Familiar Faces Returning To Fall TV

Christina Applegate

Where you know her best from TV: The ditzy but loveable Kelly Bundy on the decade-long, now classic sitcom Married…With Children.
Where you last saw her on TV: As the titular amnesiac in the 2007-2009 half-hour comedy, Samantha Who?

Trae Patton/NBC

Christina Applegate

Where you will see her this fall: As a sleep-deprived new mom on NBC’s half-hour comedy Up All Night. "I know that for myself I still feel like I'm in my early twenties, so a baby comes and does change [my world]. For me, I mean, she's a blessing-- my baby's a blessing-- but it's definitely [an adjustment]. These later‑in‑life parents who have been doing it their way for a really long time-- now it's someone else's way," Applegate previewed.

NBC Television/Fotos International/Getty Images

Ted Danson

Where you know him best from TV: As the loveable ex-ball player and barkeep who knew everyone’s name on Cheers from 1982 to 1993. Where you last saw him on TV: The “demented God” George Christopher on HBO’s Bored to Death from 2009-2011 (and he will continue on this show with another new season).

Ted Danson

Where you will see him this fall: As the brand new C.S.I. technician and head of the team D.B. Russell on CBS’ C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation. "A sense of humor-- looking for funny-- takes a certain kind of intelligence…and it's the same brain that kind of looks for clues and solves things, and so I feel at home in a funny way, even though I'm not doing jokes. I really feel like I have walked into this perfect situation for me," Danson said. "Trying to hold a crazy group of people, whether they're crazy bright or crazy silly, is something I've done before and I kind of respond to. It makes sense to me in a funny way."

Poppy Montgomery

Where you know her best from TV: As the tough FBI agent Samantha Spade on CBS’ 2002-2007 missing persons procedural Without a Trace opposite fellow Aussie Anthony Lapaglia. Where you last saw her on TV: A couple of made-for-TV Lifetime movies, notably one about famed author J.K. Rowling, in which she adopted a British accent.

GIOVANNI RUFINO/CBS

Poppy Montgomery

Where you will see her this fall: Back on CBS in the crime procedural Unforgettable but this time almost as the anti-law enforcement. "In the pilot [Carrie] had left law enforcement. She was gambling and in underground casinos and really living a pretty isolated existence, so what was interesting to me is, when she came back into it, she comes back in in a much looser way. She doesn’t conform to the rules of that world; she doesn’t wear suits!" Montgomery shared of the differences between characters in what could be an otherwise formulaic genre. "She sort of separates herself, and I like that. I like that lone‑wolf kind of quality she has and the recklessness that she has."

Tim Allen

Where you know him best from TV: As the lovable but accident prone man of machismo and father of three (boys) Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor in the ‘90s family sitcom Home Improvement. Where you last saw him on TV: Probably during an airing of one of the Toy Story movies as the voice of Buzz Lightyear. "To infinity, and beyond!"

Tim Allen

Where you will see him this fall: As the lovable but out of touch man of machismo and father of three (girls) Mike Baxter in ABC’s family sitcom Last Man Standing. "I think, if you notice, every guy on TV has a flannel shirt and a gray tee‑shirt underneath, and he likes beer, and he's got a much better‑looking wife than he deserves. It's buffoonery," Allen offered his take on the common sitcom. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say we're not going to do that on this show. The tide keeps it that way, but we're not going to do that."

Michael Mosley

Where you know him best from TV: In the final season of Scrubs in 2009, he was new intern Drew who came back to med school after a somewhat public breakdown and a ten year absence. Where you last saw him on TV: In an episode of Happy Endings this spring, in which he played an artist squatting in the attic above Max and Dave’s apartment.

Pan AM

Michael Mosley

Where you will see him this fall: As a pilot in the ABC aviation period drama Pan Am. We’ve seen Mosley’s subtle brand snark and dark side before. So though ABC has mostly been advertising the stewardesses storylines in the pilot episode of Pan Am, you should not expect Mosley’s character of Ted, one of the pilots of the aircrafts on which these women work and have adventures, to just be in the background. He will have adventures of his own and therefore a chance to stamp unique trademarks onto his character, as well. "There’s an exciting discovery that these stewardesses are going on, but the men are on as much of a journey, as much of a ride, as the ladies," Mosley’s co-star Mike Vogel said to Snakkle.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Where you know her best from TV: The seven-year (1996-2003) epic Buffy the Vampire Slayer, duh! Where you last saw heard her on TV: Voicing a number of characters for Seth Green’s Robot Chicken through 2009.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Where you will see her this fall: Portraying not one, not two, but technically three characters on Ringer for The CW. Gellar will be twins Bridget and Siobhan (in both present day and flashbacks), as well as Bridget pretending to be Siobhan when she assumes her sister’s identity. Welcome back, Buffy! "She's not saving the world [this time]; she's just trying to save herself," Gellar said of her character Bridget, a recovering addict who assumes her twin sister’s identity in order to escape her old life and cover up the fact that her sister met an untimely demise.

Rachel Bilson

Where you know her best from TV: As the somewhat spoiled and often glib Summer Roberts on The O.C. (2003-2007). Where you last saw her on TV: Two episodes of How I Met Your Mother in 2010.

Michael Tackett/The CW

Rachel Bilson

Where you will see her this fall: As the titular Zoe Hart in ‘Hart of Dixie’ on The CW. "I don't feel any pressure because I really feel like it's a group effort and everyone is so fantastic. I realize it is Hart of Dixie and Zoe Hart, it is her last name, but it is a group effort, and it really is a family," Bilson said.

Kathryn Hahn

Where you know her best from TV: Spending six years (2001-2007) as quirky grief counselor Lily Lebowski on Crossing Jordan for NBC. Where you last saw her on TV: As an over-sexed sister on FOX’ short-lived sitcom Traffic Light just last season.

Mitchell Haaseth/NBC

Kathryn Hahn

Where you will see her this fall: One half of the PR duo also sleeping with each other on NBC’s office relationship comedy Free Agents. "Her armor is so polished, and she's so together," Hahn said of Helen. "Underneath she's just a mess…I love the fact that this is a woman that you see so controlled through the pilot, and by the end of it, you see that she's just coming to terms with everything she's been in denial [about]."

Eddie Cibrian

Where you know him best from TV: Soap fans will always know and love him as Cole Deschanel during his two-year stint on Sunset Beach from 1997-1999 but more mainstream television fans can’t forget his memorable mark on primetime in Third Watch from 1999-2005. Where you last saw him on TV: The short-lived Chase on NBC just last fall.

John Russo/NBC

Eddie Cibrian

Where you will see him this fall: As the dashing Nick Dalton, a lawyer and member of The Playboy Club with mob ties and a dastardly past. "Moving into the early sixties, which was, for men-- especially people who had these keys to go into the Playboy Club-- people smoked and drank and they didn't think about the consequences that we all know now. It was just about kind of getting lost in a world," Cibrian shared the focus of the show. "At the time, the top entertainers and politicians and mobsters kind of all rubbed shoulders. And where do you get that now? You don't. So as far as nostalgia is concerned, it's kind of cool for people to be able to sit back and kind of get lost in that world."

The CW

Scott Porter

Where you last saw AND know him best from TV: Porter starred as Dillon Panthers' quarterback, Jason Street, who suffered a spinal injury on NBC and DirecTV's acclaimed Friday Night Lights. Where you will see him this fall: Porter heads south to the Hart of Dixie on The CW, where he is staying true to his small town Dillon roots with his new role as good guy George Tucker: "Every scene [in Hart of Dixie] is a portrait, and every character is so well thought out, but there's a lightheartedness and a fun kind of feel to the show that I think television really needed and I needed personally. I needed to be able to laugh and smile and have a great time and be a little ornery and be a leading man for once. And they have created a wonderful town and a wonderful character in George Tucker for me to be able to do that."

Robert Zuckerman/FX

Connie Britton

Where you last saw AND know her best from TV: Britton starred as feisty school guidance counselor and coach's wife Tami Taylor on Friday Night Lights. Where you will see her this fall: Britton tackles American Horror Story for FX and Ryan Murphy. She might be taking the single greatest leap, diving into a supernatural thriller and immediately having an intimate encounter with an otherworldly being. "Obviously coming from Friday Night Lights. I like character driven stuff; I like stuff that goes deep into unexplored emotion and all that, so for me, I felt like [the scene confronting Dylan McDermott about his infidelity] was kind of the baseline of what the show is. Yes, the show is about horror, but I think all the horror we see is about every single one of these characters’ different experience," Britton shared with Snakkle.

Minka Kelly

Where you last saw AND know her best from TV: Kelly starred as the beautiful dream girl and head cheerleader (with a thing for bad boys) Lila Garrity on Emmy-nominated Friday Night Lights. Where you will see her this fall: Kelly is taking on a tough chick role as a young woman who grew up in an orphanage and initially joins the Angels simply in an act of vengeance but finds a surrogate family there. "I am an only child, and I was raised by a single mother, and we moved around a lot. And I understand what that's about, and I also understand what it is to create your own family. And I'm really attracted to that aspect of the show, as far as making these girls and Bosley my family," Kelly spoke for herself as an actress as well as Eve as a character.