The two were briefly costars on “Rewind,” a Fox sitcom starring Scott Baio as an advertising exec who frequently “rewinds” to his youth in the 1970s.

Sherri Shepherd says Milo Ventimiglia was fired from their unaired ’90s sitcom

The two were briefly costars on "Rewind," a Fox sitcom starring Scott Baio as an advertising exec who frequently "rewinds" to his youth in the 1970s.

By Kathleen Perricone

June 15, 2026 7:36 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Sherri Shepherd; Milo Ventimiglia. Credit:

Paras Griffin/Getty; Jason Kempin/Getty

- Sherri Shepherd has revealed Milo Ventimiglia was fired from *Rewind*, a 1997 sitcom that was ultimately canceled before it aired.

- *Rewind* starred Scott Baio and Mystro Clark as advertising execs who regularly looked back at to their teenage years in the 1970s.

- Ventimiglia was cast as the younger version of Baio's character, "but then they let him go," said Shepherd.

Milo Ventimiglia got his "Welcome to Hollywood" moment not long after launching an acting career.

In 1997, after appearing in one-off episodes of *The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air*, *Sabrina the Teenage Witch*, and *Saved by the Bell: The New Class*, Ventimiglia scored a potential big break when he was cast as the younger version of Scott Baio's character, Rob, on *Rewind*.

Milo Ventimiglia in 1998.

Barry King/WireImage

The sitcom's premise promised a fair amount of screen time: Rob and his childhood friend Harv (Mystro Clark) were advertising execs who regularly revisited their early years by "rewinding" back to the 1970s.

But as it turned out, *Rewind* was ultimately more of a setback for Ventimiglia, according to a new revelation by costar Sherri Shepherd, who played Rob's secretary.

'Rewind' starred Mystro Clark, Scott Baio, and Sherri Shepherd.

Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

"He was originally at the table read, but then they let him go," Shepherd recalled in a recent Instagram video. "I remember he was devastated, and I said to him, 'You are gonna be big.' Now, I didn't know he was going to be *that* big," she added, referencing Ventimiglia's starring roles on *Gilmore Girls*, *Heroes*, and most recently, *This Is Us*. "He's working all the time."

*Rewind* didn't end up being a big break for Shepherd either. After taping six episodes of the comedy, it was canceled just two weeks before it was set to air.

At the time, Fox noted *Rewind* remained a candidate for a midseason slot on its broadcast schedule, however, the sitcom never saw the light of day.

Pour one (cup of coffee) out: 'Gilmore Girls' is leaving Netflix after 12 years

Hayden Panettiere reflects on dating 30-year-old Milo Ventimiglia when she was 18, predicts her daughter will do the same

Thirty years later, the actress got to reconnect with Ventimiglia on her daytime talk show, *Sherri*, and reminisce about *Rewind*.

Although his firing wasn't mentioned, Ventimiglia did recall his disappointment in the show being canceled as well as Shepherd's prophetic reassurance.

Christine Taylor also appeared on 'Rewind'.

Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

"I was bummed. I was 18 at the time, it was my first job at Warner Brothers," he said on *Sherri* in February. "'What do I do now? Do I go back to school? Do I go back to waiting tables? … I remember you told me, 'Hey, don't worry about you. You're going to do great. You're going to have a nice career.'"

Shepherd revealed she had never been able to tell Ventimiglia how proud she was of him, since they hadn't crossed paths since *Rewind*.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

"I saw in you a star," she gushed. "I was so incredibly proud every time I would see you book something. And I would tell people, 'I know Milo!' Nobody believed me. Like, up until you came on the show, nobody believed that I knew you... [*Rewind*] never came on, so there's no pictures anywhere."

Ventimiglia vouched that not only did he indeed know Shepherd, "she's one of the first actors I've looked up to and given me advice," he told the *Sherri* cameras, "[and] has propelled my career to where I sit now."

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Comedy”