Jane Seymour vs. Roma Downey
Battle of the Family-Friendly Weekend Divas

You might think that never having watched a single episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman nor Touched By An Angel would disqualify someone from writing a piece on the alarming similarities between the shows's respective stars, Jane Seymour and Roma Downey. You would be very, very wrong.

Because even the casual observer can't help noticing the stirring similarities between the two actresses: the dewy eyes; the lilting accents; the trademark aura of determined compassion (or is that compassionate determination?); the obstinate family-friendliness of their signature shows; and the steady side-gig in treacle-rich movie-of-the-week weepers. And, most importantly, the fact that both Seymour and Downey are firmly entrenched as celestial bodies in that strange parallel celebrity universe: the Galaxy of Hit Shows That Neither You Nor Anyone You Know Ever Watches. This is a vast, swirling cosmos, where Nash Bridges and JAG and Touched by an Angel are solid hits, Della Reese and Don Johnson and Sammo Hung are big stars, the Emmys™ are nothing but a rumor, and the cover of Entertainment Weekly is entirely out of the question.

The pairing of Seymour and Downey, however, isn't so much a catfight for supremacy but rather a natural succession, a passing of the torch, with Seymour, the woman who starred in such TV movies as Love's Dark Side and Matters of the Heart, and who played Maria Callas in Onassis: the World's Richest Man, giving way to Downey, the woman who starred in such TV movies as A Test of Love and Borrowed Hearts and who played Jackie Onassis in A Woman Named Jackie. Downey isn't displacing Seymour, but allowing her to slip seamlessly into a retirement of Dr. Quinn reunion movies and the occasional slow-week paparazzi shot in People magazine. For her part, Downey can now start fretting over the day that Charlotte Church lands the lead in a series called Heaven Help Us, in which she plays a plucky orphan aided by a hapless guardian angel who's struggling to win his way back into heaven (Scott Bakula). And all the while the astral form of Michael Landon (the patron saint of the Galaxy of Hit Shows That Neither You Nor Anyone You Know Ever Watches) will hover over the proceedings, watching with smiley-eyed approval, like Yoda.

Advantage: Roma Downey