Celebrities playing themselves onscreen generally go in one of two directions: realistic or cartoon. In the former, the celebrity generally plays a version of himself or herself that's as close to the real thing (or, rather, the media image of the real thing) as possible. In the latter, the celebrity plays as broad an image of himself or herself as possible (with Neil Patrick Harris's work in the "Harold and Kumar" movies the obvious example).
When I heard that Matt LeBlanc of "Friends" fame was playing a version of himself on the new Showtime sitcom "Episodes," premiering 9:30 p.m. Sunday, I thought for sure he'd go the cartoon route.
After all, this is the man who gave us Joey Tribbiani. Sure, he's funny, but subtle he ain't.
