This post guest-written by B.D. Bolin. There are many celebrities, I am sure, who would give anything to revive their flagging careers but our guest writer seems to have a special affinity for Whitney...who wouldn't?

Have you ever wondered what happens to celebrities when their star fades? The fame game is notoriously fickle, and the celebrity revolving door can have you on the cover of the tabloids one week, and at the end of the sentence “whatever happened to” the next. Yet every year there seems to be a handful of fallen stars who, by hard work or sheer dumb luck, return to the spotlight, sometimes wiser for their journey, sometimes just hungry for a second taste. Pop culture loves a comeback story.

Comeback predictions are a tricky business. The American public has a rebellious, independent spirit, and tastemakers and celebrity pundits are, more often than not, dead wrong about the way the entertainment winds blow. Our celebrity history is littered with unexpected resurgences from once-hot stars that no one saw coming.

Think John Travolta after his Oscar-nominated work in Pulp Fiction, or Kylie Minogue on the heels of Can’t Get You Out of My Head becoming the biggest song of 2002. Remember Donny Osmond returning to the charts with Soldier of Love in the early 90s? The best comebacks are the ones that catch us unaware, showing us someone we thought we knew so well in a new light, or reminding us why we loved them in the first place.

Now we look at a new year, and with a nod to the precarious nature of the task at hand, here are some predictions for who’s due for a re-match with fame in 2008...the once irresistible "crooning" diva, Whitney Houston, tops the list:

Whitney Houston- With her train-wreck marriage and (alleged) drug habit behind her, the diva is poised to take the charts back from the children who’ve come in her wake. She should take a note from the comeback of her one-time duet partner, Mariah Carey, and shoot for a collaboration with a hot, young producer. A great song is all she’ll need to drive that reality show right out of our minds and put the attention right back where it belongs — on that glorious voice.

The others: 

Justine Bateman- With the resurgence of the career of her brother, Jason, and a much talked about turn on his cult hit sitcom, Arrested Development, this is a plum year for the former Mallory Keaton to stage a comeback. Maybe a clever, well-written cable sitcom a la Sex and the City, or a supporting role in an ensemble piece, like her recent work on Men in Trees.

Joshua Jackson- Not much has been heard from this Dawson’s Creek dreamboat since the show ended its run in 2003, but Jackson was recently rumored to be in the running for the lead role of Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher in the long awaited Fletch Lives, stepping into the role made famous by Chevy Chase. Jackson could re-invent himself as a movie funnyman, casting off his teen idol past and winning a legion of new fans.

Ricki Lake- With a new documentary about natural childbirth on the way, and a new comedy series on tap, the one-time princess of “oh no you didn’t” daytime talk could reclaim her public this year. A reunion with gross-out comedy king, John Waters, who discovered Lake for his 1988 film Hairspray, could bring lots of attention to her new projects.

Britney Spears- What could be said about Miss Spears that hasn’t already been written? Allegations this past year — of drug use and mental illness, loss of visitation with her children, beating up cars with umbrellas — have been pretty bad for the pop singer. The sole highlight was her music; she scored a number one single with Gimme More and her Blackout album was well-reviewed. Sober, coherent Spears could shock the world and prove the skeptics wrong with a tour or even another record, putting attention back on her work and not on her antics.

Bill Clinton- Huh? You bet I think he is slipping into the netherworld, but with his wife making a historic run at the White House, Bill has come out of semi-retirement and is on the campaign trail, reminding us that he is probably the most skillful politician in American history. Despite his reputation for, um, over-indulgences, the former President is still very well-liked by voters and will likely be out in force over the election year, campaigning for another trip to Pennsylvania Avenue, this time as First Husband.

Finally: 

So, like most of you, I’m anxious to see what awaits us in 2008. The possibilities are endless; who will be big, who will fall from grace, and who will scratch their way back into the limelight from obscurity. I am betting on Whitney, but it matters not...whoever it is, it will make a great story!