Back at Ya

The hot young things of yesteryear. The what's-his-names of yesterday. The look-who's-backs of '91...

Burt Offerings
You thought joint ailments and late-'80s bombs like Rent-a-Cop and Switching Channels had buried Burt Reynolds. You had begun to think of him as Loni's hubby and Sally's ex. You thought wrong. CBS' Evening Shade, in which ex-football pro Reynolds coaches at his old high school, is a hit; it also won him an Emmy and a fresh round of talk show appearances. But it's his series work that's a surprise, reminding us what a low-key charmer he can be.

Nick Knack
He plunged into splashy roles in Who'll Stop the Rain?, North Dallas Forty, and Down and Out in Beverly Hills. But recently, Nick Nolte had been lost in a sea of so-so movies (Teachers, Everybody Wins) and so-much alcohol abuse. Now he's dry, he's fit, he's battled Robert De Niro in Cape Fear and ongoing family traumas in The Prince of Tides, and some say he's on the short list of this year's Best Actor Oscar nominees.

Smiles of a Somers Night
In Three's Company, Suzanne Somers became superfamous as a bimbo. But in 1980, she left in a contract dispute and spent the next decade wobbling through TV movies, a nightclub act, and the syndie show She's the Sheriff. This year she got serious, playing herself in Keeping Secrets, based on her 1988 book about her messed-up family. She also picked a sitcom winner, starring in Step by Step. The show's hot — and so, again, is Ms. S.

Second Life of Bryan
After a four-year absence, rocker Bryan Adams verged on becoming a mid-'80s relic. Then he found himself in Sherwood Forest. ''(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,'' his theme for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, leapt to No. 1 and became the first single in almost a decade to top the chart for seven weeks.