Beck/Smith Hollywood

Scott Bakula ABC photo Ron Tom

If Ray Romano, Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula look like they’re having a good time together on those spots for their upcoming “Men of a Certain Age” TNT series – shown heavily during the baseball playoffs — it’s because they really are having a good time together, according to Scott.  He says he knew pretty fast that the chemistry between himself, Andre and Ray was going to work well.

 “I’d met them both before, but didn’t really get a chance to talk until we had a couple meetings.  We chatted about life and the work and the show with Ray and the other producers.  We get along great,” says Scott. 

On the show, debuting Dec. 8, they play “three guys who went to college together and all stayed buddies.  Ray’s character is separated, he runs a party store.  Andre works for his dad in a car dealership.  He’s got three kids and he’s renovating his house.  My character is an actor who has never really quite made it.  He has a temp job to keep free for auditions.  He’s done late night infomercials, B movies.  He has a 25-year-old girlfriend and a 40-year-old girlfriend.  They’re jealous of his lifestyle, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

Scott adds, “It’s Ray’s voice because he wrote the show.  There’s a humor and style to it that’s unique because it’s Ray.  The nature of the show is so free and easy because of Ray’s background.  We do a lot of improv work.  We fell into doing that on the pilot and the more we did it, the happier the network was.  It’s kind of, ‘Get the scene — now let’s just go play.’”

AGHAST IN THE PAST:  Mayim Bialik goes far afield from her comedic image in the forthcoming big screen “Chicago 8.”  The actress, who rose to fame as the lead of “Blossom” when she was a young teen, plays radical activist Jerry Rubin’s girlfriend, Nancy Kunshen, in the movie re-enacting the case of the protestors accused of inciting the tear gas and violence-riddled riots outside the 1968 Democratic Convention.  Says Bialik, “Nancy Kunshen was one of the conspirators, but she was not tried.  Women were not included in the criminal proceedings.  They pushed them aside in 1969.” 

 Proceedings eventually went forward with The Chicago 7 on trial, after Black Panther leader Bobby Seale had his case severed from the rest.  “He didn’t even know the others.  Orlando Jones plays Bobby Seale, who was tied and gagged in the courtroom, if you can imagine that,” says Mayim.    

 Filmmakers “used the entire transcripts of the real trial” according to her.  “Most of the movie is in the courtroom.  A lot of us did it, really, as a labor of love.  It’s a beautiful project asserting our freedom and independence and the right to speak our minds and protest if we find something is not right.”

 Bialik took on her movie part at the same time she started shooting scenes for her January-debuting recurring role in “Secret Life of the American Teenager,” and “I just hoped they wouldn’t overlap,” says the mother of two young sons, who holds a doctorate in neuroscience. 

 Mayim’s also back in funny form in the Nov. 20 episode of the Brad Garrett-Joely Fisher “’Til Death.”  The show reunited her with her “Blossom” producer, Don Reo.

 “I’ve actually auditioned for Don before for the show,” reports Mayim.  “They told me, ‘You weren’t right for this role, but Don wants you for a different role.’”  And that role turned out to be…Mayim Bialik.  “I’m playing myself,” she says – as the psychiatrist who sees Doug (Timm Sharp).

 ANOTHER TONGUE:  Maiara Walsh tells us she’s having a blast playing Eva Longoria’s niece on “Desperate Housewives,” but she would like to show off her language skills at some point, especially since she’s playing a Latina.  “My mom is Brazilian so I speak Portuguese and I’m proficient in Spanish so I can understand it.  I’m hoping they’ll let me use some Spanish at some point,” says Walsh.  “Maybe I can pull Marc Cherry aside at some point and ask.”  Sounds bueno to us! 

  FRIGHTFUL DEVELOPMENT:  With “Paranormal Activity” en route to becoming a “Blair Witch” type of phenomenon, get ready for another wave of low – low – budget “docu”-horror flicks.  Casting is underway now for “The Devil Inside,” which has a young woman out to investigate what really happened when three people involved in an exorcism were murdered.  The murderer: her own mother, who she knows to be insane.

 With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Gina Gershon and John Stamos

“Bye Bye Birdie’s” star Gina Gershon would like to say bye bye critics after the Broadway revival was met with some pretty scathing reviews. One critic went as far as to describe the show as “boneheaded.”

