It's always a challenge for an actor to play a well-known part on TV and then to start over on a new show as someone entirely different. Audiences will always be tempted to see them as that first character, leading to typecasting and premature cancellations of new projects. However, recently, actors like Ray Romano have turned this theory on its head. After nine (nine!) seasons on Everybody Loves Raymond, he's deftly crafted a new persona on Men of a Certain Age that, for all intents and purposes, is the anti-Ray Barone. As the second season comes to a close tonight on TNT (and as we count down to the return of Breaking Bad), we take a look at other performers this summer who moved from a career-defining role to successfully portraying its polar opposite. (Yes, we know Sons of Anarchy isn't really a summer show, but we couldn't resist.)

Tags: Aaron Paul, Angels in America, Big Love, Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston, Charlie Hunnam, Everybody Loves Raymond, Justin Kirk, Katey Sagal, Malcolm in the Middle, Married with Children, Mary Louise Parker, Men of a Certain Age, Queer as Folk, Ray Romano, Sons of Anarchy, Weeds

Wondering what to do with the gift cards you got for the holidays? Several notable and several un-notable TV shows were released this week, some of which you need to catch up on, and some of which you totally don't.

Tags: Big Love, Chuck, Doctor Who, Kendra, Super Friends, The Philanthropist

Tom Colicchio is my Commander-in-Chief.

Tags: Big Love, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, DVD, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Real Housewives of Orange County, The Ricky Gervais Show, Top Chef D.C.

More people are trying to hurt our beloved Jersey Shore friends. I don't know how much more of this I can withstand.

Tags: Big Love, Jersey Shore, Mad Men, Men Are Stupid, Survivor, Women Are Crazy

Debra Messing gets a cameo on Law and Order: SVU, Kathy Griffin gets four comedy specials on Bravo, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson is one of the co-hosts of the WGA Awards. In a rare case, it's a good day to be a ginger...

Tags: Big Love, Cake Boss, Debra Messing, Gossip Girl, Grant Show, Illeana Douglas, Kathy Griffin, Kitchen Boss, Law & Order, Law and Order: SVU, Modern Family, TMZ

There is so much news today, I almost forgot that we're only five days away from the next episode of Lost! Could you possibly imagine?

Tags: Big Love, Dancing with the Stars, House, Lost, Real Housewives of New York, Rob Lowe

It's a damn shame, people throwing away a perfectly good robot show like that.

Tags: Anne Hathaway, Big Love, Bored to Death, cancelled, Caprica, Charlie's Angels, Conan, Eastbound & DOwn, I Used to Be Fat, Jon Hamm, Saturday Night Live, Scarlett Johansson, SNL

The damage (for Damages) is reversed! Good news for The Good Wife! A relatively better day for TV news (and lame attempts at plays on words, clearly)...

Tags: Aubrey O'Day, Big Love, Criminal Minds, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, Damages, Doris Roberts, Michael Ealy, Scott Porter, The Good Wife, The Middle