Sarah Michelle Gellar relieved 'Ringer' not on CBS

Sarah Michelle Gellar said at the Television Critics Assn. press tour today that CBS' interest in airing "Ringer" was sincere, but in the end she was relieved the upcoming drama ended up on the CW.

Gellar said that CBS entertainment prexy Nina Tassler "loved the show" and indicated that Tassler recruited Gellar rather intensely for it. Gellar herself was not sure she was ready to return to TV, before doing a 180 and realizing how much she missed it.

Still, questions lingered about how well the youth-skewing drama with serialized elements would fit with CBS programming.

"The audience that CBS does cater to - 'Will they respond to the show?' - was in the back of my mind," Gellar said.

"We got a phone call from Les (CBS prexy/CEO Leslie Moonves) saying, 'I have the same fears you do. What do you think about putting it on the CW, where we're revamping?'

"I thought about it, (and) it made sense. It was almost a relief for us. We knew we could tell more of the stories we wanted to tell on that network."

Gellar added that CBS "has these huge numbers, and there's always a concern that if you can't hit that number, you don't have the same time to develop a fanbase that you can get in a smaller network. Honestly, I truly believe it's a blessing, and our fear was always, 'Do we fit in at CBS?' The answer was, we know we fit in at the CW."

Gellar also confirmed she would make a guest appearance on "All My Children," not as her original character, before the soap leaves ABC in September.