Throwback Thursday: November 1998 – Jennifer Esposito

Check out what we were up to in November of ’98. Don’t worry, we’ll leave out our middle school class picture.

Every week, we send someone stumbling into the dark Maxim archives to see what we were up to way back when. This week we’re going back to November of 1998, when Jennifer Esposito blew our minds on Spin City, it was possible to use the phrase “Chain E-mail” with a straight face, and Claire Forlani made us want to meet Joe Black.

Cover Girl:Jennifer Esposito

Where You’ve Seen Her: Back in 1998, Jennifer Esposito was the toast of the town, with a steady gig on the popular sitcom Spin City and starring roles in flicks like Summer of Sam and I Know What You Did Last Summer. In 2004 she starred in Crash, which ultimately won the Oscar for Best Picture and made Jennifer a bona fide star.

Where She Is Now: The years have been good to this sexy leading lady, who is just as hot as ever 15 years after her Maxim cover. After starring on the CBS drama Blue Bloods opposite Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg from 2010 to 2012, the actress is currently filming a new Luc Besson-produced TV series called Taxi: Brooklyn South. We can’t wait to see it.

Featuring:

Kids Read the Darndest Things


“It Came From the Web” reads the heading for this retro item, in which our predecessors made suggestions for funny fake kids book titles after a Washington Post reader contest went viral (or as viral as anything could go when everyone was using AOL mail and dial-up Internet). But while the concept may seem dated in today’s meme-crazy world, we still got a laugh out of our proposed book, “See Dick Stiffen” – proving yet again that in an era in which everything instantly feels stale, the dick joke remains timeless.

Claire Forlani


This British bombshell made a splash with her memorable role as the Grim Reaper’s girlfriend in 1998’s Meet Joe Black, and while our expert’s prediction that she might be the next Renee Zellweger didn’t quite come true, Claire has worked consistently over the years, with recurring roles on NCIS: Los Angeles, CSI:NY, and a smattering of film parts. Next up, she’ll star in Another Me, opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

More Throwback Thursdays:

January 2001 – Laura Prepon

Throwback Thursday: October 2004 – Avril Lavigne