hilary duff

Hilary Duff books a multi-episode role on 'Gossip Girl,' Paula Abdul gets in touch with her inner 'Diva,' Wentworth Miller returns to the small screen and more TV news.

May sweeps has officially arrived. For TV fans that means a full month of explosive season finales, jaw-dropping cliffhangers and -- best of all -- a long list of famous guest stars from both the big and small screens.

Among the A-listers you'll see this season: a daytime TV queen (Elisabeth Hasselbeck), a 'Star Trek' icon (Leonard Nimoy) and a two-time Oscar winner (Jodie Foster) who will finally let Maggie Simpson do the talking.

Check out our guest stars gallery to see when all of Hollywood's finest will be sweeping their way onto your favorite TV shows.

Not the TV character from several years back. Actress Hilary Duff. She has just signed a one year deal with NBC to star in a new series.

Duff has been concentrating on movies and music since Lizzie McGuire ended in 2004 (the show lasted four years, but it was actually only two seasons, plus a big screen movie). According to Variety, Duff was going to be in a series for CBS in 2004, but it wasn't picked up.

As part of the deal, Duff is going to guest star in several NBC shows, as well, maybe as a tune up for starring in her own show and promotion for herself and the show. I wonder how they'll pick which shows she'll guest star in? After the jump, some suggestions.

The Beverly Hills 90210 spin off was looking for an actress in her 60's who could play an actress and alcoholic. Who better for the role than Arrested Development's Jessica Walter? After all, she is an actress and her AD role of Lucille Bluth required that she pretends to be drinking/drunk in a lot of episodes!

TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly confirmed earlier today that the actress was cast in the lead role of Tabitha Mills, an actress who had her career prime in the 70s and who is now best friends with a liquor bottle. Worried about his mother's well-being, her son Harry moves his family to Beverly Hills.

Hilary Duff is the new Patrick Stewart. By that, I mean it's rumored that she is going to be the star of Beverly Hills 90210, the Next Generation (Please note this is not the actual title. Just my take on it).

Apparently, she's been approached by the CW for the role of Annie Mills, a high school girl into theater, boys, cars, iPods, cosmetic surgery, ostracizing her friends and all the other standard things that Beverly Hills girls are into. There is no word yet on whether she's accepted the role.

I would put this in the "What the f***?" category.

Tonight's Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC is a repeat...from this past Tuesday. That's right, they're dipping waaaay back into the archives, because fans have been asking for it. The guests are/were Hilary Swank, Hilary Duff, and Dancing with the Stars castoff Shandi Finnessey.

Now, OK, I understand that the show probably has to be a repeat, because Kimmel is sitting in for Larry King tonight on CNN at 9 (though I wonder if it's live or taped or what's going on with that), but do they have to air a repeat from three nights ago? Seriously, that's just bizarre to me.

It's keeping with what all the late night shows do now, from Letterman to Carson Daly. When they show repeats they're always fairly recent. But they're usually from 2, 4, 6 weeks ago, not 3 days.

American Idol's Season Five runner-up, Katharine McPhee, is going to be sharing her very special McPheever all over the TV in the upcoming weeks while promoting the January 30th release of her self-titled debut album. So McPhee Phans, set your TIVOs:

January 29 -- Tonight Show With Jay Leno
January 31 -- The Today Show
February 1 -- Live With Regis & Kelly
February 1 -- A guest appearance on Ugly Betty
February 5 -- TRL
February 6 -- The Early Show
Februay 7 -- Jimmy Kimmel Live
February 8 -- Larry King Live

The Disney Channel has picked up two new pilots, The Amazing Hannigans and Housebroken. Hannigans will be about wizarding family-run magic shop (jumping on the Harry Potter bandwagon a little late there). Housebroken will be a spin-off of the hit show The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, also known as one of the most irritating shows in Disney history (placing somewhere near Lizzie McGuire). It will be about the Tipton Hotel's handyman, Arwin, and his adventures in helping his sister take care of her kids. So, I guess that means it'll be like The Suite Life if Arwin was the uncle of Zack and Cody... and didn't want to date their mom.