Pilot Scoop from the 18th Annual Race to Erase MS Gala

Some familiar faces are coming to a TV near you, and TV Guide Magazine caught up with them at the 18th Annual Race to Erase MS Gala on April 29 to get the scoop on their new shows.

After almost a decade away from a steady TV gig, Lea Thompson (Caroline in the City) is now about to play the mother of a daughter she didn't know she had, on ABC Family's Switched at Birth, premiering June 6.

"It's about two girls switched at birth, but they don't find out until they're 16," Thompson tells us. "My [character's] family is very rich and the other family is a single mother who's half Puerto Rican. And my biological daughter is deaf. So we find each other, and we have to sort it out. It's very emotional."

In real life, Thompson's own 16-year old daughter Zoey Deutch has just finished Marc Cherry's pilot Hallelujah. "It was an amazing experience because Marc Cherry is a genius and Michael Apted, who directed Coal Miner's Daughter, directed it and he was so great," gushed Deutch, who soon will find out if the southern gothic dramedy, starring Jesse L Martin, will be picked up for fall. "I fell in love with the cast, so fingers crossed."

Also joining ABC Family this summer is Raven-Symoné (That's So Raven, The Cosby Show). "I have a series coming up called The Great State of Georgia, with Loretta Devine and Majandra Delfino," says Symoné. "The concept is a 2011 That Girl with a little bit of Laverne and Shirley. It's about three women in New York. [My character] comes from Georgia, her best friend comes from Georgia, and they move into Aunt Honey's, which is Loretta Devine's hen house. I'm trying to be an actress and Jo, played by Majandra, is trying to be a physicist. And Aunt Honey makes me laugh so much. She has better lines than me!"

Symoné says what attracted her to the part was the exploration of fame, and the sometimes brutal moments that come with it. "This generation is all about fame and popularity they do it the quick way, not realizing the real work that it takes and the real rejection and the real feelings that go into [it]," she says. "So, we bring the reality to it a little bit more, with a spoon full of sugar."

Into the West's Rachael Leigh Cook tells us she's returning to TNT, but while viewers won't see her new show for another year, Cook says Perception is definitely worth the wait. Starting next June, she will be solving crime with Eric McCormack — with a twist, naturally.

"I'm thrilled to be working with Eric," she tells us. "His character is a professor of neuro-psychiatry who himself has a tenuous relationship with reality. He is then coerced into helping my character solve crimes for the FBI."

Though Cook has been looking for a TV show for a while, this project had a particularly strong selling point. "This character is a really nice departure for me," she says. "People aren't really excited about seeing me run around with a gun, and the fact that these guys gave me the opportunity was a really cool vote of confidence. I'm excited!"

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