Stars drop everything to be a guest on 'Drop Dead Diva'

Stars drop everything to be a guest on 'Drop Dead Diva'

She's tennis great Serena Williams, one in a long line of celebrities doing a guest-star turn on the hit Lifetime series (Sundays, 9 ET/PT) now in its fourth season.

"When I was younger, I thought I'd go back to school and be a lawyer, but I'm kind of excited I get to experience it a little bit behind the scenes," says Williams between takes. "You get to feel a little powerful in your suit."

More than 50 celebrities, including Liza Minnelli, Delta Burke, Lance Bass, Rosie O'Donnell, Clay Aiken, Wendy Williams and LeAnn Rimes, have made guest appearances on the show since it premiered in 2009.

Kim Kardashian starred in early episodes of Season 4 since its June 3 premiere. other celeb guests this season will include Patty Duke, Valerie Harper, Joan Rivers and John Ratzenberger.

"It all happened organically," says show creator Josh Berman of Drop Dead Diva's growing guest roster. "Rosie O'Donnell and Paula Abdul and Elliot Gould all joined so quickly in the first season, and then Emmy magazine came out and said we were one of the best shows to guest star on. Celebrities started tweeting me asking to be on the show, and then it really caught on."

Bob Mahoney, Sony Pictures Television

Kim Kardashian, left, and 'Diva' regular April Bowlby. Kardashian played Nikki, the new business partner of Bowlby's character, Stacy Barrett, in a multiple-episode arc.

For Williams, the role of family attorney Kelly Stevens is esp ecially pleasing because she is doing scenes with her good friend, singer Brandy Norwood. She has a recurring role as Elisa Shayne, a woman who shares a son with Jay Parker (Josh Stamberg) a managing partner in the law firm of Harrison Parker where much of Drop Dead Diva's action takes place.

In this episode, which airs this Sunday, Williams' character is representing Elisa in a custody battle with Parker over their son.

"I'm a huge tennis fan and player, so I was over the moon about working with her," says Stamberg. Asked if Williams makes a convincing attorney, he says "She's great, of course, because she has so much confidence," although he acknowledges finding her distracting. "It was hard to forget who she is because she's gorgeous and one of the best female athletes ever."

"She's being Serena Williams as a lawyer," Norwood says. " "We were laughing about it. I told her, 'You know you're really good at this. You could do this, if you wanted to, on the side.' "

Michael A. Schwarz for USA TODAY

The cast of 'Drop Dead Diva' goofs off between takes.

To Diva star Brooke Elliott, stars are lining up for the same reason viewers are. Season 3 averaged 2.3 million viewers, making Lifetime the top cable network in its Sunday time slot among young adult women.

"I think we deal with issues everyone deals with," Elliott says. "Jane is trying to figure out who she is, and I think women go through that and men do too. So many times we're told we're just not good enough, and I think Jane embraces the fact that you're just great. You're beautiful just the way you are."

The show's plot is a mixture of comedy, drama and fantasy. After aspiring model Deb Dobkins is killed in a car crash, she comes back to life in the body of Jane Bingum (Elliott), a recently deceased plus-sized lawyer. The series follows Jane's learning to accept her new body and new life. Diva also stars Jackson Hurst as Deb's fiancée Grayson, with whom Jane works at Harrison Parker.

In April, Diva received a GLAAD media award for an episode last year (with guest star Clay Aiken), in which Jane represents two teenage lesbians fighting for the right to attend their high school prom as a couple. The awards honor media for handling issues affecting the gay community.

"The award goes along with what our show is talking about all the time," Elliott says, "who you really are, and finding out who people really are. It's looking beyond the outside, at the actual person."

Says Margaret Cho, who plays Jane's assistant Teri, "For women to be shown supporting each other is such a great antidote to a lot of reality TV with women fighting over men, fighting over money, fighting over status. It's a good example for society."