Well, just as we expected, yesterday's idle suggestion that HBO should consider casting Anthony Edwards to play Steve Jobs in the upcoming "history of Apple" miniseries elicited a virtual avalanche of email. (The picture of Steve that we were looking at when we thought of Anthony Edwards is at the right, and we still say he could pull it off.) Here's a sample of the incredibly varied casting choices recommended by our faithful viewers:

There's g.seto's vote for Kevin Costner to play Jobs, which we find intriguing. Gary Carpenter says, "Steven Jobs? Steven Seagal! They even look alike. I might go so far as suggesting that they've never been seen together in the same room..." Whereas Steve "Duke" Duca suggests, "how about David Duchovny as Steve Jobs for the HBO series? Duchovny is the right age, he does the goofy/snotty thing pretty well, and the word is that he's bored with The X-Files." (I guess we could always use a little more Mulder-style paranoia in the Mac world.) Or consider Casey Leichter's take on the situation: "Tom Hanks as Steve Jobs? No way... Fischer Stevens has always struck me as being at least a little Steve-ish; wonder how he'd look in black hair. Or Jim Carrey, for that goofy-intensity-with-a-malevolent-side aspect."

But wait, there's more... Lyle Timetraveler says, "Appearance wise, Kurt Russell is Steve Jobs, but I'm often not sure if those people are really actors, or if they just play actors on TV/movies." Tom Hofheinz may have come closest, appearance-wise, when he proposes, "About the perfect actor for Steve Jobs...it's obvious. It's William Hurt. Darken his hair and he's a dead ringer for jobs, complete with the handsome, charming, slightly sociopathic aura they both share." But what might be the most provocative casting suggestion of all comes from Jeffrey Barbose, who proposes, "Who to play Steve Jobs? Maybe no one. Maybe Pixar's Next Big Thing is photorealism. Maybe a vSteve will play steve. ;) And if steve creates vSteve in his own image, how big will vSteve's head be? :)"

We simply don't have space to list all of the suggestions in a daily episode, but we hope to put up a virtual casting call this weekend to tabulate our viewers' suggestions-- not just for actors to play Steve, but for the other big figures in Apple's history. Incidentally, until now the only basis for thinking that HBO is really planning a "history of Apple" miniseries was a quick mention in a Variety article-- but just today, those well-connected folks over at MacCentral quote an "industry source" as stating that the project "IS happening. And it will commemorate Apple's 'return to greatness.'" According to this mystery source, Tom Hanks is indeed involved with the project; in fact, the whole idea is reportedly a collaboration between Hanks (who, you'll recall, is the voice of Woody from Pixar's "Toy Story") and Jobs (who is the CEO of Pixar). Don't expect to see the miniseries for quite a while, though; you know how these things go.