Bleeth Burns Bridges

"I see limitless potential for this kind of character," she says of her role as conniving vixen Heather Lane on the new NBC soap, airing Wednesdays (8-9 pm/ET) this fall. "I don't think there's any obstacles in [terms of] where the character can go at all."

Contrarily, Bleeth says she knew going into Nash Bridges back in fall 1998 that the role of policewoman Caitlin Cross would eventually prove limiting. "When you've been [in] television for kind of a long time, you get a feeling about the lifetime of a character," says Bleeth, a soap vet (One Life to Live) who also spent three seasons on Baywatch. "I sort of had that feeling. I think that it's really a Don Johnson show, and no woman has really ever lasted for more than one season."

As a result, the actress started scouting out new TV opportunities at the start of her second year with Nash Bridges. "I definitely wanted to do an ensemble show," she says. And with a little help from her agent, she convinced CBS to let her shoot the Titans pilot.

"[Bleeth] would fly to San Francisco, do [Nash Bridges], would fly back on a 1 o'clock plane, and report to our [Hollywood] studios at 6:30," recalls Spelling. "That's the kind of spirit she has. I've never seen anyone work that hard."-Rich Brown