Beck/Smith Hollywood

As the Olympics race on, it’s time to place your side bets on which athletes will hang on to their celebrity status after coming down from the podium.

With their breathtaking historic victories and great looks, it’s no wonder that NBC has so heavily pumped Olympic Stars promos with Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Shani Davis and Apolo Anton Ohno.

Speaking of White, Vonn and Davis and their wins, Dr. Johnny Benjamin’s opinion piece this week in The Huffington Post claimed that there are differences in Gold Medals, noting, “…The sad reality is that 2 of the 3 amazing Olympians will be afforded many opportunities to parlay their glory into millions of dollars and one will fade back into obscurity and a 9 to 5. And, sadder still … we all know which unfortunate person that is.”

The implication being that Davis will be forgotten because he’s African-American.

We must point out that if Davis heads into obscurity, it’ll be at least in part because he has spent years rigorously rebuffing the media — as well as any public attention that veered off what he does on the ice in the slightest — including choosing not to be included in the U.S. Speedskating media guide.

Now that he’s opened up some, he’s put his talented skate-clad foot in it with the recent wince-worthy moment when he called Stephen Colbert “a jerk” at a press conference for criticizing Canada. Davis was clearly not aware that Colbert (a real-life supporter of speed skating), was doing his character shtick as a pompous windbag. Not a good sign. But hey, Davis-watchers say he’s better than he used to be, so we’ll see.

The point is, the alchemy that turns some Olympic golden ones into celebrities while others remain unknowns requires a blend of ingredients, including, first and foremost, that said Olympian is okay with becoming a celebrity.

Charisma is required. A gift of gab. Then — sorry, but it’s true — attractive looks. You need not be classically beautiful or handsome. Quirky can work. But the camera must like you.

There’ve been plenty of Olympic heroes whose brilliance as athletes just didn’t transfer into other realms, of course. Seven-Gold-Medal-winning Mark Spitz comes to mind. Watching a comedy sketch with Bob Hope in which Spitz played a dentist was the TV answer to having your teeth drilled. Awfully. Darned. Uncomfortable.

Whereas, we know already that Ohno is eminently watchable. He comes off smooth and likeable, as “Dancing With the Stars” fans are aware. He has “It” factor. He’s a star.

Olympic snowboarding competitor and “Dancing With the Stars” alumnus Louie Vito has what it takes, charisma-wise, for ongoing fame, too — as teenage girls we checked in with verified unanimously — and the 21-year-old Cute Boy didn’t even win a medal. He’s still a comer, though.

Then there’s beautiful blond snowboard cross champ Lindsey Jacobellis, who advertisers were primed to make into an Olympic Golden Girl until she failed in her second bid at Olympic glory with a stunning disqualification — which sucked the air out of her fame balloon.

Snowboarding king Shaun White’s already proven his celebrit-ability. His latest achievements simply amplify it. He’s got that great red hair and that laid-back surfer charm mojo working for him, big-time, though in real life he’s enroute to becoming a one-dude conglomerate. We’re going to Target right now to buy some of his 2-fer Tees.

Flamboyant skating star Johnny Weir already has his Sundance Channel show, “Be Good Johnny Weir.” It’s a safe bet this character is going to be around for awhile.

Will Lindsey Vonn’s gorgeousness and dynamic performance on the slopes help her retain her It Girl status into the summer and beyond? Perhaps a “Dancing With the Stars” stint should be in her future. It kept Golden Girl Shawn Johnson in the spotlight while she was making up her mind to go back into training for 2012.

Olympians have fared far less well with acting than with other sorts of public appearances. “Tarzan” Johnny Weissmuller and ice skating movie sweetheart Sonja Henie are the two biggest movie names that began with Olympic glory — and it’s been a long, long time since their respective heydays.

Tara Lipinski has put lots of effort into her acting career, but she remains most easily identified as the Gold Medal-winning figure skater.

Cathy Rigby retired from gymnastics in 1972, did her first turn in “Peter Pan” in ’74 , appeared on Broadway and has spent much of her time over the past thirty-odd years doing stage work from “Annie Get Your Gun” to “Meet Me in St. Louis.” She’s 57 now. And, she’s still being called a gymnast.

Reality TV is a much more welcoming sphere, luckily for today’s Olympians. Case in point: Decathlon Champ Bruce Jenner’s movie career is exemplified by the awful big-screen bomb “Can’t Stop the Music” — and still, he reigns as a reality TV patriarch.

Now why wouldn’t Shani Davis want to end up like that?

Lily Tomlin is heading to New York to shoot the 11th episode of this season’s “Damages,” and says, “I can’t wait to learn what my character is up to.”
As fans of the hit FX series know, Lily is playing the wife of a man whose exploits bring to mind Bernie Madoff and his billion-dollar ponzi scheme, and she reveals, “I haven’t seen the script for any of the segments we’ll be shooting. I probably won’t until the last minute. None of us in the cast ever knows what the writers will do. They’re following an arc, but watch to see how the actors react to the scripts.

“I always want to leave the impression they can expect anything of my character. I just hope they don’t allow her to be a long-suffering wife. I want her to have a bad streak.”

Lily says she’s lucky. “I never invested with Bernie Madoff, never even knew who he was until the scandal broke. But, I have a couple of friends, a husband and wife who are writers, not people who had a lot of money, who lost everything to Madoff.”

Lily also feels lucky in love. In March, she’ll be celebrating her 39th anniversary of togetherness with her partner in life and career, writer Jane Wagner. Although they’ve reportedly only been open about the relationship for the last few years, Tomlin notes, “I never called a press confernece or anything like that, but in the industry, Jane and I always lived very openly. If people were oppressive of us, I wasn’t conscious of it or don’t remember if I was. Funny thing about me, I’m not too long on hard feelings.”

Lily says that she and Jane have no wish to marry. “We’ve been together too long, And, we’re not religious, not that you have to be, but it’s important to people who want to marry in church. The truth is that rituals don’t mean a lot to us, just the ones we invent. Besides, if we did stage a wedding, I don’t think Jane would get there on time. We call her Maybe Jane, maybe she’ll show up if we’re going someplace. I give her that flexibility.”

TWO STARS IN ONE: “In Plain Sight” actor Cristian de la Fuente is shuttling between his USA Network series shooting in Albuquerque, and work on his “Corazon Salvaje” Univision series in Mexico City — “which is exhausting, but also great, you know? When you’re exhausted because you’re working, it’s better than when you’re exhausted from finding work. So, I can’t complain.

“Things have been very good. I have a show in Spanish and a show in English,” notes the hot Chilean actor, who is also remembered for his fancy footwork on “Dancing With the Stars.”

In “Corazon,” de la Fuente is barely recognizable as the same actor who plays Mary McCormack’s ex-baseball player fiance in “In Plain Sight.” He sports long hair and sideburns for his role as a wealthy 1880′s land owner who rides around on horseback looking dashing in the romantic period piece.

What de la Fuente doesn’t have time for right now is a book tour, despite the fact he has a book coming out — “Hot, Passionate and Illegal? Why (Almost) Everything You Thought About Latinos Just May Be True.” He wrote it with Federico Larino, a buddy who’s head writer for a late-night comedy show in Mexico.

“We had this idea to write a book about Latinos in the States, how things have happened to him and to me. Most Americans think we are all from the same place. Everybody thinks we are all from Mexico, or all from the south and it’s like Latinolandia — where Latinos come from,” he observes. “There are even those who don’t know people from Brazil speak Portuguese, and there’s this confusion.”

Yes, embarrassingly enough, that is true. Adds de La Fuente (who is also a member of the Chilean Air Force Reserves’ aerobatic squadron), “The book is facts, like a manual, mixed with humor and life experiences.”

CAN’T DUCK THE REDUX: Not that Hollywood ever stops dusting off its more successful fare and remaking it, but we’re in the thick of a veritable remakathon right now.

On the big-screen side, there’s “True Grit,” as in the remake of John Wayne’s 1969 Western, only this time it’s Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, with a cast also including Matt Damon and Josh Brolin for Joel and Ethan Coen. That flick that rolls next month.

Also being remade is “The Thing,” as in the 1951 and 1982 creature features. You can’t keep a good thing down, after all.

On the small-screen side — good grief — in addition to the new “Rockford Files” that is on the way, CBS is doing a new “Hawaii Five-0″ (will McGarrett still be the only guy on the islands wearing a suit and tie wherever he goes?). There’s also a new “Nikita” — as in La Femme Nikita — in the works. And Universal is finally doing their series version of England’s beloved “Prime Suspect.”

Seems like old times, all right.

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Which celebrities are the best — and worst — at using Twitter?

“Neil Patrick Harris has done a spectacular job. He’s using Twitter in such a wonderfully subtle way,” says Peter Shankman, a man who knows. Shankman has 100,000-plus internet followers via HARO, the mega network he created, HelpAReporter.com, and he is most certainly at the forefront of the social networking phenomenon.

(Come to think of it, the other day on Twitter, NPH got us all excited again about “Accomplice: Hollywood,” the way cool alternate-reality live theatrical experience he’s currently got going on the streets of Hollywood, as a producer. Why, oh why, can’t Neil be the new “American Idol” judge when Simon leaves, not icky Howard Stern?… But, we digress….)

“You know the reason celebrities have publicists is not so they can speak, but to shut them up,” Shankman wryly states. “Twitter has shown us how easy it is for celebrities to get drunk and say something stupid and make fools of themselves. It’s also shown us those who do a really good job of posting things — very funny things, edgy things, subtly promotional things. They’re not taking pictures of themselves topless and posting them like Lindsay Lohan.” Talk about a Twitpic.

Shankman also names director/choreographer/ producer Adam Shankman — “same name, no relation” — as an able Twitterer. And, not surprisingly, Ashton Kutcher. “He and Demi Moore did something very funny a couple of weeks ago. They were deciding what to have for dinner by writing on their arms and taking pictures and posting them.”

On the other hand, as Twitter followers know all too well, there are those who are already wearing out their welcome with mindless, disjointed chatter.

“There is this concept of oversharing. Way too many people overshare,” Shankman believes. “But the beauty of it is, people will only follow you if they’re interested in what you’re sharing, so it’s going to become harder and harder to overshare.”

Also, “We’re starting to see people who are taking payments from sponsors to Tweet,” Shankman adds. But those who are too blatantly trying to use Twitter for advertising may find themselves quickly dropped by followers, including him.

How did he get all his followers? “I wish I knew, because God knows it’s not about my looks,” insists the triathlete and skydiver, obviously not wanting to give away his secrets. Of course, his HARO site offers an ingenious service, bringing together media people who need expert information, and experts who need media exposure.

Of his personal messages, be they Tweets or Status Updates, he says, “I always add value for people to enjoy.” Indeed, Shankman’s missives are filled with funny bits and pieces of wisdom. “It’s not what people can do for you, it’s what you can do for people,” he says.

And, you want your words to carry from follower to follower to follower. As he notes, “The value of Twitter lies in the reTweet.”

 Gilles Marini returns to “Brothers & Sisters” Feb. 21 as Luc Laurent, the — be-still-our-beating-hearts — French lover of Rachel Griffiths’ Sarah Walker character on the show. To say he’s happy about that is an understatement.

“To think, when I came here, I did not speak English,” says the 34-year-old Frenchman, who hails from Cannes. “And now, I’m living the perfect American dream, with my wife and our little American kids we had here.”

In fact, Gilles’ and wife Carole’s young son and daughter are two of the reasons he says “Brothers & Sisters” is just right for him, offering a schedule that “makes it possible for me to see my kids off to school in the morning, or tuck them into bed every night.”

He admits, “You always worry. I thought, ‘I’m going to be playing the boyfriend. Where can the story take me?’” However, “I come in with a twist in my character’s background,” he reveals. “It’s the jackpot for me.”

If you saw the “Sex in the City” movie, you saw Gilles — all of him, in the shower — as Kim Cattrall’s neighbor and lust object. And, if you saw him on “Dancing With the Stars,” no doubt you recall he came close to victory in the season ultimately won by Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson.

Now, working alongside Rachel, Sally Field and the rest of the “Brothers & Sisters” troupe, he says he’s overwhelmed to be in the presence of “that many actors with that much talent all at the same time.

“(Co-Executive Producer) Michael Morris told me, ‘You’re working so hard, Gilles. You always come in prepared every day, every second.’ But, it’s not work to me. I think this is the chance of a lifetime to be on this show, and to hopefully show American audiences that I deserve to be here.”

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW:  NBC’s freshman “Trauma” series was considered such a sure-shot for early extinction that members of the crew gave up their apartments on San Francisco location. But not Cliff Curtis, the New Zealand star who plays a cocky helicopter pilot in the drama about daring, first-response paramedics.

“Trauma” got off to such a rough start that, a month after its debut in September, NBC announced it wouldn’t renew it. Then, in November, the network called for three more episodes. And then last month, as the cancellation of “The Jay Leno Show” left NBC with mucho hours of prime time to fill, they added four more episodes of “Trauma.”

Still, “I never had any doubts,” says Curtis. “From the beginning, I had confidence that if we did the best work we could, if we kept trying to raise the bar, the audience would grow to appreciate the show. And, it has.”

With a pedigree including Executive Producer/director Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights,” “Hancock”), the show did take some time to find its footing creatively. Curtis concedes, “The characters weren’t developed properly at first. We took a lot of creative license, but learned from it. We listened to the audience and to critics, and were able to satisfy a lot of complaints about the characters. We improved the humor and the action on the front line.

“When things were their worst, I watched with a wry smile and was quietly confident,” he says. “And now, I wouldn’t be surprised that after we return to the lineup following the Winter Olympics, we’ll do so well that we’ll be renewed for another season.”

In fact, the “Whale Rider” big-screen star is so confident that he’s involved with a long-range hit, he’s saying, after 15 years of commuting from New Zealand to the U.S. for film work, that he’d be ready to move his wife and their two children to these shores, “To settle down for at least a few years in San Francisco. I love it there.”

Brenda Song

THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE:

It’s a b-i-i-g difference, going from the Disney Channel to a David Fincher film with Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield, but that’s what beautiful 21-year-old Brenda Song has done.

She’s now back at work in her best-known role — as kooky heiress London Tipton on “The Suite Life on Deck” — after wrapping the big-screen “Social Network.” It’s the story of the founders of Facebook — Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker and Eduardo Saverin.

Shooting the film, Brenda says, “has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It’s such an honor to work with David. ‘Fight Club’ is one of my favorite movies. He’s absolutely brilliant.”

She adds, “Mix that with Aaron Sorkin’s writing and I’m lost for words. It’s like watching geniuses at work. The cast has been soooo amazing. I’m in love with Andrew and Jesse. We had so much fun.”

Her character, Christy “kind of set her sights on Eduardo (Garfield) and will do everything in her power to be with him. It was quite a change from London — ha ha,” she adds in an online interview.

Fear not, London fans. Brenda is not forsaking the ditzy character she’s been playing since 2005. “Suite Life on Deck” has new episodes coming up, including the March 5-debuting installment that has London, Zack and Cody (Dylan and Cole Sprouse) in fairytale fantasies. Hers is “Snow White” — as the evil queen.

WITCHY WOMAN: Katerina Graham, who plays witch Bonnie on the CW’s “Vampire Diaries,” tells us “I hope she stays a good witch. I think she’s such a great role model for a lot of girls.”

Yes, and it’s very hard to find good teen role models in today’s TV landscape. For instance, Bonnie sure beats Grace (Megan Park), the Christian girl in Brenda Hampton’s “Secret Life of the American Teenager,” who believes that her having had sex with her boyfriend caused her father’s death in a plane crash — divine retribution? — and has gone on to advocate masturbation.

And then of course there’s Quinn Fabray (Donna Agron) of “Glee,” the Christian former head of the Celibacy Club, pregnant by one guy and girlfriend of another.

The fact is, as framed by the majority of Hollywood creative types, you’re bound to do better, role model-wise, with witches and vampires than religious types.

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

“Yet, the one thing that can’t happen does happen. His wife finds out and all is lost,” Cranston says. “He must make amends, live with the fallout of his actions and try to win his wife back and to reconcile who his is.”

That might be, but make no mistake that drugs won’t still be a vital part of the story, as will Aaron Paul, who plays Walter’s former student who’s teamed up with his one-time teacher in the drug trade.

Cranston, who counts his role as the father in “Malcolm in the Middle” among his many credits, notes how flawed many television heroes have become today. Among them: Denis Leary as an alcoholic fireman in “Rescue Me,” Edie Falco as a cheating, drug-addicted wife in “Nurse Jackie,” murderers and such in “Sons of Anarchy.”

The way Cranston has figured it out, “In the old days, the leading man was handsome, never drank, didn’t abuse drugs, always figured out what his problems were and solved them. But today, we are accepting more sophisticated storytelling — more honest portrayals of the human experience.”

MAKING IT HAPPEN:  Robert David Hall, a.k.a. “CSI’s” coroner Al Robbins, is about to unveil “Things They Don’t Teach You in School” — a bluesy Americana-style labor of love he recorded last summer in Austin, with “some of the best sidemen in the business.”

He tells us, “I’ve been a musician and a singer almost all my life, but it just sort of faded.” Then, “My baby brother came down with cancer, liver cancer. He’s 46.” His brother’s battle awakened Hall to the fact that none of us has unlimited time to accomplish “that secret list of things we want to do in life” — and sparked him to get busy.

“I’m a good musician. I think I’m a good writer. I have no illusions. I just hope that people who check this out will enjoy it,” says Hall, who wrote seven of the songs on “Things They Don’t Teach You in School” and co-wrote two more. Samples of his enjoyable folksy fare can be checked out at his robertdavidhallmusic.com website.

Meanwhile, Hall, a mighty multi-tasker if there ever was one, continues his “CSI” duties as well as his leadership roles as an advocate for people with disabilities — as well as being among the founding fathers of the Screen Actors Guild’s iActor online casting database. It allows “all paid members to upload their reels, headshots and resume information. It’s a place where casting people can look and know that they have paid up union member.”

EXPANDING HORIZONS: Lea Thompson is moving forward with preproduction on her “Damaged Goods” project — that will have the “Jane Doe” mysteries and former “Caroline in the City” star behind the cameras, as a director. Though Lea’s directed herself in “Jane Doe” movies, this will be her first shot at helming a big-screen romantic comedy.

It’s about a high-flying, chic Malibu lifestyle guru who finds herself falling for a guy who operates a used furniture store in New Mexico and, well, owns chickens. Can love prevail?

James Denton and Jonathan Cooper are cast and subsidiary roles are being filled now.

CASTING CORNER: Now that the applause has had a chance to die down since the announcement that Kate Winslet will star in a remake of “Mildred Pierce” as an HBO miniseries, there are questions to be asked. First, who’ll play the key role of Veda — the selfish ingrate daughter that tenacious businesswoman Mildred can’t please.

Casting forces are working on that one now. The role won Ann Blyth an Oscar nomination for the 1946 feature — which, of course, netted Joan Crawford a Best Actress statuette.

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Omarion is certainly excited about it. “I’ve always loved the show. It has a raw edge to it, as far as how it’s shot, the type of dancers on there, and they’re not afraid to try new things.

“A lot of contestants are coming on there with different styles of dancing,” he lets us know. “You guys are going to see some stuff you’ve never seen before.”

The singer/songwriter/producer/actor/dancer, born Omari Ismael Grandberry and formerly known as frontman of the boy band B2K, is also promoting his third album “Ollusion” from his own label StarWorld Entertainment. The record came about after his split with Lil Wayne’s label, Young Money.

“Longevity-wise, it was the best thing that I’ve done,” he says of parting ways. “Wayne has a vision for his future and I respect that. He’s worked very hard to be in that position, but in respect to what I do and how long I’ve done it, I really felt like how I express it is different. Wayne is a driver and I’m a driver, but there’s only one car, so at the end of the day, we just wanted different things.

“There’s no bad blood or anything like that. Wayne’s still one of my favorite rappers, so it’s all good,” claims the singer, who hopes this takes his career to the next level. “I’m 25 and I could have never dreamed of getting to own my own masters. It’s what a lot of the moguls like Puffy and Jay Z have done, so I’m glad to be in this position. There are a lot of big artists out there who don’t even have that.”

CELEBRITY SEEN: Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe couldn’t make their marriage work, but they have both remained committed to their two children, Ava and Deacon.

We spotted the doting dad having a little father/daughter dinner at Hugo’s in Los Angeles this past weekend with 10-year-old Ava, who is a spitting image of her famous mom. The two took refuge from the rain and sat at a corner table where they talked and laughed while sharing a plate of macaroni and cheese. Hey, not a bad way to spend a Friday night in Hollywood!

MOVING UP: Tyler Labine admits that moving from supporting player to series lead “scared the heck out of me” — when he started work on Fox’s March 14-debuting “Sons of Tucson.”

“I’d done the second banana/sidekick thing for a long time, with a certain degree of success, I guess,” continues the former “Reaper” and “Invasion” regular, and big-screen actor of “Flyboys” and “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.” “I’d become very comfortable with it, very fond of the sort of venue that playing the sidekick gives you to, basically, scene steal. You just sort of come in and do the funniest thing you can think of. But, when you’re a lead on a show, it’s a lot more careful and calculated, and you’re looking at the big picture, not just, ‘What can I do to make people laugh here?’”

Still, when the opportunity arose to take on “Sons,” the affable Labine was quick to say yes. He plays a slacker sporting goods store salesman who is asked by a trio of brothers to step in and pretend to be their dad — while their real dad is in prison — on the sitcom that marks the network’s return to live-action comedy.

The show brings to mind the late John Candy’s “Uncle Buck” movies — updated.

“There is a similarity, to be very honest,” answers the 31-year-old actor. He’s been compared to other comics, too, but “most of the comments I get now are Jack Black-y. I don’t really see that, other than the fact we’re both overweight and I have a beard. People love to slap a label on you.”

But, he adds, “There are way worse people you could be compared to than Jack Black.” Indeed.

IF YOU ASK US: The popular social networking site, Facebook, has once again changed its look and format, much to the annoyance of its members who had only recently gotten used to the website’s previous changes.

If the option were available, we’d certainly click on an unlike button, with a thumbs-down symbol to boot, in order to show our disfavor of the changes as well.

Instead, we say, “Dear Facebook, you’re acting like a lot of women in Hollywood. You keep changing your face, hoping we’ll like the new you, but in reality, you looked perfectly fine from the get-go. So, simmer down or you will eventually look like Heidi Montag and nobody likes her.”

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

Beautiful Benz debuted this past Sunday in her new recurring role on “Desperate Housewives” as Robin, the highly-educated stripper.

“It’s offered me the chance to do some comedy. It’s a very fun character, and very different from Rita,” she says, referring to her “Dexter” role. “I’m always looking for where I can go next and how I can do something different,” notes the actress. She plays a business executive who finds love among the vineyards in the Hallmark Channel romantic comedy, “Uncorked,” airing March 6.

Her schedule has been so grueling, between shooting the series, doing promotion and attending the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, she wound up getting sick with laryngitis last month. However, “I’m a workaholic and I thrive when I have to work hard,” she says.

And, it’s helped move her beyond the trauma of getting killed off “Dexter.” So did the fact, “I’m very close to a lot of the cast — Jennifer (Carpenter) and I are close friends, and Michael, James Remar and his wife, David Zayas and his wife — and I had the pleasure of going through awards season and being reunited with everyone.”

She doesn’t mind the fact that people are still approaching her and exclaiming about what happened to Rita. “I love that it was that impactful. It would really suck if they killed off Rita and nobody responded.”

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE: It’s not often that a celebrity begs to differ with Dr. Oz, but such is the case with Carnie Wilson, who turns up on Oz’s show today (2/4), ready to make a fresh start in her weight battle.

“He and I sort of have a conflicted diagnosis about something. He called me pre-diabetic, but that’s not right, according to my doctor and my numbers. I am in the very normal range. Maybe it was something he said for the show,” says the singer-cum-reality show star — “Carnie Wilson: Unstapled” on GSN — baker, and “Newlywed Game” host.

Carnie admits she was startled by some of what Dr. Oz told her, including that “at 65 pounds overweight, I fall into the morbidly obese category. When I weighed 300 pounds, I knew that I was in that category, but not now, at 218. I looked into that, and he’s right. My BMI is 39 and that’s too high,” adds Carnie, who has been trying to get rid of the weight she put on while pregnant with daughter Lucy, 7 1/2 months.

“The great thing about Dr. Oz is, he looked me in the eye and gave me big hugs and said, ‘I don’t see you as a celebrity. I see you as a wife and mom, and someone who has the opportunity to help millions of people.’ That’s the kind of man he is.”

She’s now going on the diet regime Dr. Oz lays out in his books, but admits that fitting in his prescribed daily workouts is a challenge for her. “When I’m filming and promoting the show, it’s not possible, but I’ll do as much as I can,” says Carnie.

STRUNG OUT: “CSI’s” Robert David Hall says he enjoys the occasional curve ball thrown his way by the show’s writers. For instance, a bit on the upcoming installment featuring Rascal Flatts required him to “autopsy a guitar that electrocuted some musician.

“I like it when odd things happen,” says Hall, who is a musician and singer himself. “I try to prepare for anything I do, so I went down to my guitar repairman, Norick Renson, and said, ‘I have to do an autopsy on a guitar,’ and he and his sidekick, Bret, told me exactly how to take apart a Fender bass guitar.” That’s going the extra mile for verisimilitude, all right.

COURSE OF DISCOURSE: Naomi Judd has a great gift of gab, but according to her, she had to sharpen her debate skills once she started appearing on TV all the time.

“Bill Bennett always calls me ‘the common sense’ celebrity,” notes the singer and talk show favorite, who’s exchanged words with hosts from Chris Matthews to Bill O’Reilly, in addition to having her own shows. “I’m pretty known for telling it straight.

“I learned to be more assertive on Bill Maher’s show. He said, ‘You are a Southern belle. You are too nice. If you’re going to be on this show, you can’t wait ’til Ann Coulter finishes saying something to jump in and try to negate her.’”

Still, Judd maintains a respectful attitude and fully intends to keep it that way.

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster