Err Time

Image credit: Sex, Love & Secrets: Alice Hall/UPN

Denise Richards and Chris O'Donnell, take heart. You're not the first movie stars whose attempt at a career boost via a network TV series was painfully short-lived. True, Richards' UPN soap Sex, Love & Secrets (above) halted production after seven episodes, and O'Donnell's Fox drama Head Cases was canceled after just two airings, but that only puts these actors in good company.

Many of Hollywood's most revered performers and biggest box office draws have learned the hard way the old adage that stars don't make TV, TV makes stars. Among the most notable big-screen actors who flopped on the small screen is Geena Davis, whose current hit series, Commander in Chief, is erasing unpleasant memories of The Geena Davis Show. That offers another lesson for Richards and O'Donnell: Keep trying.

Whether TV's star vehicles are admirable or genuine stinkers, they often have the same result: an audience too small for a second season. Read on for the tales of 10 who tried — and didn't succeed.