High Hopes For Sarah Michelle Gellar's Return To TV

Buffy The Vampire Slayer ended its run in 2003, and since then, there’s been a Sarah Michelle Gellar-shaped hole in American televisions. This fall, SMG returns to the small screen in Ringer, a weird and complicated thriller we’re ridiculously excited about.

In press materials from the CW, Ringer is described thusly:

Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as a woman who, after witnessing a murder, goes on the run, hiding out by assuming the life of her wealthy identical twin sister – only to learn that her sister’s seemingly idyllic life is just as complicated and dangerous as the one she’s trying to leave behind.

You guys: SMG plays twins!

More from the press release:

Bridget is six months sober and starting to turn her life around when she is the sole witness to a professional hit. Despite the assurances of her FBI protector, Agent Victor Machado, Bridget knows her life is on the line. She flees to New York, telling no one, not even her Narcotics Anonymous sponsor, Malcolm. In New York, Bridget reunites with her estranged twin, Siobhan. Wealthy, pampered and married to the strikingly handsome Andrew Martin, Siobhan lives what appears to be a fairy tale life – a life where no one knows that Bridget exists. The sisters seem to be mending their frayed relationship, until Siobhan disappears mysteriously, and Bridget makes the split decision to take on her sister’s identity. She discovers shocking secrets, not only about her sister and her marriage, but also about Siobhan’s best friend, Gemma, and Gemma’s husband, Henry. And when someone tries to kill Bridget in her sister’s penthouse, she realizes she is no safer as Siobhan than she is as herself. The series stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as Bridget and Siobhan, Kristoffer Polaha as Henry, Ioan Gruffudd as Andrew Martin, Nestor Carbonell as Agent Victor Machado and Tara Summers as Gemma. RINGER is produced by CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television in association with ABC Television Studios and Brillstein Entertainment with executive producers Pam Veasey (“CSI, NY,” “The District”), Peter Traugott (“Samantha Who?”) and Emmy Award-winner Richard Shepard (“Ugly Betty”). The pilot was directed by Richard Shepard.

It’s quite impossible to tell, just from the preview clips, whether Ringer will be any good. But we have high hopes, not just as Buffy fans, but as women who enjoy seeing women cast in projects that don’t involve brides, beaux or babies. On Buffy, Gellar was the girl next door — not in the twee, innocent sense, but in the regular-girl-discovers-her-inner-strength-and-tackles-life-head-on sense. It’s not that she didn’t care about boys or shoes, it’s just that she also had a whole bunch of other stuff going on. Most of us can relate to that. This new show doesn’t seem to have the ass-kicking action of Buffy (yet?) but with any luck, SMG will once again be a TV heroine we can get behind.