“I’m so against critics right now. When you think about it, it’s just disgusting that these critics, with a wave of a hand, just dismiss something. I couldn’t believe how harsh they were,” says Gershon, who stars alongside John Stamos. “I have to be honest; there are a couple of things they said that I couldn’t argue with because I had a few issues with certain elements of the production, but they kind of took everyone in the review down with it. The kids were great in this and Bill Irwin is a genius to me.”

She continues, “This show is the first one of mine since ‘Showgirls’ that has gotten really bad reviews. I kind of came out OK from that, but it’s a bummer when you’re in a project and they take it down. It made me realize that reviews don’t really matter — people are either going to enjoy it or not,” notes Gershon. “Luckily, I don’t think it affects ticket sales. It’s not like the old days where a bad review can shut down a show. We had to extend it to April because it started to (sell) out, and here these guys are pulling it apart. I’m like, ‘It’s “Bye Bye Birdie.” Get over it.’ People are trying to downsize papers in today’s world — get rid of the critics.”

Luckily for Gershon, she has till January to win over audiences, and in the meantime, she’s looking forward to her two-night miniseries, “Everything She Ever Wanted,” premiering Nov. 14 and 15 on the Lifetime Movie Network.

“I remember getting the part and then I started filming it four days later. I had unfortunately just dealt with a sociopath in my own life so a lot of the research had been done,” she says of playing the greedy and violent Pat Allanson in the film adaptation of Ann Rule’s popular novel. “I was really fascinated by the character. She’s so complicated, but there’s a freedom playing a sociopath because they believe everything they’re saying in the moment and they just have a different set of emotional rules.”

ALWAYS THE BRIDE: The folks at Hallmark Channel are loving the fact that Marla Sokoloff is getting married in real life — to Deadsy drummer Alec Puro — two weeks before she’ll be seen as the bride in their “Flower Girl” original movie, Nov. 14. Sokoloff is getting a kick out of it as well. “I got engaged a week before I got this job,” she tells us. “It was all very close. The funny thing is, I have already been a bride five times,” she adds.

Her bridal roles were in “Big Day,” “Crazylove,” “Drop Dead Divas,” “Sugar & Spice” and “Maneater.” ”I don’t know what it is about me that has a bridal look or something. How is this possible? I guess if I were asked to play a stripper seven times, that would bum me out,” says the former “The Practice” actress.

Sokoloff says that as far as picking up pointers from all those faux nuptials, “the main thing would be the dress. I’ve been to so many bridal dress fittings, I knew what was flattering.”

She and Puro, who met via mutual friends Jessica Capshaw and her husband, Christopher Gavigan, “knew we had so much in common when we first started talking … Love kind of comes when you don’t expect it,” notes Sokoloff.

They expect about 115 guests to be on hand when they make their vows. As far as the style of their wedding, well, “mine could not be further from the fantasy wedding in the movie,” she says, referring to the fairy-tale-worthy affair in “Flower Girl.” “I love my character. She’s a complete romantic, yet sensible, too.”

And then there’s her movie grandmother, Marion Ross. “I’ve always been such a huge fan of hers, since ‘Happy Days.’ She has a wicked sense of humor, kind of dirty at times. I loved that about her.” Mrs. C.? Goodness.

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: Elisabeth Moss, who plays career girl Peggy in “Mad Men,” tells us that her character in the Dec. 11 release “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” is “actually quite similar, which is funny. But it’s a more blatantly comedic character than Peggy. I think Peggy has funny comedic moments, but this is more straight comedy. I play Sarah Jessica Parker’s assistant,” she says of the comedy in which Parker and Hugh Grant play an estranged couple of New Yorkers who see a murder, and then are relocated to a small town in Wyoming under the witness protection program. “I’ve been a fan of hers for so many years, she’s one of my idols,” adds Moss. “‘Sex and the City’ is one of my favorite shows. So to be in a movie with her is literally a dream come true.”

CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?: Hollywood and environs certainly have no shortage of classes for acting, writing and directing — but as far as actor Martin Landau, filmmaker Mark Rydell and playwright/screenwriter Lyle Kessler are concerned, what’s been sorely missing is training for creative types in how to interact with other creative types across disciplines. That’s why they’re conducting an intensive seminar together that Landau describes as a two-day immersion course in the inter-relationship between writers and directors. “It will teach the communication skill, which will improve projects and careers,” he says. The Nov. 14 and 15 Total Picture Seminar is being held at UCLA.

