Talented sisters a rarity in entertainment world

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There are numerous instances of brothers and sisters following each other down the show business path — Donny and Marie Osmond, Karen and Richard Carpenter, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty, and Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal, to name a few.

There have also been many popular sets of brothers, including, in a totally subjective sampling, the Smothers Brothers, the Jackson Five, Jeff and Beau Bridges, John and Jim Belushi, myriad Baldwins, and Sylvester and Frank Stallone. (OK, “popular” may be pushing it with that last one.)

Less likely to share the spotlight are talented and successful sisters. The key word here is “talented.” Ashley and Wynonna Judd would qualify, but the Spears, Simpson (Jessica and Ashlee, not Lisa and Maggie) and Kardashian broods would not.

Luckily, we have the Deschanel sisters. Wide-eyed Zooey has had a successful career with such movies as “Elf” and “(500) Days of Summer.” She is also the prettier half of the folksy duo She & Him.

As a singer and songwriter, she has a whimsical charm about her, somewhat reminiscent of Melanie. (How's that for pulling a Woodstock reference out of thin air?) Meanwhile, until recently, big sister Emily had a few small movie and TV roles.

Fortunately, Fox has managed to snare both of these lovely ladies for two very popular, albeit polar opposite series. Zooey stars as Jess in the sophomore — and, at times, sophomoric — comedy “New Girl,” while Emily has, for the past eight seasons, starred as forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan on “Bones.”

Speaking of Emily, as evidenced by a memorable Halloween 2008 episode in which she donned an iconic costume, if she ever considers playing a character post-“Bones,” she would be perfect as comic-book heroine Diana Prince, whose secret identity, for you non-nerds, is Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter's got nothing on her.