Previous Greatness: He received an Emmy nomination for his part in Angels in America, but he's best known as the lovable and randy fool Andy Botwin on Weeds. Sadly, the writing on Animal Practice never gave the humans stars credit for being able to act. Instead, their furry, scaled or feathered co-stars got the bulk of the laughs (damn you, Crystal the monkey!), leaving the hominid actors to play second banana.

Previous Greatness: He broke our hearts as Matt Saracen on Friday Night Lights. Clear eyes, full hearts, can lose. The former Dillon Panthers' quarterback was once part of a strong team, but now Gilford is on his own — especially considering his character is naively in the dark about his girlfriend Grace's deal with the mafia. The actor still brings his A-game as a cocky surgeon, but even Gilford's charm can't save the show from its absurd story lines (or that ridiculous title).

Previous Greatness: She caught our eye as the sexy thief Ames on Human Target. As Martina Garretti, Montgomery traded her posh English accent for a pitch-perfect cadence that sounded like it was straight from Jersey Shore. But all of Montgomery's charms were undone by the tired and unoriginal plot — a fish-out-of-water story about a blue-collar Jersey girl who finds herself working in a high-powered Manhattan law firm. The show was canceled after just two episodes.

Previous Greatness: He starred on House for eight seasons as perhaps the most loyal diagnostician on House's team. Although it's nice to see Spencer shed his lab coat and get his hands dirty as Lt. Matthew Casey, there's no getting past it: Spencer struggles with masking his native Australian accent in nearly every scene of this generic NBC procedural. You'd think that with the constant threat of death-by-fire and Casey's somewhat compelling dual estrangement from his wife and best friend, we wouldn't notice the accent so much. But we do, and it's distracting.

Terry O’Quinn and Vanessa Williams, 666 Park AvenuePrevious Greatness: He mystified (and terrified) us as John Locke on Lost; she was deliciously evil as Ugly Betty's Wilhelmina Slater. Even these two small-screen veterans can't escape being bogged down by the uneven pacing and sheer ridiculousness of 666 Park Avenue. O’Quinn and Williams gnaw their way through pulpy material as Gavin and Olivia Doran, the creepy husband-and-wife owners of the Drake residential hotel. The mystery of whether Gavin is actually the devil is frustrating and hard to care about, while Williams is often criminally underused.

Previous Greatness: He surprised us on the final seasons of Law & Order; she was one of the kids on The Cosby Show. Anderson and Bledsoe are adorable as a stay-at-home dad and working woman in the new NBC comedy. Unfortunately, other than the children, that's about the only thing adorable thing about the series. Instead of delving into the ups and downs of parenthood, Guys with Kids prefers to focus on stale, generic jokes that even these seasoned performers have trouble bringing into the 21st century.

Previous Greatness: Equal parts charm and steel, Gummer played the naive but worthy legal opponent to Julianna Margulies on The Good Wife. There is no arguing that Gummer is a star with the acting chops to back it up. (She's more than Meryl Streep's daughter.) Her skills barely overcome the saccharine-sweet titular role of Emily, a doctor who can cut it in the medical field but lacks the self-control of a 13-year-old Bieber fan when she's faced with her unrequited crush. The show needs to give her some self-respect STAT!

Previous Greatness: Urie played the scheming Mark St. James on Ugly Betty; Krumholtz was a math-whiz crime solver on Numb3rs. Urie is adept at playing outrageous characters, but his boundless talents are being wasted with Partners' dated stereotypical gay jokes that seem to have come from Will & Grace's reject pile. On the other end of the spectrum, Krumholtz is saddled with stilted, yawn-inducing straight man (no pun intended) humor that doesn't even begin to tap into the range he's shown on Numb3rs, ER, The Newsroom and in 10 Things I Hate About You. The bright side? Partners is nowhere near as bad as Krumholtz's previous show The Playboy Club.

Previous Greatness: She played Clark's first love interest Lana on Smallville and had a memorable arc as Hannah on Season 3 of Chuck. While we understand the CW's decision to cast Kreuk as its Beauty, we have a very hard time buying her as a New York detective. (Then again, that's more believable than having a single face scar be hunky Jay Ryan's beastly signature.) Honestly, the show would be better off losing the whole procedural element and becoming more of a tortured romantic tale like the original series.

Previous Greatness: Punk'd, Chelsea Lately, stand-up Yes, we know Cummings is playing a fictionalized version of herself, but there's no excuse for Whitney to be as bland and vanilla as it is with someone as edgy as Cummings as the boss. Did she promise all her brazen humor to her other show 2 Broke Girls?

Previous Greatness: Legendary status in the games of baseball, basketball, football and track. Did athletes such as Reggie Jackson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Larry Bird deserve to have their names sullied for such a one-note, non-funny premise? (Look, all the aliens are named after sports stars! That kid is named Dick Butkus! Hilarious!) Then again, unlike the actors forced to sell this stuff, the athletes don't actually have to show up.