Given how many new shows this fall feature ensemble casts, it can be difficult, on the basis of the few episodes, to guess who will be the season’s breakout stars. But that won’t stop us. Here are other actors who join America Ferrera of ABC’s “Ugly Betty” of stars in new series who we think will endear themselves to audiences.
Masi Oka “HEROES”
NBC, 8 p.m. Mondays
Masi Oka is merely moonlighting as an actor: His day job is designing special-effects programs for Industrial Light and Magic. He designed, among many things, the software for the water effects in the movie “The Perfect Storm.”
“I love my day job,” Oka said. “I’ll still be consulting for them. Using both sides of my brain is so fascinating for me, and I don’t think that I can live one without the other.”
If you tuned in to “Heroes” on Monday, you saw Oka as Hiro, a Tokyo office drone who can snap the space-time continuum. He’s one of several ordinary people who gain extraordinary powers.
Eventually, Oka hopes he can combine his two jobs. “By Season 3,” he said, “I’d love to … bring in my ILM cronies to do the effects for this show.”
John Billingsley “THE NINE”
ABC, 9 p.m. Wednesdays beginning Oct. 4
In “The Nine,” John Billingsley stars as Egan Foote, who walks into a bank a shambling, suicidal wreck and emerges, 52 hours later, the unlikely hero of a violent hostage crisis. “The Nine” follows the survivors of the incident as it draws them into a series of relationships.
“I thought it was very savvy,” Billingsley said of his character’s arc. “This guy is recognizing that it is a second chance at life. He’s approaching that with a tremendous amount of joy and enthusiasm, which no doubt will be tempered by the inevitable bumps in the road.”
Rosemarie DeWitt “STANDOFF”
Fox, 8 p.m. Tuesdays
TV couples exude actual chemistry so rarely that when you do see an actor and actress spark some frisson, you take notice. And Rosemarie DeWitt and Ron Livingston, playing a romantically involved pair of FBI crisis negotiators, deserve notice.
More Top Picks Black Friday And Cyber Monday Phone Deals
Though DeWitt’s resume may be shorter than Livingston’s, she matches him move for move in the series. Entertainment Weekly called DeWitt “the find of the season.”
“I like Ron. It helps when you just like somebody as a person,” DeWitt said. “He’s a good guy to have on your team.”
Lizzy Caplan “THE CLASS”
CBS, 7 p.m. Mondays
The award for Tartest Tongue of the New Fall Season goes to Kat Warbler, the caustic twentysomething in “The Class” who befriends a guy (Jason Ritter) when he’s dumped by his fiance, mainly because he’s such a good punching bag. Lizzy Caplan plays her with malicious glee.
“I end up playing a lot of these characters, the sort of bitchy girl,” said Caplan, best-known as one of the “Mean Girls,” “some may say that I’m like that in real life, but I don’t think too many people would say that to my face.” Not that she’s complaining. “I do enjoy playing characters that speak their minds.”