The fall TV season

Big names come to the small screen

ABC lured big screen star Gabriel Byrne to the small screen for "Madigan Men"

By Thurston Hatcher
CNN.com Writer

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The ho-hum Olympics are crawling to the finish line, "Survivor"-mania has mercifully faded and those "Big Brother" slackers are back on the street.

Sure signs, all of them, that the fall television season is here to rescue us from our summer-long stupor.

And not a minute too soon. Networks traditionally start unveiling their shows in early September, but this year they pushed the season back a month to avoid going head-to-head with the Sydney Summer Games.

Hoping to convince viewers it was worth the wait, they're offering up one of the most star-studded lineups in recent memory.

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Big-name film actors like Bette Midler and Academy Award-winner Geena Davis have their own star vehicles this year. Charlie Sheen has replaced Michael J. Fox on "Spin City," troubled actor Robert Downey Jr. nabbed a recurring role on "Ally McBeal," and two-time Oscar winner Sally Field will have a guest stint on "E.R."

High-profile actors

All it took for Davis, who last appeared on TV in 1985, was a look at the ABC pilot script: a big-city single woman who moves to the suburbs with her boyfriend and his two kids. Before long, it had become "The Geena Davis Show."

"I fell in love with it," she explained. "I said, 'Boy, I should think about doing TV again some day, and then, by the next day I said, "'Oh, I wonder if I should do this actual one?'"

For Sheen, the "Spin City" role was a chance to have some fun with his own bad-boy image.

"The best way, sometimes, to deal with controversy is to meet it head on with humor," he said. "So if we can incorporate those elements into this guy, done tastefully, then I think it can benefit the show."

The list of current and former film actors goes on, including Gabriel Byrne ("Madigan Men," ABC), Ellen Burstyn ("That's Life," CBS), Oliver Platt, Tom Conti, Hope Davis and Lili Taylor ("Deadline," NBC), and Tom Everett Scott ("The Street," Fox).

Directors and producers are getting in on the act, too. "Titanic" director James Cameron hopes to show TV who's king with the Fox science-fiction drama "Dark Angel," about a "genetically enhanced human prototype" who's on the run from her handlers. Film producer Jerry Bruckheimer weighs in with "C.S.I.," featuring a team of crime-solving forensic sleuths.

TV heavyweights return

Plenty of other familiar TV faces will be back in new settings.

Michael "Kramer" Richards is the first of the "Seinfeld" alumni to return to series TV, playing an ex-security guard-turned-detective in NBC's "The Michael Richards Show."

Former "Roseanne" patriarch John Goodman returns as a gay man who recently exited the closet in "Normal, Ohio." Delta Burke resurfaces as the first lady in "DAG," featuring David Alan Grier as her bodyguard. And Emmy-winning "Homicide" heavyweight Andre Braugher stars as the head of a teaching hospital in ABC's "Gideon's Crossing."

Producer Aaron Spelling mines familiar ground with "Titans," a glossy serial drama about a wealthy and turbulent family

The one-armed man returns to prime time in CBS' resurrection of "The Fugitive," this time featuring Tim Daly as wrongly convicted Dr. Richard Kimble. Daly's erstwhile "Wings" co-star, Steven Weber, appears on NBC in "Cursed."

Former coach Craig T. Nelson suits up as a Washington, D.C., police chief in CBS' "The District," while David Letterman's production company delivers CBS' "Welcome to New York," starring sarcastic Christine Baranski from "Cybill" as a tough newsroom boss.

"Dallas" devotees will welcome Victoria Principal's return to the prime-time soap format in Aaron Spelling's "Titans," which lands on NBC.

Viewer shouldn't be so quick to compare "Titans" to the gilt-edged soaps of earlier prime-time seasons, said Principal.

"I believe it's its own show, with its own characters," she said. "I know that I don't bear resemblance to Pam, Crystal or Alexis."

At the same time, Spellings' old series, "Bevery Hills 90210," is getting skewered on the new WB satire "Grosse Point."

Tying up loose ends

Before viewers get too caught up in the new shows, they need to know what happened with their old favorites. Within weeks, they'll find out: