Entertainment

'Roswell' Is Back! Sort Of...

by Jodi Walker

You know what I was thinking recently? Television could really use another medical drama; but this time, let's make those doctors a couple'a renagades ! Alright, no, The Night Shift doesn't have the most novel premise — "the night shift is different than the day shift," NBC screams — but, even before it's premiere tonight, the new show has at least one thing going for it: Brendan Fehr, of former Roswell (and turn of the millennium swooning) fame.

The year 2000 was a glorious time on the WB; among the shows about vampire slayers, and the shows about extremely fertile preacher's families, came Roswell, a show about decently fertile, but mostly dreamy and broody, aliens. Who could forget the Dido-scored opening credits? Who could forget the Tobasco-petition to keep the sci-fi show on air? Who could forget Roswell? Well, Fehr might have, frankly, because it ended 12 years ago, but it will likely forever be the project for which he's most remembered.

So, given that Fehr has gone from playing a rebellious, teenage, star-crossed lover alien, to a rebellious, macho ex-Army medic torn about keeping his sexual orientation under wraps, we've got a few questions about what got him from point A(lien) to point B. But first, a look a Fehr in all his alien glory:

What's he been up to for the last 12 years?

Hopefully you didn't let the dissolution of the WB keep you from watching Fehr on your small screen, because this guy has been around. After the cancellation of Roswell, Fehr didn't stay down for long, starring in the "Stuck in the Moment" music video of a little band named U2, and Vanessa Carlton's "Pretty Baby" (below) — oh yeah, you remember it. Fehr ultimately took his talents back to network television though, scoring the role of lab tech Dan Cooper on CSI: Miami, and then a recurring role as Agent Booth's brother on Bones. In the midst of all that, Fehr married Jennifer Rowley in 2006, and the three have two daughters. Finally, a happy family for Michael/Rath!

Will we get the six seasons and a movie from The Night Shift we should have gotten out of Roswell?

Oh, most assuredly not. Though The Night Shift is full of actors people love watching on TV — Ken Leung (Lost), Daniella Alonso (Revolution), and our boy Brendan, to name a few — it seems to be even more full of cliches. At least, that's the common word running through early reviews of the pilot. Brian Lowry at Variety assessed, " The Night Shift feels aimed at those who might have found Chicago Fire too intellectually demanding." But hey, those people are out there, and if you are one of them, you should give The Night Shift a try. A little medical-show cliche never killed anybody.

Is there anything else out there? (Like, let's say, more Roswell?)

Yes! Well, kind of. In between television series, Fehr has also made a career of small indie films, and on the docket this year is Roswell FM, in which Fehr plays a paranormal talk radio host. It's not exactly a followup on the status of Michael and Maria, but it might scratch that decade-old Roswell itch.

Image: WB; Wordpress/dvdbash