Parker Posey, the indie-film darling and Christopher Guest stock-company perennial, is at last on television, starring in her very own sitcom, The Return of Jezebel James (Fridays at 8:30 pm/ET, Fox; premiering tonight at 8 pm/ET). Created by Gilmore Girls' Amy Sherman-Palladino, the show's about a single, workaholic children's-book editor who wants a kid of her own as she feels her biological clock ticking. Parker, it seems, can relate.

TV Guide: You've been stuck with this moniker "the queen of the indies." Not bad, though maybe that's made it hard for you to become a superstar?Posey: But, see, I don't want to be a superstar. I like what my career has been. It's been very, you know, diverse, and every time I read something, a lot of [reviewers] are, like, "Ooh, what a departure, we never thought she'd do this." And I'm, "Well, it's not a departure — I just try different hats and different things." I was right for these independent movies when independent movies were being produced. Now they're not that independent anymore.

TV Guide: And now you're starring in a Fox sitcom. So are you ready for your big close-up?Posey: [Laughs] I know, it's so silly, isn't it? Listen, I am an employed actor, do you know how hard that is? You know how rare it is to be a working actor, to be able to work in different mediums? I mean, I did Superman [Returns]; I played a vampire in Blade III [Trinity]; I did a damn soap opera [As the World Turns]! And I've acted in independent movies made for $200,000. I'm really grateful for having a career as diverse and interesting as I would have liked and what I intended.

TV Guide: It's rare and lucky.Posey: It is rare. It is lucky. And it surprises me that sometimes people will stir the pot and want to be all, "Well, aren't you disappointed that you're not a bigger star?" It's so weird. I'm not really here to win the race or...

TV Guide: Or be Julia Roberts?Posey: Right — because we have Julia Roberts! I went to the hardware store today and got a, you know, power-surge thing and an extension cord and lightbulbs. I live like a normal person. And that's the kind of life I'm trying to maintain while, at the same time, being comfortable at red-carpet [events] and things like that.TV Guide: I've always thought a star at your level is the perfect place to be. You get the perks without the hassle.Posey: Oh, my god, yes! I can love this restaurant and I can call them and be, like, [Whispers] "Hey, you guys, it's Parker Posey — can I come in and eat at your place tonight?" And that's it — it's a perk. But I don't have paparazzi following me around.

TV Guide: So what made you want to risk that and do Jezebel James?Posey: Well, I read it in one sitting and from start to finish it flowed. It was funny, it was moving, it was original and the humor came from their characters and what kind of people they were. And although there are jokes, it has an Odd Couple dynamic with these sisters, and I thought it was kind of a modern twist on this thing that's going on right now with women my age — women who can support themselves. Most of the people my age I meet who are single are so happy to be single, and people who I meet who are married are like, "Oh, my god, I'm miserable!" It's the evolution of kind of where we're at. Like, I ran into an old friend and she showed me a picture of her baby. And I was like, "He's adorable." And she said, "I love being a mother, I love it so much." Then she said, "But you know what? If I could do it again, I'd get rid of the husband. I don't need him." But there are all sorts of different relationships. This one in Jezebel James, she has a boyfriend and they don't talk about their personal lives or their families.

TV Guide: They have a loose relationship — they just have sex.Posey: They just watch Law & Order and have sex and maybe order in and then it's, "I gotta go." And there's something to that.

TV Guide: It's modern and often the way things are. Amy Sherman-Palladino is famous for stuff like that — and for lots of dialogue.Posey: Yeah, but little did I know! At the end of the first week, I was fantasizing about words coming out of my nose and my tear ducts — it was crammin' my brain!

TV Guide: Clearly you hadn't watched Gilmore Girls.Posey: Clearly I hadn't!

TV Guide: There was more dialogue in that show than yours.Posey: I know. I was like, "Should I call Lauren [Graham] and ask her how she did it?" Then I was, "No, I can do this. I'm just going to go and play ball!"

TV Guide: You have a great costar in Lauren Ambrose — you really do seem like sisters.Posey: Isn't that cool? I love when people come together and make something — that's what those Christopher Guest movies do. You never know what the reaction is going to be between people in those scenes; you just hope it's a good mix, and that subconsciously you're connecting.

TV Guide: Lauren's character agrees to carry your baby because you can't. So: babies. Do you want one?Posey: Oh, my god, yes, I have such maternal instincts. And [I'm turning] 40 — things are getting real for me. I'm like, "What kind of woman am I? What kind of partner could I have?" I want to have it all work. I don't want to feel I have to sacrifice anything to have the experience and the enormous life change that having a child would be. I'm figuring it out. I'm like, "Do I have a fear of family or is that a sacrifice or what? Can I have a family and a career and be as focused and as passionate? I mean, hey, I'm about to work with Demi Moore, and she's got it all. I mean, that's a modern woman right there. Right?!

TV Guide: And she's got a young, hot husband!Posey: Yeah, come on! But that's amazing. We're at a time right now where we can make these choices and kind of carve it out the way you feel like carving it out. And be honest with yourself. And I'm in therapy, so I'm serious about it.

TV Guide: Speaking of men: I saw that last appearance you made on Craig Ferguson's show, and...Posey: [Laughs] Well, could I have been more on a date on live TV?

TV Guide: It certainly seemed like he was into you.Posey: [Giggles] I was all, "You seem like such a cool, funny guy — you probably have your shit together!" And I go [in a Scottish accent], "I like that brogue." Meanwhile, it's being televised! I was horrified after that. I talked to a girlfriend and said, "I think I just went on a date on national television."

Check out The Return of Jezebel James in our Online Video Guide.

For more features, news and inside scoop, check out the latest issue of TV Guide, with our exclusive story on the secrets of the American Idol top 12! Plus: A preview of Dancing with the Stars' new season. Try four risk-free issues of TV Guide now!

Why isn't John Adams more famous? His face isn't on Mount Rushmore or any dollar bill. Even the popular Boston beer company passed him over in favor of his rabble-rousing cousin, Sam. Turns out the legacy of our second president — and arguably most significant Founding Father — has languished in the shadows of his predecessor, George Washington, and successor, Thomas Jefferson. But the new, seven-part HBO miniseries John Adams (premiering Sunday at 8 pm/ET, HBO), based on David McCullough's Pulitzer prize-winning biography, could change that. "To me, he was always 'the boring guy,'" says Paul Giamatti, who stars as Adams. "But I found out he wasn't boring at all."

The miniseries opens with 1770's Boston Massacre and Adams' controversial decision to serve as defense attorney for the British soldiers whose attack left five colonists dead. "It really defines his character as a man of principle," screenwriter Kirk Ellis says, "and a man who believed in the rule of law and would stake everything on that principle."

Yet Adams could be conflicted about his own ambitions. A Massachusetts farmer, lawyer and political philosopher, Adams moved between his desire to be one of "the people" and his belief that he was put here to govern them. "He wanted to be president, and yet he loathed himself for wanting that," Giamatti says. "[He thought,] 'I'm not supposed to be vain like that.' And yet he can't help but tell everybody how stupid they are. Everything was so fraught for him. He was kind of a mess."

But three key accomplishments rank him among "the pantheon of American greats," according to Ellis. "He argued the case for independence on the floor of the Continental Congress; he appointed Washington head of the army; and during one of the darkest times in the history of our revolution, he negotiated our first loan from the Dutch, without which we could not have sustained the fight."

Guiding him throughout was wife, Abigail (Laura Linney), with whom he shared a deep bond. "You can't understand him unless you understand her," McCullough says. "When he addresses a letter 'My Dearest Friend,' that's very important. It isn't just that he loves her. He likes her, he respects her mind and judgment, and he needs her for that."

The miniseries follows the couple as Abigail, an early advocate of women's rights, raises their children, farms the land and even melts the family pewter to make bullets for the war. It awed Linney. "If I met her today, I'd ask, 'How did you manage to do so much alone?'"

Attention to detail was intense during the grueling 108-day shoot, much of which took place in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Costar David Morse, who plays the reserved Washington, learned that early on. After long hours of debate in the Continental Congress, Morse figured he could ease up on the general's stiff posture — until he got a tap on the shoulder. "Someone would lean in and say, 'George Washington would never relax like that,'" Morse says. Unlike the volatile Adams, "Washington was always conscious of the impression he was making."

