waylon jennings

They're heard, but not seen. TV show narrators have set the scene for viewers for decades, their familiar voices cluing us into what to expect (or how to react) to certain plot developments. And more often than not, these off-screen narrators are well-known celebrities -- making their comments and asides all the more familiar and comforting.

While compiling a list of our five favorite celebrity narrators, only two stipulations were used: First, this list only deals with scripted american programming. Documentaries don't count, nor do any overseas imports. Second, the narrator in question can not have appeared on screen as a regular character on the series (although in some instances, the narrator is a future version of the main character, played by a different actor).

That being said, here are our five ...

The CMT documentary about the country group the Highwaymen titled American Revolutions: The Highwaymen will be out on DVD on September 26. The group consisted of country music legends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Their last recording was made in 1994, and this documentary, shot by producer Don Was, chronicles that time with an inside look at the recording process. The documentary will also be rebroadcast on CMT on September 25 at 10 pm. Normally I never watch CMT, but I have a penchant for old time country music, so I'll probably be checking this one out.