"Is there something harder than making people laugh?" asks Lauren Ambrose, the 30-year-old actress who costars with Parker Posey in Fox's newest sitcom, The Return of Jezebel James. Well, yeah, maybe there is something harder - like making people sad or making them want to wring your neck. Ambrose managed to do both of those things for audiences while also being moody, despondent, and, yes, even funny during her run as Claire Fisher on the HBO drama Six Feet Under. In the four years she spent on that show, Ambrose earned two Emmy nominations, thanks in part to her being brave enough to abandon an actor's almost instinctive need for viewers' empathy. Fisher was, you'll remember, a character who left a human foot in the locker of an ex-boyfriend without a hint of, well, oops. Yeah. That's hard.

Still, there is something to be fearful of as Ambrose takes on her new role in Jezebel James. The show stars Posey as a hard-driving, successful author who wants her slacker younger sister - played by Ambrose - to carry the child she cannot. Jezebel James has been greatly anticipated, as it marks the return of Gilmore Girls creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino to TV. Like Gilmore Girls, Jezebel James features a rat-a-tat style of dialogue and a premise that's based on quirky female relationships. But unlike Gilmore Girls, Jezebel James is filmed like a traditional sitcom - before a studio audience. "Amy is interested in going back to old-school comedy, which is appealing to an actor to sign on to," Ambrose says. "She's smart and a great writer and comes from Roseanne, which was genius, and she wants to get back to her roots."