Big Screen Stars on the Small Screen

Is it just me, or there has been more and more movie stars (or at least, people who are better known as "movie stars") doing television serial dramas? I know actors are actors lah, but there are some that that forever play bit roles on TV, and the rest who only do movies.

I only started noticing when AXN plays its promo for Damages, Leverage and House. When I gave the matter some more thought, there's quite a list. (I don't mean TV stars who crossed over to the big screen - I mean the other way round.)

• Timothy Hutton - Leverage
• Glenn Close - Damages
  
• Laurence Fishburne - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• Gary Sinise - CSI: NY
• Jeff Goldblum - Law and Order: Criminal Intent
  
• Tim Roth - Lie to Me
• James Spader - Boston Legal, The Practice
  
• James Woods - Shark (I know it's cancelled, but still worth a mention)
• James Caan - Las Vegas (I know it got canned too)
• Patrick Swayze - The Beast (ditto)

I'm sure there's more, but I don't have time to watch every critically acclaimed television programme there is. I can't quite figure out why these people would commit to shooting the show 9 months out of a year (with some of the summer months off) as opposed to shooting one or more feature films a year.

But I guess it's good for the show (and network) in question because it'll draw more eyeballs, right?