Calista Flockhart

(Fox, Mon., 9 p.m. ET)

Growing up in Iowa, Flockhart, 32, would have been mortified to see her name in lights. "I made up names for myself like Ann and Jennifer" to avoid being teased, she says. No more. That memorable moniker has taken her from Broadway (The Glass Menagerie) to multiplexes (The Birdcage) and now to a TV drama -- as romantically challenged lawyer Ally McBeal."We heard hundreds of people," says McBeal creator David E. Kelley, "but when Calista walked in on a cold reading, she just was Ally."

THE BUZZ: "She's the Mary Tyler Moore of the '90s," says Silverman.