Adam Baldwin

It’s a small TV world after all, especially if you’re Adam Baldwin.

The deep-voiced actor went from playing the volatile mercenary Jayne Cobb on Fox’s short- lived sci-fi/Western "Firefly" (a role he reprised in the movie "Serenity"), executive-produced by creator Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Tim Minear, to a five-episode stint on The WB’s "Buffy" spin-off, "Angel."

A murder mystery with elements of "Groundhog Day" and "Memento," the drama stars Taye Diggs, whom Baldwin says is a friend of Jay Harrington, who co-starred on "The Inside." And, directing the "Day Break" pilot is Rob Bowman, who directed for "The X-Files" series, on which Baldwin played the mysterious Knowle Rohrer for several episodes.

Baldwin found time to stop by Fox’s witty crime procedural "Bones," which stars "Angel" himself, David Boreanaz, as FBI Agent Seeley Booth.

In "Two Bodies in the Lab," airing at 7 tonight on KDVR-

Channel 31, Baldwin plays FBI Agent Jamie Kenton, who is assigned to protect Booth’s informal partner, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel), after an assassination attempt.

"David Boreanaz, he went to bat for me," says Baldwin, who had memorable turns in the movies "My Bodyguard" and "Full Metal Jacket." "Basically, there were other people, and they said, ’What about him?’ And David said, ’Yeah, yeah, I worked with him on "Angel." As a bonus, Baldwin also found common ground with Deschanel, whose father is acclaimed cinematographer Caleb Deschanel.

"Her dad shot ’The Patriot,’ which I did," says Baldwin, "so we were able to talk a little about that. We got along great."

Although he’s "branching out now to ABC," Baldwin keeps in touch with his "Firefly" buddies, including star Nathan Fillion.

"We just had a party over at Nate’s house," he says, "and Joss showed up, so we had some nice reminiscences. He’s still down in the salt mines writing ’Wonder Woman,’ and when he will finish with that, we don’t know. I have no idea what’s in his head."

As to whether Kenton might make a return appearance on "Bones," Baldwin says, "I don’t think my storyline’s going to be allowing for that. Besides, I’ll be working on another show. I’ve got my fingers crossed."