
Not to take anything away from the 1975 Robert Altman flick of the same name AND its 24 main characters, four Oscar nominations (including Best Picture), and inclusion on the American Film Institute's "100 Years... 100 Movies" list, but it's the ABC TV series that's garnering critical and ratings success as of late. Recently renewed for a second season, this popular prime-time drama focuses on Golden Globe nominees Connie Britton and Hayden Panetierre as competing rival country music stars who are at the opposite ends of the career spectrum. Britton plays 40-year-old fading superstar Rayna James (based on a hybrid of Faith Hill, Reba McEntire and Bonnie Raitt), while Panettierre portrays former teen sensation Juliette Barnes (rumored to be a combination of Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood), who's trying to take James' country music crown. The cast also features such top-notch talents as Jonathan Jackson, Robert Wisdom, Powers Boothe and Chris Carmack.