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Everything Old Is New Again: Familiar Faces Returning To Fall Television Fall television brings back some of your favorite — and not-so-favorite — actors. Tim Allen, Claire Danes, and plenty more familiar faces pop up in our fall preview slideshow.

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Everything Old Is New Again: Familiar Faces Returning To Fall Television

  • There's probably nobody making as hard a turn this fall as Kelsey Grammer, who is leaving Frasier Crane entirely behind as a ruthless Chicago mayor in the Starz drama Boss.
    There's probably nobody making as hard a turn this fall as Kelsey Grammer, who is leaving Frasier Crane entirely behind as a ruthless Chicago mayor in the Starz drama Boss.
    Chuck Hodes/Starz Media
  • Jaime Pressly, who won an Emmy for My Name Is Earl, seen here with Tony Award winner and one-time Wonderfalls star Katie Finneran, will be on Fox's I Hate My Teenage Daughter, as a mom who fears that her daughter is turning into a so-called "mean girl."
    Jaime Pressly, who won an Emmy for My Name Is Earl, seen here with Tony Award winner and one-time Wonderfalls star Katie Finneran, will be on Fox's I Hate My Teenage Daughter, as a mom who fears that her daughter is turning into a so-called "mean girl."
    Patrick Ecclesine/FOX
  • Hank Azaria has been around — he's a voice on The Simpsons, he starred on Huff, and he made countless appearances on shows like Friends and Mad About You. Now, he'll be half of a dysfunctional semi-couple on NBC's Free Agents, playing opposite Kathryn Hahn.
    Hank Azaria has been around — he's a voice on The Simpsons, he starred on Huff, and he made countless appearances on shows like Friends and Mad About You. Now, he'll be half of a dysfunctional semi-couple on NBC's Free Agents, playing opposite Kathryn Hahn.
    Mike Ansell/NBC
  • If there's anyone who is trying to precisely duplicate past success, it's Tim Allen, whose role as a beleaguered "man's man" on ABC's Last Man Standing looks an awful lot like his role as Tim Taylor on the network's Home Improvement. Playing his wife: TV veteran Nancy Travis.
    If there's anyone who is trying to precisely duplicate past success, it's Tim Allen, whose role as a beleaguered "man's man" on ABC's Last Man Standing looks an awful lot like his role as Tim Taylor on the network's Home Improvement. Playing his wife: TV veteran Nancy Travis.
    Randy Holmes/ABC
  • Jennifer Morrison is familiar from House, where she played Dr. Allison Cameron for several seasons. Now, she's on ABC's Once Upon A Time, one of two creepy fairy-tale adaptations coming this fall.
    Jennifer Morrison is familiar from House, where she played Dr. Allison Cameron for several seasons. Now, she's on ABC's Once Upon A Time, one of two creepy fairy-tale adaptations coming this fall.
    Jeff Petry/ABC
  • Jeremy Sisto's last big regular TV role was as Detective Cyrus Lupo on late seasons of Law & Order. He's going back to comedy — where he's been before, as fans of the original Clueless remember quite well — in ABC's Suburgatory, about a single dad who takes his precocious daughter out of the city to a new home.
    Jeremy Sisto's last big regular TV role was as Detective Cyrus Lupo on late seasons of Law & Order. He's going back to comedy — where he's been before, as fans of the original Clueless remember quite well — in ABC's Suburgatory, about a single dad who takes his precocious daughter out of the city to a new home.
    Karen Neal/ABC
  • Everyone already knew Margo Martindale was a great character actress. But then, on FX's Justified, she blew everybody else off the screen as matriarch Mags Bennett. Now, she's on CBS's drama A Gifted Man, as the wisecracking assistant to a prickly doctor (Patrick Wilson). If they're smart, they'll give her plenty to do.
    Everyone already knew Margo Martindale was a great character actress. But then, on FX's Justified, she blew everybody else off the screen as matriarch Mags Bennett. Now, she's on CBS's drama A Gifted Man, as the wisecracking assistant to a prickly doctor (Patrick Wilson). If they're smart, they'll give her plenty to do.
    Heather Wines/CBS
  • Who's in that fedora? Why, it's Dylan McDermott, who spent years as the fiery lead of The Practice. Now, he's the husband in the terrorized family at the center of FX's creepy American Horror Story. Playing his wife is Connie Britton, Emmy-nominated for her work as Tami Taylor on Friday Night Lights.
    Who's in that fedora? Why, it's Dylan McDermott, who spent years as the fiery lead of The Practice. Now, he's the husband in the terrorized family at the center of FX's creepy American Horror Story. Playing his wife is Connie Britton, Emmy-nominated for her work as Tami Taylor on Friday Night Lights.
    Robert Zuckerman/FX
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar became massively famous as Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Now, she'll be on the CW's Ringer, playing a pair of identical twins.
    Sarah Michelle Gellar became massively famous as Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Now, she'll be on the CW's Ringer, playing a pair of identical twins.
    JoJo Whilden/The CW
  • But keep in mind: you don't have to be a decorated actor to make a comeback. Ask Eddie Cibrian, who's bounced from Sunset Beach to Third Watch to Vanished to last fall's quickly canceled Chase. He is the man who cannot be kept down, and this fall, he's back on NBC's The Playboy Club — as is David Krumholtz, who recently departed CBS's Numb3rs. (Matt Din...
    But keep in mind: you don't have to be a decorated actor to make a comeback. Ask Eddie Cibrian, who's bounced from Sunset Beach to Third Watch to Vanished to last fall's quickly canceled Chase. He is the man who cannot be kept down, and this fall, he's back on NBC's The Playboy Club — as is David Krumholtz, who recently departed CBS's Numb3rs.
    Matt Dinerstein/NBC

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This fall, like every fall, not only brings a bunch of new faces to television, but also reunites viewers with folks they've liked — or disliked — in the past. Some of these actors are beloved, some are less so, but all of them are known from at least one significant TV project in the past. (Some as recently as last year.)

From Emmy winners to distinctly not-Emmy-winners who simply can't be kept down, it's time to review some of the old favorites and non-favorites who will be popping up again soon.