13 Too-Brief Celebrity Comebacks

These stars had their time in the sun – and then had them again. Some of them should have stayed in the big leagues, while others are perhaps destined to remain on the C-List.

1. Nelly Furtado

Evan Agostini / Getty Images

She was on every radio ever in 2000 with "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light", and managed to replicate the success in 2006 with singles like "Promiscuous" featuring Justin Timberlake, but her Timbaland-backed revival proved short-lived, and Furtado's subsequent English and Spanish albums haven't gotten her back to the top.

2. Jenna Elfman

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

She was fantastic on Dharma and Greg, but her recent attempts to return to television with Accidentally on Purpose and 1600 Penn (the former was cancelled; the ratings for the latter put it squarely in the very-possibly-could-be-cancelled category), plus appearances on Damages, haven't launched her back into the limelight with the same gusto.

3. Blink-182

Christopher Polk / Getty Images

Their sound defined the late 1990ss and early 2000s, but after taking a break in 2005, the band tried to get back to the top with their 2011 album Neighborhoods. Apparently, they're trying it again too. Good luck boys!

4. Chilli of TLC

vh1.com

One of two remaining members of R&B group TLC, Chilli was huge when TLC was still actively producing music, popping back up in 2009 because of her VH1 show What Chilli Wants that chronicled her attempts to find love. Perhaps the planned TLC biopic will bring her fame again.

5. Kiefer Sutherland

Jemal Countess / Getty Images

It was Stand By Me that made him a face at a young age, but 24 that decades later that really brought him back. Unfortunately, since then he's been unable to capture that Jack Bauer magic in his new show Touch, which is fine, but has nowhere near the obsessive fandom that 24 inspired.

6. Teri Hatcher

Michael Buckner / Getty Images

Teri Hatcher was many people's favorite Lois to Clark, but until she grabbed the lead role on Desperate Housewives in 2004, she had been largely forgotten. Unfortunately, that show declined in popularity and her brief reign back on top has left her somewhere around where she started.

7. Salt-N-Pepa

Scott Barbour / Getty Images

As painful as it to admit because they rock so much, Salt-N-Pepa really faded away after releasing Very Necessary in 1993. Though they still do perform together, it was The Salt-n-Pepa Show a decade and a half later that briefly brought them back into cultural consciousness, only to drop away to regain their mantle as former celebrities.

8. Neve Campbell

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

She was great in Party of Five and the several Scream movies that have come out, but other than a critically-acclaimed part in Robert Altman's The Company in 2003 that made it seem like she was back for good, Campbell has hovered just under the radar.

9. Flavor Flav

Rob Kim / Getty Images

Once huge because he was in Public Enemy, Flavor Flav enjoyed a renaissance of sorts because of his appearance on reality shows like VH1's Flavor of Love and Strange Love, before drifting back into to the transom of people-popular-culture-loves-but-don't-think-about-much-anymore (you know, that place Honey Boo-Boo will live eventually).

10. Jennie Garth

facebook.com

She made it past Beverly Hills 90210 to star with Amanda Bynes for several years in What I Like About You, but her appearance in the 90210 reboot was short-lived and her CMT reality show Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country really didn't do anything to return her to her former level of fame.

11. Tinsley Mortimer

Jennifer Graylock / Getty Images

She was once the ultimate socialite, but it was probably her reality TV show on the CW called High Society that signaled just how far Tinsley had fallen and how desperate she was for attention again. Since then, it's likely she'll never be quite as famous as the days when she was the reigning queen of the New York social set.

12. Toni Braxton

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

Her big songs hit in the '90s, but in 2011 she tried a new way to get at fame, through her reality TV show Braxton Family Values. It worked for the first season, but subsequent seasons haven't increased in ratings (though they've been high for WeTV standards) and Toni's since gotten press for less impressive parts of her life, like sweating awkwardly at an event.

13. Mickey Rourke

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

He was THE hunk with movies like Diner, Body Heat and 9 1/2 Weeks. 2008's The Wrestler brought him critical acclaim yet again (if without respect for his ahem, changed aesthetic), but since then, we've seen little from Rourke.