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Nick Zano Photo Element Films

Ssssssssss.  That’s the sound of steam coming from the set of “Cougar Town” while filming was underway on episodes with Courteney Cox Arquette getting it on with her first “cub,” Nick Zano. 

The actor of “What I Like About You” and “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” fame describes his average day:  “You read what they put in there for you.  Usually, it involves being wet, a bathtub scene, or a bed scene.  So, I’d go into my trailer, open up my closet, see five pairs of boxers and a terrycloth robe.  So it would be, put on the boxers, put on my robe, walk over to the set, talk to the camera guys – ‘How was your weekend?’  The AD pulls back the sheet.  Courteney comes in.  Talk about her family.  ‘How’s David doing?  How’s Coco?’  She gets into the bed, I get on top of her and we start making out.”

And there you have it.  But wait.  Zano adds the mandatory advisory, “As much fun as it sounds, it’s also pressuring.  We can see maybe 14 people standing around, a group of big Teamsters text messaging while we’re fake making out.  And it’s very, very choreographed.  You have to remember how far up your shoulder goes, how high you can bring your head up.”   

 Zano’s storyline runs over six episodes, the funniest being next Wednesday’s (10/28), according to him, and in a couple more weeks, “There’s my last one.  It’s a big one.  It’s a doozey,” he says.

As for what he thinks of the whole “cougar” trend?  “As a former young man, I applaud it,” he says.  “I think guys could use a mature woman.  It’s truth. The woman teaching a younger man thing – that woman basically takes that young man to school.  He carries that with him when he dates younger women.”

FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT:  Funny lady Julie Bowen, who with Ty Burrell heads the traditional nuclear family of ABC’s “Modern Family,” admits, “I’m always thinking everybody else has the great job.”  Referring to the comedy’s older man-younger woman match of Ed O’Neill and Sofia Vergara, and the couple played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet., she notes, “Theirs seem like bigger characters than ours in a lot of ways.  There’s such a rich mine of jokes for the gay couple and for Ed and Sofia.  And then, you know, Sofia has that body and that accent, and she says to me, ‘Don’t be jealous.’  I am jealous,” Bowen claims.

“But on the other hand, anyone who has a life filled with kids knows they’re the weirdest people,” she adds.  For instance, her own three sons – Oliver, 2 1/2, and six-month-old twins John and Gus.  “Right now, the older one is into a thing of making me stop the car and back up every time he sees certain Halloween decorations.  ‘Back up!  Back up!  Back up!’  That’s huge.  There’s a bloody dismembered arm.  Where is the other arm?  He’s two.  I can only imagine how it’s going to be in the years to come.”

 Bowen agrees with a critic who wrote that for all of its snap, “Modern Family” has a soft, sweet center.  “I didn’t want to say that at first, because I didn’t want people to think of it as sickeningly sweet.  But that’s what resonates.  The writers gave the show and the characters in it heart.  When we read our Christmas episode, Ty Burrell was weeping,” she says.  “I was choking up.  At the end of 22 minutes, it’s not just funny, it’s satisfying.”

 BACK TO THE BOARDS:  Kathleen Turner has been enjoying her time on television with a recurring guest spot on “Californication,” but she tells us that the stage is her first love and she plans to get back to it very soon.  “To be on Broadway was always my first dream.  When we finished the three-year run of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,’ that’s what I had been dreaming of for the 30 years I’ve been doing this work,” says Turner.  “Now I’ve been offered a new Broadway piece for next year, which I’m looking forward to.  I can’t talk about it, though, until we sign.” And so we wait!

LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD:  Hollywood’s leading actresses are expected to keep fit in order to look great on camera, but “Dexter” star Julie Benz says it’s one part of the job she doesn’t mind. “I do keep myself in the best shape as possible, but fitness has been a huge part of my life ever since I was a child.  I was a competitive figure skater growing up,” she tells us.  “It’s my stress reliever to go to the gym and work out.”  

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Britney Spears ended on bad terms with Lance Bass’s “N’SYNC” band mate Justin Timberlake a number of years ago, but that hasn’t kept Bass from maintaining a close friendship with the pop star. In fact, he got up close and personal with Spears when she gave him a lap dance during the last show of her recent U.S. tour. 
 
“I’ve been trying to catch her show for the last six months and my schedule has been crazy. I promised I’d go see the last show so I flew out to Vegas and she didn’t even know I was coming to the show so we surprised her on stage. It was priceless when she realized it was me,” recalls Bass. “I grew up with her. I knew her when she was 13 years old. I’m always there for her. She’s always there for me. She’s someone I consider family and will always be family.” 

