Beck/Smith Hollywood

It’s hectic time for Keke Palmer, with the launch of her “Rags” movie that debuts tonight (5/28) on Nickelodeon. Plus the July 13 premiere of “Ice Age 4: Continental Drift,” in which she voices mammoth Peaches, coming up fast with all its own attendant publicity. Plus filming of two music videos, the first one June 9. Plus more recording.

“I’m just moving with it and thinking, ‘This is what I have to do to make my dreams come true.’ I have to work hard, I have to really work hard,” she insists. “If I’m not going to work hard, then I’m not going to get the results that I want. So I can look past the stress and the tiredness and keep pushing.”

Having already proven herself a truly gifted actress (“Akeelah and the Bee,” etc.) and had a hit series (“True Jackson, VP”), the beautiful 18-year-old has already made a lot of dreams come true. But she tells us she has much more she wants to do.

Indeed, a chief attraction for jumping into “Rags” was the fact it afforded her the opportunity to get her feet wet as a producer. “The first thing that happened was, I had a little lunch meeting with Nick Cannon. He told me about this movie that he had for awhile, that he thought it would be great if I could come on board as a producer as well, and be in on the development of it, really help bring some authenticity to the script — the dialogue of young kids, and just the flavor of it. I was immediately like, ‘Yes, I want to be part of it.’”

The result is a fun, high energy flip on the Cinderella story — with Keke as a pop princess named Kadee, whose dad just happens to be a record label owner as well as her manager. Cutie pie Max Schneider (“How to Rock”) plays the musically-talented orphan who has to contend with a dreadful, demanding step-father and two crummy step-brothers. Being in on behind-the-scenes work, from plotting scenes to casting, Keke found, “It was weird to have so much power because I’m not used to it.”

She was especially interested in getting across the fact that “even though my character seems to have it all, she has her own issues” — issues Keke herself understands all too well. That Kadee is unhappily thrust into an image that’s not right for her is
something with which her alter-ego can relate. “In this industry, everyone comes across the situation where someone is trying to change them or put something on them that really isn’t them. I definitely have been there before,” she says.

She’d love to produce another project with Cannon. “We’re best friends,” she tells us. But at the top of her list of ambitions right now is getting her own music across, especially in the wake of some delays and “a lot of confusion.” She loved working with “Rags” soundtrack producer Rodney Jerkins, and says, “I’m really, really looking forward to working with him on my music. He really gets who I am as an artist.”

With Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton leading a star-filled cast, History’s “Hatfields & McCoys” mini-series is big and bloody, and the thing that many people are going to be talking about come Memorial Day (5/28), when the three-night epic begins.

Behind the scenes, it’s been “a once-in-a-career kind of bonding thing, a familial thing with the actors,” according to Mare Winningham.  She tells us her “Hatfields & McCoys” journey began with Costner, who is also a producer on the mini-series, phoning her to tell her the script was on its way, and that “he wanted me to play the matriarch of the McCoys.  He said, ‘You’ll see.  Sally is a great, tragic figure.’  I have to say, I was pretty darn excited when I read it.  There’s not a bad role in this thing.”

Shooting on location an hour outside Bucharest, Romania, was “isolating in the best kind of way,” she says, noting that the landscape resembles Civil War era Appalachia.  “There were only five of us women among all these beautiful actor boys who were growing epic beards, being in a shoot ‘em up Western.  I have to say if I take one thing away from this experience, it will be friendships.  We were in a beautiful hotel, and also secondarily in the mountains.  Many of us had guitars, and we’d play together.  There were hootenannies.  We had great books to read, and a need to be together.”

The actors portraying the warring families “blended, but there was no lack of digs and humor.  The McCoys definitely knew we were the better family and had the better actors,” Winningham reports with a laugh.

Promotion people have taken up that good-natured rivalry where the actors left off, according to her.  “The publicity department has been amazing for History.  The producer sent us an email movie of these massive posters in the (New York City) subway.  I kept looking for myself, to be honest.  I saw Costner and, the closer I looked, the more I realized, these were all Hatfields!  I called and said, ‘How dare you send me a corridor of Hatfields?  Where the devil are the McCoys?’”  It turned out that she’d been sent the wrong email.  Hatfields are on the East side, McCoys on the West.

