“I had never played a character that long before, and that right in itself is a gift, as an actor to be able to take a journey like that,” says Brandt. “We read the pilot and I said to my husband, ‘This is the best pilot that I’ve ever read.’ I love Marie — to this day, I love her, and I’m so thankful for the wonderful things about her and I’m so thankful for all her faults too because it was just ridiculously fun to play…. Someone asked me, because it’s been 10 years since it premiered, what I miss most. And, hands down, it’s the people. To get to make this kind of show with this group of people — I mean, it just doesn’t get any better than that.”