Coming back from her very public meltdown, Spears is feeling better than ever and is mainly focused on motherhood, according to Bass. “Yeah, she’s fine. She’s loving those babies and loving being a mom. Being back on the road is great for her. She’s definitely doing amazing right now. She’s got great people around her. I think her main goal is to just take care of those kids.” 

As for his own career, Bass is busy producing various film and television projects, and will also be hosting the red carpet show at the 2009 Fox Reality Channel Really Awards tomorrow night (10/17). “I’m a huge reality freak-fan so I’m going be having a lot of fun on that red carpet, meeting a lot of the people I’ve been watching this season,” says Bass. “I’m sure there will be some dramatic moments on the red carpet with people trying to get their 15 minutes. But that’s one of the exciting things about this show – you don’t know what’s going to happen. Sometimes class gets thrown out the window when it comes to certain reality stars, but that’s the reason we watch.” 

MAGICALLY DELICIOUS: Jamie Ray Newman of ABC’s sexy, witchy “Eastwick” is gratified to see such Twitter users as Jessica Alba and Paula Abdul “tweeting that ‘Eastwick’ is their new favorite show.” And she’s happy that “Eastwick” has garnered tens of thousands of Facebook fans. So why aren’t the ratings better? 

“Oh, God, we have such a really special show. We’ve all been a little frustrated,” she admits, referring to her cast mates and new best friends Rebecca Romijn and Lindsay Price. “We beg of the network to put more advertising behind us. 

“The scripts get better and better – they’re brilliant. We haven’t seen anything like it on TV. Women love our show. We have all these procedural shows, cop shows, manly shows – there need to be more female-centric shows,” opines the red-haired beauty, who’s familiar to fans of Syfy’s “Eureka” as Dr. Tess Fontana. 

(“Eureka” has a 22-episode pickup for its next season, by the way, but Newman’s future involvement will depend on “Eastwick.”) 

Newman is also familiar to L.A. club goers as a singer who performs with various local jazz bands, including as part of the ad hoc group School Boy Crush. The latter includes musicians the caliber of Jane’s Addiction pianist Kristopher Pooley, with whom she played the ESPN Awards after-party. “Eastwick” watchers will get to see her do her singing thing in an upcoming episode of the show in which “we’re doing a ‘Fabulous Baker Boys’ homage. Honestly, it was so much fun. I got to wear an amazing red dress and sing on top of a piano,” the Newman, whose “Eastwick” role corresponds to Michelle Pfeiffer’s in the 1987 movie. “We wrapped at four in the morning. What a dream.” 

FAMILY MAN: Father of five Chris O’Donnell tells us he’s happy to report that things have been running smoothly at home while he’s been busy working on “NCIS: Los Angeles.” 

“It’s been fine. The kids are busy all day with school. I have my time with them in the morning or at night. Because I don’t get to see them all day every day, they’re more excited at night and on the weekends,” says O’Donnell, who’s happy to be getting a resurgence in his career. “It just changes your focus. Your weekends become all about your family. I like to go to their football games or watch them ride or do whatever they do.” 

LETTING BABY GO: Retired pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan is known for being quite protective of his young pop star daughter, Brooke. Now that she’s become more independent as a singer/song-writer and star of her own VH1 reality show, she tells us her dad has been lightening up. “He really worries about me. It’s for good reasons, though. He wants to protect me,” says Brooke. “Even though it’s a little overbearing, it’s not bad. He’s definitely gotten better.” 
 
With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Kristen Bell Albert L. Ortega-PR Photos

Kristen Bell has gone from “Veronica Mars” to “Heroes” to “Fanboys” to the Oct. 23 release animated flick “Astro Boy” – and thereby has a permanent place in the hearts of nerdy fans everywhere. 

 Though she never intended to go down the path that’s won her such appellations  as Chic Geek and Fanboy Fabulous, the talented actress tells us it’s a good place to be.  “I just look for good projects with good writing, and I think at this point it’s a fluke that a lot of them have been genre movies.  I think that’s some of the best material out there,” says Bell.  “The sort of geeky community or the Comic-Con community, they’re some of the smartest fans out there and they pay attention so you have to feed them good material.  I’m just very flattered that they have accepted me.” 