For all the fun surrounding “Hatfields & McCoys,” the mini-series itself is unsparing in its grinding violence.  Winningham is mesmerizing as the mother descending into madness as she loses a daughter and four sons. “Given all that happened, I think it was a very reasonable response when she lost her mind,” Winningham observes.

At one point, the actress was required to run out of a burning cabin in a flowing nightgown, guns blazing.  “I remember laughing super hard when I saw the fire trucks and firemen standing by, and they said, ‘Now you’re going to go in there and wait until we say ‘Action.’  I said, ‘Okay, I still have half the movie to shoot.’”

Donnie Wahlberg, Amy Carlson CBS photo

What a grand time for the “Blue Bloods” troupe.  Ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month and being feted at CBS’s Upfront presentation for advertisers, Tom Selleck and the rest of the cast must be feeling duly appreciated by now.

Amy Carlson, who plays Donnie Wahlberg’s wife Linda on the show, tells us she and her family will be heading off to Fire Island for a vacation after the promotional fest.  And after that, “I would love to do a movie, but if it doesn’t work out, that’s fine.  I have two children who are still quite little — 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 — and I love having time to spend with them.”

In fact, her schedule is one of the reasons the actress considers “Blue Bloods” her “best job in the world…My scenes are pretty specific and they’re all in one place, so I end up not having too crazy a schedule which is great.  They tend to give me more to do every third episode.”

She could be moving around a lot more next season, if talk of having Linda return to work as a nurse comes to fruition.  Opening up a medical aspect of the cop show would certainly add possibilities, and Carlson is ready.  “On ‘Third Watch,’ I was a paramedic, so I have a TV medical background,” she says with a laugh.  Hey, but no kidding — the experience won’t hurt.  “It’s true,” she responds.  “You do end up with a lot of knowledge you can bring with you.”

Ron Perlman is back to work on the set of “Sons of Anarchy” this week – and admits he’s surprised to be there.  As followers of FX’s acclaimed series about an outlaw motorcycle club are aware, his character, the group’s ex-president Clay Morrow, went on a violent spree last season — violent even for Clay.  He killed an old friend, brutally beat his wife’s (Katey Sagal) face, and ordered the death of the mother of his baby step-grandson.  And those are just the highlights.

“Clay got a little expansive in his house-cleaning agenda,” is how the well-spoken Perlman puts it.  “He actually started doing things that, as I was reading them for the first time, even I was shocked.  There was a survey done toward the end of the season, before the last shows aired, and only 19 per cent of the country figured he could make it through the year alive.  I would have been in the 81 per cent that said, ‘He’s got to go.’  So the fact that I’m around to do Season 5, I’m taking as borrowed time, and I’m really going to enjoy myself, whatever comes my way.  It’s a blessing for me to be back in Season 5 of a show I love to do.”  Perlman has made a tour de force of the role.

“Sons of Anarchy” — which adds Jimmy Smits to its cast in Season 5, debuting in September — has actually already been renewed for Season 6.  Perlman, who, incidentally, has several films in the pipeline, smiles at the mention.  “If you asked me two or three years ago, I’d have figured I’d be around for that, but I’m not taking any bets on Clay Morrow these days.”  He says he doesn’t know how the season will go.  “We get the scripts a few days before we shoot them, and that’s fine with me.  You don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Right now, Perlman says he isn’t even 100 per cent certain that he’ll get June 11 off.  But he’s pretty sure he will.  That’s the date he will be hosting The Screen Actors Guild Foundation’s 3rd Annual Los Angeles Golf Classic, benefiting SAG’s Catastrophic Health Fund and Assistance Programs.  “I don’t ask for that many accommodations.  I’ve asked them to do the very best they can to make sure I can attend my own tournament that day, and they’ve never let me down before,”  he says.  Supporters of this year’s “Actors Fore Actors” tourney include George Clooney, Tim Allen, Kevin Nealon, Greg Itzin, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Romano and Dave Annable.  The event, sponsored by Integrated Wealth Management, takes place at Burbank’s Lakeside Golf Club.

“It’s grown each year.  The first one was great, the second one even better, so I’m looking forward to this being the best one yet.  It’s a true labor of love,” he says of the star-studded competition.  As for his own golfing prowess, Perlman says, “I have to admit, I have much more love for the game than talent.”

MEANWHILE:  We couldn’t help wondering — what’s Perlman’s response to the CW’s plans for a new version of his hit series of the 1980s — “Beauty and the Beast” — as part of its fall lineup?  “I saw Jay Acovone the other night and he was one of the regulars on ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ and he asked the same thing,” Perlman tells us.  “I said, ‘We’re so out, we’re in.’  If you stay out long enough, it all comes back around.  That’s why I never threw out my bellbottoms.”

Noah Wyle says he’s been enjoying a little down time of late, doing daddy duty and decompressing after wrapping four and a half months’ worth of production of his TNT “Falling Skies” series’ second season.  Sounds like he needed it.

After Season 1, “An amnesia settles in that is analogous to childbirth,” says the erudite star with a smile.

“You forget how painful it was to go through.  It’s a tough show to produce, a tough show to execute.  We do very little work on soundstages.  We’re outdoors in inclement weather; we know what Vancouver winters are all about.  But, you know, a little state of deprivation and discomfort strengthens the camaraderie among the cast.”

According to Noah, viewers can expect the new season — launching June 17 — to be even bigger than the first season of the Steven Spielberg-produced drama in which human resistance fighters are struggling to survive against alien invaders.  It’s bigger, at least in terms of production, that is.  “It started with getting a little bit more money to spend on the episodes, more on spaceships and aliens, more action on the show,” Noah tells us.

Last week, the former “ER” star was time-tripping backwards — decked out in a 1960s-style three-piece suit for his role as one-time Mattel CEO Art Spear in the big screen “Snake and Mongoose.”  The film covers the real-life story of drag racers Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen, whose famous rivalry inspired the Hot Wheels toys.  In July, he will film “Scribble,” an independent feature about “a group of amateur writers tearing each other to shreds.”

Of his schedule, he says, “It’s not too bad.  I’m only working a few days on each movie.”  Which leaves more time for Noah, who has been separated from his wife since 2010, to spend with nine-year-old son Owen and six-year-old daughter Auden.  He credits “Falling Skies” for “giving me street credibility with my son’s third grade class.  They’re actually more interested in it than he is.”  The show is inappropriate for Auden, he adds.  “But they’ve both been to the set numerous times.”

Has Kim Kardashian been putting the diva in “Drop Dead Diva” with her forthcoming recurring role?  Not at all, to hear the series’ April Bowlby tell it. 

“She was much better than I expected,” the actress lets us know.  “You never know with someone as famous as she is, who has such a following.  But she showed up on set on time, she knew her lines and she was very professional.  She came in ready to shoot and have fun.” 

And fun they do have, assures Bowlby, who plays Stacy Barrett, the wayward best friend of Brooke Elliott’s dual soul attorney character, Deb/Jane.  In the fourth season, due to launch June 3, Stacy’s inventive side emerges again.  (Fans will recall the “armvelope” driving accessory she came up with.)  This time, she has the “pake” — a pie encasing a cake — and she does so well with it, she launches “a pakery, of course.  It’s super fun,” Bowlby says.  Working with her is Nicky, as played by Kim Kardashian.

“She’s not playing herself, you know,” Bowlby points out.  “She comes in and gives me some love advice, and I follow it.”

The “DDD” writers have been having a field day with Stacy, who really did become naughty last season, what with becoming a TV star, getting a runaway ego, breaking the heart of her angel-man, Fred (Ben Feldman) and having an affair with her costar.  She also managed to turn Deb/Jane against her with her wanton ways.              

“I got around, I’ll tell you that,” Bowlby says with a laugh.  “I was really surprised with the writing.  I was like, who is this character?  I’m playing a diva.  It was awesome.  I feel I lucked out.  My character kind of gets to do anything and everything.” 

However, she admits, “A lot of people were very sweet, and they would come up and tell me, ‘I don’t like what you’re doing.  I want the old Stacy to come back.’”  And, is she back?  “She is doing good,” reports Bowlby, as the team is in the midst of its seasonal production outsideAtlanta.  “She is actually being really supportive of Jane, so thank goodness for that.”

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE:  Even as Halle Berry’s “The Hive” is being shopped to foreign investors at the Cannes Film Festival, director Brad Anderson is prepping for a late June production start on the thriller.  It hasHalleas a worker at a 911 call center who becomes involved with a call from a young girl — Abigail Breslin — who has been kidnapped and is frantically phoning from the trunk of her abductor’s car.  Already, there is buzz about how demanding each of these roles is, not to mentionAnderson’s obvious directing challenge with a plot that centers on two people who are on the phone, one in a dark, cramped spot.

It’s going to be hectic time for Gary Sinise next week in Washington, D.C., when the “CSI: NY” star headlines back-to-back events.  On the 26th, he and his Lt. Dan Band will perform as part of the Rolling Thunder XXV motorcycle run festivities, by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

“Then I’ll leave right from there, race over and rehearse for the Memorial Day Concert the next day,” he tells us.  “This will be my seventh year in a row doing the National Memorial Day Concert.”  Sinise cohosts the concert Sunday, May 27 with Joe Mantegna.  Sharing the bill are an eclectic lineup including Colin Powell, Dennis Franz, Ellen Burstyn, Natalie Cole, Selma Blair, Trace Adkins and  “American Idol” finalist — and maybe winner — Jessica Sanchez. (Check your local PBS station for air times.)

Sinise has a full calendar of Lt. Dan Band dates this summer — before he goes back to work on “CSI: NY.”  Talk about an eleventh hour reprieve.  Up until last weekend, Sinise didn’t know whether the show would continue into a ninth season or be cancelled.  Last Friday night’s season finale, in which his Mac Taylor character had a near-death experience, was designed to work either as a season-ender that opens up new territory for stories next year — or as goodbye.

“I thought the writers did a good job with that,” he says.   Since it was a “reflective episode, there were a lot of wonderful scenes between my character and all the principle characters on the show” — including Mac’s new girlfriend, Megan Dodds.

Sinise had made it clear he wanted to go on with “CSI: NY,” and that the writers feel they have a lot more to say.  Viewers can look forward to Mac opening up his personal life, now that he has finally been able to let go of the anguish of losing his wife in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Asked whether he’ll be involved in endorsing or campaigning on behalf of any candidate this election year, Sinise says, “I stay away from all that.”  Though he is known to have strong political views privately, he takes a nonpartisan posture in deference to his ongoing, tireless charitable activities.  His Gary Sinise Foundation to benefit military service members in 2010 is the latest.

“We’re out there all the time,” he notes.  “We have to remember, each and every day should be Memorial Day when it comes to supporting and acknowledging those who fight for our freedom.”

The May parade of season finales continues.  “Grimm’s” is coming up tomorrow (5/18).  “Someone’s life is going to be in the balance,” teases Russell Hornsby, whose homicide detective character, Hank, does not, as yet, know that his partner, Nick (David Giuntoli) is a special being who can see and fight supernatural creatures.

“We’re looking at quite a few cliffhangers.  So far, Nick has kept his personal and professional relationships at bay, but now, there are questions as to how much he is going to tell Juliet, and what will happen to their relationship,” says Hornsby, speaking of Nick’s girlfriend, played by Bitsie Tulloch.  “Is Nick going to tell Hank the truth?  Will their partnership last?  Will Hank be around?  Will he stay on the force?”

We’re betting he does, given Hornsby’s glow as he anticipates going back to work on the show for Season 2 at month’s end.  Hornsby and his wife just returned from a hiatus trip to Vietnam in time for him to be present in NYC at this week’s upfront presentation for advertisers.  He’s ready.

“I was really happy with the fact we got picked up, then got the go-ahead for the back nine, then the second season, the fact that we have a cult following — all the success the show has had up to this point, really.  Every actor hopes to get one of these kinds of shows,” he says.  “People are really intrigued by the characters and the storylines.  There are likeable characters you don’t often get to see in a procedural drama — quirky characters that make witty comments, some off color remarks, have some fun.”