Some of the actors were, too. In a scene, later cut, featuring Adams and his son John Quincy, Giamatti — a Yale graduate — added the line, "And by the way, where's that copy of Tacitus you purloined?" (The writings of Tacitus, an ancient Roman historian, were in Adams' library.) Ellis was impressed. "Paul is the only actor I've ever worked with who could ad-lib an 18th-century line," he says. "I remember saying to him, "Where's my copy of Tacitus?!'"

Other references are more topical, such as Adams and Jefferson's argument over a strong central government versus a weaker one — a debate still contested by politicians today. Giamatti says, "I think Adams looked at himself and said, 'Well, if everybody's like me, we've got to pen them in and control them, because people are greedy and vicious and self-serving."

To Ellis, Adams was simply more in touch. "He liked to hang around in taverns and listen to what people said — while Jefferson was up at Monticello writing wonderful democratic treatises but not connecting with anybody."

Ellis hopes viewers will feel the importance of that connection when watching John Adams. "We can't have reasoned debates anymore, but these people did. And we're just damn lucky that all these guys came along at this particular time to send us on the course that we remain on today. And it's not a completed story. We're still following through on all that groundwork they laid, and nobody knows what the destination is."

Find out more about our second president with clips in our Online Video Guide.

Sign up now for our free Daily Scoop e-mail newsletter to get the inside scoop.

It all comes down to this: Who has what it takes to win six straight games — and an NCAA title?

While Memphis' late-season loss to Tennessee blocked its shot at an unblemished record, the beauty of the NCAA tournament is that every team starts over during the madness that is March. "You have to be 6-0 to win a championship," ESPN analyst Jay Bilas says, "so your record is really irrelevant."

Which team will emerge unscathed from the Final Four in San Antonio, giving folks a reason to remember the Alamodome? Memphis, Tennessee, North Carolina, Kansas, Duke and UCLA have all been highly ranked, but only four teams will get a coveted No. 1 seed. "It's really important, because no No. 1 seed has ever lost in the first round," Bilas says, "and it is very unusual for a top seed to be out before the Sweet 16. It's a first-class ticket to the second weekend [of the tournament]."

Following this week's conference tournament frenzy, the field of 65 will be determined on Selection Sunday, (Sunday at 6 pm/ET, CBS). After the opening-round game between the 64th and 65th seeds on March 18 (7:30 pm/ET, ESPN), the first round starts Thursday, March 20 (noon/ET, CBS). And so begins the wild ride to the Final Four, April 5 and 7.

CBS analyst Clark Kellogg calls the tournament a "three-week rush" when having a famous basketball tradition isn't necessarily an advantage. "The tournament tends to be about matchups more than it is about pedigree," he says. "Sometimes you run into a really tough matchup in the second round if you're a Duke or a Carolina that can cause you to stub your toe and go home."

Sometimes it's not what your opponent does, and Bilas cautions that even a seemingly dominant team like Memphis could trip itself up. "The Tigers are not a great shooting team, and they're abysmal from the free-throw line," he says. But he adds that the Tigers also were abysmal at the line last year (61 percent), and improved to 71.6 percent in the tournament to reach the Elite 8.

Bilas calls his alma mater, Duke, "one of the scary teams to play" because of its style of putting everyone on the perimeter. Kansas has been "magnificent," he adds, but he doesn't think anyone will take the Jayhawks "as seriously as they should until they make a Final Four," because of previous tournament letdowns.

Kellogg believes injuries to UNC guards have changed the Tar Heels' dynamics and "makes them a little more vulnerable than people might think on the surface."

Lesser-known teams are hoping to try on Cinderella's glass slipper, last worn by George Mason University. Kellogg thinks Butler, Xavier and St. Mary's could "crash the party" like Mason did in 2006, making it all the way to the Final Four as an 11th seed.

Bilas likes the same teams, plus Drake. But can teams in the top 25 really qualify as Cinderellas? Sure, "because people don't know them," Bilas says. "I think if you went up to guys who watch college basketball every week, they wouldn't be able to tell you who their best players are. Couldn't even tell you who their coach is."

Bet they will if those teams make it to the Final Four.

Get more March Madness clips in our Online Video Guide.

For more features, news and inside scoop, check out the latest issue of TV Guide, with our exclusive story on the secrets of the American Idol top 12! Plus: A preview of Dancing with the Stars' new season. Try four risk-free issues of TV Guide now!