In “Astro Boy,” based on the popular Japanese franchise, Bell provides the voice of Cora.  “After I did a little bit of research, I realized how iconic Astro Boy is overseas.  He’s like the Mickey Mouse of Japan.  The fact that it does have such a history and he’s been around for so long, there’s a reason why his story has stayed sort of timeless and relatable.  It has so many different aspects of fairytales that we’re all familiar with, but at the same time it’s a really entertaining adventure story,” she explains of the flick that also features the voices of Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nighy and Nathan Lane.  “The thing with this movie is, you have to make all of these effort noises,” adds Bell.  “It’s funny to be flailing around the booth and doing these karate chop noises for the fight scenes.” 

 Right now, Bell can be seen showing off her comedic chops as she’s currently starring in the Vince Vaughn flick “Couples Retreat.”  Of that one, she says, “It was like being trapped in paradise with the funniest people in the world.  We somehow shot a movie on vacation and then when we got home they paid us for it.  It was pretty surreal.”   

ONCE GROOVY, ALWAYS GROOVY:  One-time Hollywood dream girl Peggy Lipton returns to the tube Oct. 23, playing the wife of Keith Carradine and ex-love of Dennis Hopper in a story arc on Starz’ “Crash.”  She tells us, “It’s nothing I would have expected in a million years, and it makes me want to work more.”

Lipton, who took a self-imposed work hiatus to raise her daughters by former husband Quincy Jones (“Parks and Recreation” actress Rashida Jones and fashion stylist Kidada Jones), says “I wasn’t interested for a long time, but my confidence grew over the last year.  I don’t even know why.  I do know there are plenty of us who still want to work, and there seems now to be a calling for it on cable.”   Referring to the rise of choice dramatic roles for top actresses from Glenn Close to Sigourney Weaver and Janet McTeer in the medium, she adds, “You watch the Emmys and see these fabulous actresses over 50.  There looks to be room for this on TV.

“We have so many baby boomers coming into our own. I think that’s what’s spurred me on,” adds the “Mod Squad” and “Twin Peaks” beauty, whose dramatic and glamorous life has run the gamut from famous romances (Elvis, Paul McCartney) to her winning battle against colon cancer.

Working with Hopper and Carradine has been a dream, according to her.  And she adjusted fast to the big changes on set.  “Everything is so different, streamlined.  Instead of being by the camera, the director is over in the video village that seems like a half a mile away.  But you just kind of get with it, you know.”

A FINE BROMANCE:  Dean Cain told us last summer that he had so much fun acting alongside James Tupper on their “The Gambler, the Girl and the Gunslinger” Hallmark Channel Western, he wanted to do a sequel.  “I’ll tell you what — I’ll show up for it.  If James wants to, I’m in,” said Dean, who played a gambler at odds with Tupper’s sharpshooter character.  Now, Tupper tells us he’s game, too.  “Oh, hell yeah!  It’s a bromance, it’s a bromance for sure,” he declares.  “Dean is a great guy.  He really is a bit like Superman, you know.  You meet him and he says ‘Hello’ and he owns it.  It’s him.”  But reuniting with Dean will have to wait.  Tupper’s plate is currently full with his NBC “Mercy” series and his and Anne Heche’s home life and baby. 

 FREE FLOW:  Derek Luke tells us that there has been a lot of improvisational acting going on in his new NBC “Trauma” action/medical series.  In fact, he recalls a guest actor who “showed up on the set and was basically the only one who knew the lines, who said the written word.  When he heard all the actors on the show improv’ing, he must have felt ready to faint,” says the actor who rose to fame as “Antwone Fisher,” smiling.  “You have to just flow with them.  It’s a very creative and instinctual set, pretty much like real life.  It’s one of the things I love about ‘Trauma.’” 

 With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Hank Azaria UPI Photo John Hayes

Hank Azaria’s girlfriend Katie Wright and their four-month-old baby Hal just joined him on Pittsburgh location of “Love and Other Drugs” – which couldn’t please the actor and funnyman more. 

Although his son was born prematurely, “He’s fine — a big, 10-pound baby now.  He’s very calm, very easily soothed, very mellow so far.  It is fun to have the little guy around.  He’s just starting to recognize us,” reports Azaria. 

Asked about what kind of role he’d most like to play next, the besotted new dad answers, “To be honest, I’m pretty happy to hang around and just stare at the baby for awhile.” 

MEANWHILE:  Right now, Azaria’s attention is also on “Love and Other Drugs.”  In fact, he tells us that with the health care debate raging on, he and Anne Hathaway, Jake Gyllenhaal and the rest of the “Love and Other Drugs” team keep saying to each other, “We wish this movie was coming out next week.  It just has so much to say about the effect big pharma has really had on the medical profession and the health care world.  It’s greater than people think,” Hank declares.  “This really goes into what that system has created and how it works in a day-to-day way.”

As it is, the comedic drama/romance has weeks of production left to go.  Azaria is playing “a doctor of questionable ethics, who engages in some things dealing with pharmaceutical companies that you wish your doctor wouldn’t do” in the feature.  Drawn from “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman” by Jamie Reidy, the film’s depiction of “this whole world – the pharmaceutical world – and the Viagra story itself are all true.  The love story between Jake and Anne, that part is fiction,” he says. 

Meanwhile, the four-time Emmy winner has been recording his “The Simpsons” parts long distance as on the “Drugs” shoot goes.  The landmark animated comedy is soon to hit its 20 year milestone, and he’s looking forward to celebrating that.  “I’m sure they’ll be doing some kind of party or something with a lot of balloons.”

MAN ON THE MOVE:  Dividing his time between making and promoting the “Twilight” sequel, “New Moon,” and threequel, “Eclipse,” and his work as Dr. Fitch “Coop” Cooper on “Nurse Jackie” has put, well, nearly inhuman demands on Peter Facinelli, a.k.a. head vampire Carlyle Cullen, over the past several months. 

“Sometimes I’ve gone without sleep for like 36 hours.  It’s tedious, but we worked it all out and it’s been doable, with some flying back and forth,” says Facinelli.  “It’s exciting. I mean, I love to do what I do. I love to work.  Sometimes it’s nice to have a break in-between, yes, but you do what you need to do.”

He did two weeks of rehearsal and a week of fight training for “Eclipse,” then went into filming the movie with plans to dive directly into new season shooting on “Nurse Jackie.”  As far as his schedule, “It was great. Both sides kind of worked it out before the boards were done on both shows.  The trick is to go in early to talk about your schedule, before the boards are done.  So it’s give and take,” he says.

 Fight training came pretty easily to him.  “I’m pretty athletic.  I did that show ‘Fast Lane’ for awhile and I did 90 per cent of my own stunts, just because I like doing them.  If I don’t go home bruised, I don’t feel like I put in a good day’s work.”

The actor, also known as Jennie Garth’s hubby, certainly couldn’t be playing characters who are much farther apart.  “Someone sent me a picture of Carlyle Cullen next to a picture of Coop and they were so vastly different it made me laugh.  Sometimes I look at pictures of Carlyle and say ‘I don’t look anything like that.’  I’ve always tried to do different things.  When people ask me what I want to do next, I always say ‘Anything I haven’t done before.’”

NOT FOR KIDS:  The no-holds-barred conversation Denise Richards had with Howard Stern on his radio show last June – in which she discussed her boob jobs, types of sex she enjoyed, and ex Charlie Sheen – was so scintillating to Stern fans that the actress-reality star-Playboy pictorial subject has been dubbed a top guest of all time.  “I was very surprised by the response,” she tells us, making it clear she has no regrets.  “I would definitely do Howard Stern’s show again. You have to know what you’re getting into, and I did.  That’s why I’d never done his show before.  My publicist was saying, ‘I don’t think there’s anything you haven’t been asked at this point,’ so I decided to do it and have fun with it, and I was very honest with him,” she recounts.  “Obviously, as soon as I got done, I called my dad back in L.A. and said, ‘Do not listen to Howard Stern,’ and, you know, if you see any quotes on the internet, don’t read them.”  Obviously.

THE BIGGEST SOFTIE:  Hard-driving though “The Biggest Loser” trainer Bob Harper may be, he’s also known to hold a competitor’s hand and have a cry in an emotional moment.  He bonds with his followers and has “established lasting friendships.  I’m a touchstone for them.  If they need me for anything, they reach out.  With all the social networking possibilities these days, I definitely hear from them – ‘Bob, I’ve hit a plateau.’  You have to trust the process to stay on course.”

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Kyle Chandler NBC photo

Kyle Chandler reports he’s been shooting episodes one, two and three simultaneously for the fourth season of “Friday Night Lights” — and that it’s a challenge. 

