10 SHAPE Cover Models Who Ruled the Small Screen

Suzanne Somers, who graced our cover in January 1983, is possibly the quintessential queen of sitcoms. Best known for her role as the ditzy blonde roommate Chrissy Snow on the hit ’80s sitcom Three’s Company, Somers later went on to become the spokeswoman for the Thighmaster and the author of a series of self-help diet books.

Catherine Bach made a name for herself in the early ’80s as the original Daisy Duke on the TV series The Dukes of Hazzard. But when the actress, who made the tight, provocatively high-cut jean shorts now known as "Daisy Dukes" famous, appeared on SHAPE in 1982, she opted to keep her million-dollar legs covered.

January 1990 cover girl Sarah Jessica Parker is best known for her role as the urban-chic fashionista Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City, but let’s not forget where she got her start! The actress made her debut as an awkward teen in the sitcom Square Pegs. Unfortunately, the show was canceled after its first season.

Phylicia Rashad helped revive the sitcom genre in the late ’80s with her role as matriarch Clair Huxtable on the long-running hit The Cosby Show. Rashad returned to sitcom TV alongside Bill Cosby in 1996 to play his character’s wife again on a new show titled Cosby (creative, right?).

Courteney Cox rose to fame in the ’90s for her role as the obsessive-compulsive Monica Geller on Friends, but appearing on the cover of SHAPE

in 1989, Cox promoted her recurring role as the girlfriend of Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) on the hit ’80s sitcom Family Ties.

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus

rose to fame as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, but she is most widely known for her character Elaine Benes on Seinfeld, the popular sitcom about nothing. Unlike other hit shows of its time, the characters never learned any moral lessons throughout the series’ nine-season run. Instead, the episodes focused on the petty injustices of their daily lives.

Comedienne Debra Messing is best known for her neurotic redhead character, Grace Adler, on the hit sitcom Will & Grace

, but the starring role almost went to another leading lady. During final auditions for the part, Messing beat out Nicolette Sheridan, who later guest-starred on the show as Grace's romantic rival.

Even though the series ultimately only lasted three seasons, Kristen Bell rose to fame for her title role in the crime drama Veronica Mars. After the show was canceled, Bell picked up a role on the sci-fi drama Heroes and began narrating the popular teen drama Gossip Girl. XOXO

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Jaime Pressly

guest-starred in several TV shows before landing her gig as Joy Turner on the “trailer-trash” sitcom My Name is Earl. The series was canceled after four seasons, but Pressly will return to the small screen this November in a new sitcom called I Hate My Teenage Daughter.

On the cover of SHAPE

in 2009, Jenna Fischer exposed the body that stays hidden under the stiff, drab button-ups her administrative-assistant character Pam Beesly (or should I say, Halpert) wears on the sitcom mockumentary

The Office

. In the season eight series premiere, Fischer’s on-screen alter ego announced that she is expecting her second child, which coincides with the actresses real-life pregnancy.