Just this week one of our guest-writers submitted the piece - Some Beloved Fallen Stars...2008 May Just Be The Year. Here Glenda K. Fralin, another of our guest-writers gives her perspective (with a few overlaps) on celebrities hot on the comeback trail.

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1. Meg Ryan’s return in 2008 with mature rolls, shedding the All American girl comic typecast that followed her prior to the breakup with ex-husband Dennis Quaid. It’s time the public forgives and forgets the overly sensationalized past. Her return with other Hollywood heavyweights will speak well for boosting Meg’s career. The 2008 credits will include The Deal, a comedy with William H. Macy, My Mom’s New Boyfriend with co-star Antonio Banderas, and The Women, with a host of female stars including Eva Mendes, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Carrie Fisher, just to name a few from this all female cast.

2. Owen Wilson will be returning in 2008 after his problems with depression and a suicide attempt placed him on a secluded and much needed break in 2007. In 2008, we will see him in Drillbit Taylor, about a budget bodyguard hired by two high school boys to protect them from the school bully. Next, Outsourced, still under discussion, is a movie about two men heading to Mexico to regain their jobs after their company relocates there. Finally, Marley & Me is a comedy based on the premise of a family learning life’s lessons from their dog.

3. Mel Gibson has not starred in a movie since 2006, but he isn’t done yet. He stayed behind the camera producing and directing the controversial hits The Passion of the Christ (2004), and Apocalypto (2006). Gibson will be starring in Under and Alone, an action and crime drama, and later in Sam and George, about two friends reuniting after one is released from prison.

4. Noah Wyle, who has been on hiatus since 2006, will reappear this year with three movie credits. He is returning as Carson Flynn in the action comedy The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice. Next, he will take on a dramatic role as Mike Stafford in Boy of Pigs, about a 13-year old Catholic school boy coming into his teens in 1963. Finally, Noah will be appearing in Nothing but the Truth, set to open in September. This movie promises to be an interesting political drama about a reporter who exposes a CIA agent but refuses to give up her source. Kate Beckinsale has the starring role in the movie.

5. David Duchovny has not been out of the industry, but has struggled with roles against type cast. His Showtime series, Californication, is no longer filming, at least for now. He had some good movie roles in 2007 when he was cast opposite Halley Berry and Benicio Del Toro in Things We Lost in the Fire. This year Duchovny will return for reappearance as Fox Mulder in a sequel to the X-files. This is where the public seems most comfortable with Duchovny. It worked for the original cast of Star Trek in the run of Star Trek movies. Who knows what may happen here? He will again be opposite Gillian Anderson and it will be interesting to see where this takes these two actors.

6. Gillian Anderson seems to be coming back big in the United Kingdom since the success of The Last King of Scotland. She also starred in a 2007 thriller, Straightheads. With four movies in 2008, I look for Gillian to make a major return to the limelight.

Anderson’s year will begin with Boogie Woogie, with Amanda Seyfried, Heather Graham, Christopher Lee, and Stellan Skarsgard. Then she will follow in a comedy How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, with Megan Fox, Kirsten Dunst, Simon Pegg, and Jeff Bridges. Returning to the X-Files in X-Files 2, she will reclaim her role as Scully with David Duchovny. She is to finish up 2008 with a leading role in No One Gets Off in This Town, a comedy with co-star William Hurt. She has plans to set off 2009 with The Smell of Apples. I hope all of these will make their way to the United States.

7. Shannen Doherty is finally making it back into movies after a troubled career and several failed television series. After leaving her successful role on Charmed, she made a short stint on Scare Tactics and then produced her own show Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty. Other roles tended to elude her or failed. She returned in 2007 with a TV movie Christmas Caper. Now for 2008, she has two movie roles in Kiss Me Deadly and Defunct. I hope, for Shannen’s sake, she makes a good showing this year. With a long and successful career beginning with her debut role in Father Murphy at the age of 10, she is one of few child actors to have successfully transformed into an adult career.

8. Sheryl Crow, after defeating cancer and becoming a mother, has taken stock of what is important in her life. She is coming back with a renewed power in her music and herself. She is focused and ready to work. Sheryl has never been completely out of the picture, and her name alone can get the presses running and fans talking. With a new zest for life, Crow is ready to take on a revitalized career. This is one strong lady who won’t let anyone, or anything, keep her down very long.

9. Mary-Kate Olsen will continue to build her career this year. She can be seen in one movie, The Wackness. In 2007, she appeared in several episodes of Weeds. The speculation about her eating disorder has not kept her from continuing her career separate from Ashley. It is unfortunate that negative publicity seems to stimulate more interest in celebrities. Now, with the rumored connection to the late Heath Ledger, the press is on her heals. I predict Mary-Kate will be appearing in the public eye this year, which is not likely to hurt her acting career.

10. Goran Visnjic, who all but disappeared from ER in 2007, will be seen this year starring with Ashley Judd in Helen, about a professor coming to terms with her own depression.