All three episodes are set at night, “And shooting at night. can be demanding,” he observes and then explains, “Devastating things can happen to the human body when it’s faced with sleep deprivation. It’s like jet lag – one gets thrown off of schedule, especially when one gets up at six in the morning, as I do That’s when my wife and I start fixing breakfast for our daughters, and even if I wanted to sleep in, well, the noise from pots and pans would wake me up.” 

He’s not complaining, mind you. Even though, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, he asks us to believe, “If I had known how much work is involved with raising a family, I would have stayed single.” 

He says he and wife Katherine ”make breakfast together, make sure our daughters Sydney and Sawyer, ages 8 and 13, are getting dressed, take turns driving the kids to school. Yep, if I had known about all this work I would have stayed single.” 

He goes on, “I look at those celebrity magazines and I’m jealous. There are pictures of late-night partying at nightclubs and I wonder who’s taking care of the kids. I’m boring compared to those people.” 

But the fact is, Kyle admits, “I wouldn’t trade anything for what I’ve got right now.  I appreciate everything in my life. Every time I turn on TV and see how difficult things are for some people, I’m just grateful for what I’ve got. I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone’s.” 

SHE’S GOT THE LOOK:  “Mad Men” actress Abigail Spencer is tight-lipped as to what’s in store for her teacher character on the acclaimed series, such as her response when we ask what it’s like to do a love scene with Jon Hamm:  “You’ll have to ask his girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt.”  She laughs.  But seriously, “Jon’s a wonderful actor, so in any capacity to work with Jon, it’s a wonderful experience, period.  Exclamation point.”

What the 28-year-old actress will say about her character is that because of her, costumer Janie Bryant is exploring an aspect the early 1960s that’s a far cry from glossy Madison Avenue style.  “What we are going to find is that this character is not like anyone you’ve seen on the show.  She’s going to provide a peek into where the ‘sixties are going to go – not necessarily in terms of feminism or Woodstock.  She’s a single woman, very simple in her lifestyle, definitely someone who would want to be a part of the Peace Corps and be for changing the world because of her heart.  What I’ve heard from Janie are things like, in terms of materials, ‘Oh, no. That’s too expensive for her.’  She’s someone who made a lot of her own clothing, wore hand-me-downs, probably only had one coat that she would constantly wear – as much a flower child as she could be in 1963.”

THE INSIDE TRACK:  David Gray, known for his smash hit “Babylon,” took a break from singing for a few years and has recently returned with a new album “Draw the Line.”  The English singer-songwriter, who is currently on tour in the U.S., tells us he needed that time off to gain a fresh perspective.  “You have to live a bit to have something to write about.  I try to find a balance.  There’s no balance now – for the next two years I’ll be giving my heart and soul to this.  I’ll hardly see my family.  I’ve taken the last few years to get to know them again,” says Gray.  “The whole promotional schedule is a lot more involved now.  It takes a lot out of you.  The time I spent slowing down was time well spent.  I’ve got a renewed appetite for everything so that’s what speaks volumes.” 

While it will be hard to match the success of his album “White Ladder,” Gray is equally as proud of his latest work and isn’t worried about how many copies he sells.  “Music is more important than it ever was.  It can be magical, but it seems to have lost its price completely, which is usually a result of gross stupidity of the industry.  It’s just up to me to do my thing, and I’ll let my business people worry about how we put it out there,” he says.  “Doing this album was like starting all over again really but with the knowledge we’ve amassed.  I think it’s got a different feel to it.  It’s a little bit more direct.  It’s like I’ve kicked the door down like some photographer taking snap shots of everything.  It allowed me to get a lot of stuff off my chest that I’d been waiting to say for a long time.”

 WRITE AND WRONG:  Famed wrestler Mick Foley has already written three memoirs in the last 10 years – all of which have been hugely popular.  While he enjoyed getting the chance to tell his story, he’s not sure if another autobiographical book is in his near future. “I might do another book.  I hope the next few years are interesting enough to write about.  It may be that three memoirs are enough,” says Foley with a laugh.  “As much as I’d like to write another novel, I’d really have to feel strongly about it because it takes up so many hours of time and as a father of four it’s tough to find that time.” 

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Rachelle Carson and Ed Begley Planet Green photo

The “Jay Leno Show” bit in which Rush Limbaugh drove Jay’s electric car obstacle course – featuring  life-size cutouts of environmental figures Al Gore and Ed Begley, Jr. that Limbaugh ran into on purpose – has been getting lots of replay action on the internet.  Among those who’ve seen it is Begley, who responds with equanimity when asked about “El Rushbo’s” deliberate hit.

