BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Favorite shows may fade away — or be yanked from our screens by a heartless network — but the people who starred in them have a way of bouncing back.

You may not get to see "Joan of Arcadia’s" Amber Tamblyn on TV this fall, but Wentworth Miller, the actor who played her mysterious adversary in the CBS show’s final few episodes, is already back at work, portraying a man trying to free his brother from Death Row, in one of the best dramas of the new season, Fox’s "Prison Break."

Tamblyn seems to have embarked on a movie career, but "Joan’s" demise may have come as enough of a surprise to shut most of her co-stars out of pilot season, the annual frenzy when many actors juggle more potential roles than they could possibly accept, hoping to land something that will actually stick.

Dreaming of other roles

It looks as if the cast of NBC’s "American Dreams" saw the writing on the wall, because at least four of them have landed new jobs. Gail O’Grady is playing a real- estate agent with a promiscuous past on an ABC sitcom called "Hot Properties," while Will Estes, who played her son JJ, will be aged 20 years over the course of the first season of the Fox murder mystery "Reunion." Jonathan Adams, who played Henry Walker on "Dreams," is a doctor on the upcoming Fox forensic drama "Bones," while Keith Robinson, who played Henry’s conscientious-objector nephew, Nathan, is now in uniform on FX’s Iraq-war drama, "Over There," which premiered last week.

Right now, it’s looking as if Adams and Robinson made the smartest choices: "Over There" premiered to an average audience of 4.1 million viewers, and "Bones," which also stars David Boreanaz, appears to be one of the best of the latest crop of law-enforcement series.

Seth Green, who since his stint as Willow’s werewolf boyfriend Oz has worked steadily, will settle down in a slightly more conventional role in ABC’s buddy sitcom "Four Kings." First impressions count

However all these new projects turn out, the actors will likely face questions for the rest of their careers about the roles that first brought them to our attention.

Even if they weren’t particularly memorable.

Heather Graham, who did a stint on "Scrubs" last season, will be starring in ABC’s midseason comedy, "Emily’s Reasons Why Not." Her network bio mentions work on "Twin Peaks," though not one critic appeared to remember.

One finally asked what she’d done on the show.

"Oh, I was Annie Blackburn," she said. "I’m not positive that was my last name, but I was Peggy Lipton’s sister. I tried to commit suicide. I was a nun, and I was Kyle MacLachlan’s love interest."

Hey, laugh if you like, but there may come a day when Boreanaz will have piled up enough other roles that he’ll actually have to explain that he once played "a vampire with a soul."