including two more for his guest appearances in the subsequent seasons).
- This renewed exposure also helped gain him a supporting role in the HBO sitcom Bored to Death and in 2011, he took the lead role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
The Danza: Chris Messina as Christopher Sanchez.
Directed by Cast Member: Tate Donovan (Tom Shayes) directed 3 episodes.
Doing It for the Art: Hardly anyone watches the show anymore and the ratings fall steadily every season with the third season seeing a cancellation from FX and a budget slashed move to Direct TV but it hasn't kept top flight film actors from doing season arcs. It also says something for a famous film actress like Glenn Close to stick with a TV role that probably pays considerably less than any films she's in with a salary increase being fairly unlikely.
- Same with Rose Byrne, who's movie career has taken off as well, during the course of the series run.
Fake American: Ellen is played by the Australian Rose Byrne, while Katie is played by British actress Anastasia Griffith.
Playing Against Type:
- Martin Short is more known for his comedy work. His serious turn was nevertheless well received by critics and fans alike and even garnered an Emmy nomination for the role.
- David Costibale is largely known for playing nice guys, the type who are goofy or eccentric and The Woobie. Rick Messer is quite the polar opposite.
Stunt Casting: Damages often casts film actors who would otherwise never do TV (i.e. William Hurt, John Goodman, Campbell Scott, etc) in supporting roles and they often give incredibly strong and memorable performances.
Troubled Production: Season Two, full-stop. William Hurt's role in the season was dramatically scaled back due to problems behind the scenes (Hurt had problems coping with the production style of the series, where the actors were kept in the dark regarding their character's storylines and only given segments of the script before filming). To fill in the gap, actor John Doman was brought on to play the evil corporate executive who Patty was trying to bring down as the new main villain character, while Marcia Gay Harden had her role expanded as Patty's foil during the season.
Uncancelled: F/X had canceled Damages before Direc TV came to the rescue.