 “You know, it’s a free country and he’s allowed to do whatever he wants.  It’s just curious that he doubts climate change when so many prestigious scientists have documented it,” he observes.  As far as the car, “That’s fun, it’s all in good fun,” says Begley.  He also reports that Leno’s asked him to come out and drive as well, and he just might.  “You’ve got to have some fun.  I’ve been featured on ‘The Simpsons’ too.  Rule Number 1 is, you have to have a sense of humor.”

 Begley’s managed to keep smiling through decades of being considered an “environmentalist whacko” by the Limbaughs of the world.  Now, of course, millions of people have come around to Ed’s way of thinking.  Still, even amongst his green Hollywood pals, and, of course, his wife, Rachelle Carson, “Not everybody’s quite as into it as I am.  It is asking a lot to have to ride your bike to make toast,” he admits, referring to one of his power-generating devices. 

 More such Begley-an innovations will be shown come Oct. 21, when his and Rachelle’s popular reality series, “Living With Ed”  has its new season premiere, on its new cable channel home, Planet Green.  (Previewing on video-on-demand Oct. 14.) The show’s new situation allows him to leave the confines of his home and take viewers to places like “a methane plant, where they make waste into electricity.”  Golly!  Can’t wait.  The cameras caught Begley’s recent 60th birthday roller skating party – attended by such pals as Jackson Browne, Jeff Garland, Anjelica Huston, Buck Henry, Teri Garr and Cindy Williams.  Upbeat Ed expects his best year yet; “twice as good as 30.”

 THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: If Jason Ritter and Jess Weixler look like they’re falling in love in “Peter and Vandy,” they are.  Sort of.  In an actory way.  “Aside from sleeping, I think I spent every hour I had with her, working at either her apartment or my apartment, rehearsing ‘til it was time to go to sleep,” he recounts.  “We got very close in that period of time.  That kind of closeness, it’s a hard thing to fake, you know?

“We both had significant others, so we could really delve into this without worrying — really fall for each other as hard as we  possibly could and still have it be safe for both of us.  The fact she trusted me enough, the fact I trusted her enough, was a really special thing,” as the actor, who rose to fame on “Joan of Arcadia,” and whose father was the late John Ritter.   

“Peter and Vandy,” which drew raves for both actors at the Sundance Festival, opens in New York and L.A. today (10/9) with other releases to follow.  It tells a story by showing great and awful moments in a couple’s relationship, but not in order.  Jason and Jess put their characters’ story together in sequence in order to act it – and then, he says, it turned out that they actually shot it in chronological order, the exact opposite of the way most films are done. 

As for whether all that togetherness and love time made his girlfriend, Marianna Palka, and Jess’ boyfriend uncomfortable, he says, “There’s a real trust on their parts that I admire a lot.  Jealousy is a really easy thing to go into and it’s not pretty.  So we’re really lucky to have people in our lives who understand that at the end of the day, we’re working to make the best film we can.”

 CELEB SCENE:  Michael Cera’s “Youth in Revolt” got an advance screening at Hugh Hefner’s  Playboy Mansion the other night – what a place to screen a comedy about a young man on a quest to lose his virginity.  Hefner and some 40-50 of his personal guests were on hand, along with a handful of the film’s stars, screenwriters Diablo Cody and Gustin Nash, and producers Bob Weinstein and David Permut.  We hear that after the extremely successful screening, three of the attending Playmates gave a private tour of the mansion’s grounds and its menagerie of wild animals to a few of the film’s notables.  During the tour, Bob Weinstein was attacked by a four foot crane.  Luckily no animals were injured!  “Youth in Revolt” also stars Zach Galifianakis, Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, Jean Smart, Justin Long and Mary Kay Place.

 CASTING CORNER:  They’re looking for the young actor who’ll play wrestling star John Cena’s little brother in “Oxley’s Road,” which starts production in early December.  It’s been widely reported that Cena’s playing the 100-lb. kid who joins his high school wrestling team in an effort to reconnect with his big brother.  That would obviously be a stretch for the 32-year-old, 240-lb. Cena, who is no doubt playing the elder sibling, a professional wrestler who is estranged from their mother.  With the Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated Patricia Clarkson (“Six Feet Under,” “Pieces of April,” etc.) playing the mother, you have to figure this is a little different kind of wrestler movie.  Wonder if Clarkson’s Yale drama school classmates would have been amused by her presence in a WWE Studios flick.

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster