TV Flashback: Viewing like its 1999-- Current Stars as Former Flops

So, I was trying to clean up my total disaster of a bedroom this weekend and as I was going through some papers, I found an old section of a TV Guide circa 1999. Before I tossed it out in pack-rat disgust, I flipped through some of the pages to find it was from a fall television preview guide. As I looked at what shows were on that year, I was titillated to discover a number of current stars in shows that later tanked, some in the very same year they debuted. For your pleasure now, take a look at those who went on to much bigger and better things.

Linda Cardellini, currently in ER
then in Freaks and Geeks
This critically acclaimed NBC show was picked as a "TV Guide Fall Favorite", but never found its niche with the fans. Lasting a slightly better than terrible 18 episodes (roughly 1 season), Cardellini played "a pensive brainiac who has begun to rebel and hang with the freaks", or, as it were, the geek within the freaks. After being cancelled in 2000, she later went on to play Velma in the Scoobie Doo movies, and has been on ER since 2003.

Amanda Peet and Jaime Pressly, currently in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and My Name is Earl
then in Jack & Jill
A cute, but continually struggling, by-product of the now defunct WB network, this diamond in the rough cast also featured the likes of Simon Rex who later appeared on the same network with Amanda Bynes and Jennie Garth inWhat I Like About You and in Scary Movie 3 and 4. While Peet concurrently starred in The Whole Nine Yards movie with her current co-star on Studio 60, Matthew Perry, while Jack & Jill had its run from 1999-2001, Pressly wouldn't star in Not Another Teen Movie until after the show ended. In addition to being recently engaged and expecting her first child with fellow actor Eric Cubiche, she also stars on the NBC hit sitcom, What About Earl?

Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Love Hewitt, currently in Catch and Release(movie) and Ghost Whisperer
then in Time of Your Life
This disappointing spin-off of Party of Five featured a pre-Felicity/Scott Foley/Alias/Daredevil/ Electra/Hollywood divorce/Ben Affleck/re-marriage/baby Violet/(oh, and let us not forget the epic Dude Where's My Car either)-- Jennifer Garner, and a formerly younger and spunkier Jennifer Love Hewitt, in a show that filmed 19 episodes but only aired 13. Though Ben's movie did beat his wife's in the box office this past weekend, it is decidedly so that Garner went on to much bigger and better things and Hewitt went on to CBS.

Kate Walsh, currently in Grey's Anatomy
then in The Mike O'Malley Show
This far from memorable show that lasted all of one episode was just one of a number of stints a formerly blonde Walsh had on some rather formulaic-ly named sitcoms, including a recurring role on the Drew Carey Show, before finding success as a redhead in the hit drama, Grey's Anatomy. Other sitcom sidetracks include appearances on: The Weber Show, The Norm Show, and Complete Savages, as well as slightly meatier fare on the similarly fated dramaKaren Sisco.

Katherine Heigl, currently on Grey's Anatomy
then in Roswell
Another doomed WB darling, this show unwittingly held another future Grey's star captive from 1999-2002, where she played an orphaned alien from the supposed 1947 spaceship crash in New Mexico. Colin Hanks, Tom Hanks son, and future star of the cult hit movie Orange County, also starred.

Anne Hathaway, most recently in The Devil Wears Prada (movie)
then in Get Real
Marking her debut as an actress, before finding success on the big screen in the Princess Diaries, Hathaway co-starred with Christina Pickles (of Friends fame as Ross and Monica's mom, Judy Gellar) in this light-hearted Fox sitcom that lasted all of 9 episodes.