Miss “Xena”? Well, you’ll soon get a chance to see a lot more of star Lucy Lawless. And we mean, a LOT more. Clips from “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” suggest the actress will be wearing next to nothing and doing more than just flirting with other women in next year’s Starz series. So far, though, her real-life husband, Rob Tapert, the show’s head honcho, hasn’t made her go completely naked. “I’m praying that day never comes,” said Lawless, a favorite among the TV critics. “It’s really stressful. I don’t like it.”

Genitalia also came up when cast members were asked whether there would be any homages to Stanley Kubrick’s film version. There’s a, um, revealing one, but you won’t see it on camera. Apparently, some actors have had to jam a prosthetic down their pants to suggest that they’re “gladiator” material. The name of the passed-around enhancement: The Kirk Douglas.

Eric Roberts joins Dennis Hopper for a new season of Starz’s “Crash.” Let’s hope the addition improves the show, which has been about as boring as a traffic jam. Each was asked to name their favorite movie starring the other actor. Hopper picked “Pope of Greenwich Village.” Roberts picked “Easy Rider,” comparing it to “Beckett.” If that sounds like an exaggeration, keep in mind that Roberts was introduced as a “legend.” Hey, this is Hollywood folks. Flattery gets you everywhere.

Can’t wait to see ESPN’s upcoming project, “30 For 30,” which starts in October. Every week, the channel will spotlight a different one-hour documentary relating a story in recent sports history. The roster of directors is impressive and several were on hand, including Ice Cube, John Singleton and Macalester grad Peter Berg who will be doing a film on his buddy Wayne Gretzky’s move to play hockey in Los Angeles.

Mo’Nique, who has dropped about 50 pounds, said she hasn’t abandoned her plus-size groupies. She said she’s working on a new book, “I’m Still a Fat Girl,” which will feature a nude photo of herself. “I’m enjoying the journey of what’s happening to my body and you’ll be able to go on that journey soon,” she said.

It’s always interesting to talk to ex-network executives. Almost all of them seem to lose about 20 years after they get out of that high-pressure cooker and Garth Ancier is no exception. The former NBC entertainment prez is currently running BBC America, a much cushier and relaxing gig. Ancier has lots of wisdom to dispel at last night’s cocktail party and shared a fascinating prediction on what will happen at NBC after Jay Leno goes prime-time: The local news could start at 9 p.m. (going up against Fox in major markets) followed by Jay from 9:30 to 10:30, a direct lead-in to Conan O’Brien. Interesting thought. We’ll see what Jay has to say when he drops by next week…

Wednesday’s sessions got off to an eye-opening start as DJ AM, star of the new MTV reality rehab series, “Gone Too Far,” talked about his struggles with addiction and how he went straight after a botched suicide attempt. “I put the gun in my mouth and pulled the trigger,” he said. “It jammed.” Um, is it too early for Bloody Marys? 

Joy Behar is the only member of “The View” I can tolerate; in fact, I kind of dig her. But even her biggest fan would have to skeptical about her upcoming talk show for CNN HLN (formerly known as Headline News). She and her producer seemed to have only sketchy ideas about what the new show would look - and more importantly - sound like. After nearly 20 minutes of vague answers, I threw Joy what should have been a couple of softballs. As far as I’m concerned, she bobbled them. Here’s the interaction. Decide for yourself:

ME: Joy, are there some pet issues that you
want to tackle on this show that you’re not seeing on
other talk shows?

JOY BEHAR: Pet issues?

ME: Sure, issues that you don’t think are being
talked about enough.

JOY BEHAR: Well, I find that I have more to say and
to talk about on a lot of different issues. “The
View” is limited in its scope in that we have five
women all trying to talk at the same time, and so a
subject will come up and you have, like, three minutes
to discuss it. I really have an interest in a lot of
these subjects, and I want to talk some more about
them and I want to meet more people to talk to about
them, and that’s why I wanted to do this job.

ME: Well, are there specific subjects that you
think are being under-covered that you want to sort of
explore and get out there more?

JOY BEHAR: I don’t know. You’d have to take it on a
case-by-case basis. Every day, I wake up, I read the
newspaper, and there’s something I’m interested in
talking about and I’m interested in getting to the
bottom of if I can, so there’s a lot of stuff like
that.

ME: Let me ask it this way: What would be your
show today?
JOY BEHAR: My show today?

QUESTION: Yeah. If the show was up and running, what
would you want to tackle today?

JOY BEHAR: What’s going on today? I mean, tell me
what went on today, and I’ll tell you.

ME: I’m a TV critic. I have no idea.

JOY BEHAR: Um, well, they’re talking about Michael
Jackson and the doctor today with Diprivan.

ME: You’d STILL be interested in talking about
that?

JOY BEHAR: Well, the story has legs. It doesn’t have
to go on for hours and hours and hours, but that story
does have some legs.

End of exchange. Joy, dear, you need to be better prepared when the show launches in fall or your lead-in, Nancy Grace, will run right over you.

Speaking of dodges, CNN president John Klein tried to paint over questions about his guy, Lou Dobbs, providing a platform for discussion over whether or not President Obama was born in Hawaii. Klein made it sound like Dobbs gave less than four seconds to the subject. Here was his response:

JON KLEIN: You know, there are two strands to this story.
There are the facts and then there are the flaps, the
flap, right? And what Lou and everybody else at CNN has
done is very clearly report and run down the facts. There
is no doubt, according to the State of Hawaii, that Barack
Obama was born in Hawaii. And Lou Dobbs himself has
repeated that over, and over, and over again.

Now, separate from than that, there is a phenomenon of
people who don’t believe it anyway. And they are offering
up news pegs, or have been over the last couple of weeks.
You’ve had a military guy who refused to go to
Afghanistan. You’ve had the woman waving the piece of
paper at the congressperson in Delaware. And what Lou’s
done is hosted panel discussion that offer a range of
points of view about those episodes. So he’s exploring
the flap. But the facts are a settled matter and a dead
issue, as I said in the memo that went around last week.

End of quote. For a guy in the tell-it-like-it-is news business, Klein can dodge a question with the best of them. From the clips I’ve seen, Dobbs has said he believes Obama is a citizen, but hasn’t said he believes he lives in Hawaii. And he’s devoted quite a bit of time to the subject. Klein had the opportunity to either defend Dobbs and his approach or criticize it. He did neither. You expect that from most TV executives, but you expect a “news guy” to do better.

Much quicker on the draw was Joan Rivers, promoting her new TV Land reality series, “How’d You Get So Rich?” Longtime readers already know I’m a huge fan -and her appearance solidified her appeal. The show is fairly low-rent, but Joan knows how to pitch - and how to send one blazing over the plate (Two baseball references; guess I’m still giddy over the Twins mini-streak). Someone asked her what she thought about Jay Leno moving to prime-time. Her response: “I think it’s brilliant. Now people can get bored earlier and go to bed earlier. I mean, when was the last time someone said, ‘Did you hear what Jay Leno said last night? Hilarious!’ Never. It’s nice for the Midwest because now the crops will be greener.”

Steeeeeeeerike!

Here’s an early, early viewing tip: TNT”s “Men of Little Importance.” We only saw snippets, but it looks terrific with a cast that features Scott Bakula, Andre Braugher and Ray Romano, who co-wrote the pilot with a former “Everybody Loves Ray” writer. It’s a drama, scheduled to come out near the end of the year. Can’t. Wait.

Lafayette, I have arrived.

Landed in LA around midnight on Sunday, just minutes after finishing James Ellroy’s upcoming mammoth novel, “Blood’s a Rover.” Ten hours later, I’m in the oh-so-swanky bachelor pad of the author of “LA Confidential” and “The Black Dahlia.” Ellroy kicks off our popular “Talking Volumes” series in September and I was working on our “mammoth” Sunday profile on him that will run when he comes to town. You’re in for a treat. Ellroy is a unique writer with a unique approach that involves a lot of Beethoven, a lot of brooding and a lot of Chinese take-out. Look for it.

This morning, the TV Critics Press Tour begins in Pasadena. Hotel was fairly dead last night, although CNN took up a big table in the restaurant; John King and Soledad O’Brien are among the bigwigs in town to chat us up. Considering that the restaurant prices were fairly high, I headed for the bar. Ended up chatting with a couple articulate bruisers from the upcoming show “Rescue Ink,” about tattooed love boys who save dogs in distress. Interesting timing considering that we were talking the same day Michael Vick was somewhat cleared by the NFL despite his involvement in dog fighting. Guys said those who abuse dogs very often end up abusing children and their spouses. Food for thought.

Tonight: Cocktail party with the cast of “Mad Men.” Salut!

We have a natural impulse to want to spend time with late-night hosts. We want to be on their couch. We want to buy them a beer. We want to take them fishing and go halvies with them on a condo in Bermuda. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend some time with almost all the late-night giants (Jimmy, the tests came back negative. Thank God!), but I’m equally fascinated by the writers and producers behind the curtain, the ones who keep their bosses cool, calm, collected and comical.
K.P. Anderson is one of those guys - and one of the most enjoyable to spend time with. The Cambridge, Minn. native helps oversee “The Soup,” “The Dish,” “Web Soup,” “Sports Soup” and, for all I know, the national defense system of Albania. Despite his busy schedule, he was kind enough to spend a recent afternoon with me, sharing insights into how he made it big in Hollywood after years of struggling as a comic both on the road and at Johnny Rockets in Los Angeles. I’ve got a short profile of him running in Sunday’s paper (you may have to buy a paper to read it immediately; it’s been saved as a “only in the Sunday paper” feature for four or five days), but space restrictions kept me from sharing some of Anderson’s most insightful tips on how to be a success in La-La Land. Here, then, are some nuggets for you to keep in mind if you want to follow in Anderson’s footsteps:

1) IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU. Anderson, a standup for years, started taking a behind-the-scenes role when Bill Maher caught his act, liked his material and invited him to write for “Politcally Incorrect,” which was airing on ABC at the time. During the first week, the rookie got less respect than the coffee boy. Than something remarkable happened: Bill Clinton got horny. A couple hours before the live taping, news broke that the president had gotten some, um, favors, from an intern named Monick Lewinsky. Maher quickly ordered his writers to come up with some topical jokes - fast. Anderson happened to come up with a gem, something about Clinton’s troubles may force him to hold his next State of the Union address on the “Jerry Springer Show.” The joke was picked up by major talk shows and Anderson seemed to be on his way. Except he wasn’t.
Anderson admits that he screwed up by being more bent on writing jokes about “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll,” instead of paying attention to the theme of the show and Maher’s delivery.
“You have to understand the host’s voice and personality. I learned that from Bill,” Anderson said. “You have to ask yourself: ‘Is the voice and tone being captured?’ They need to own what you’re doing.”
It was a hard lesson to learn. Maher fired him - then rehired him nine months later - and let him go again. Since then, Anderson has learned that his sensiblities is less important than the sensibilities of the guy signing the checks.
2) NEVER PASS UP AN OPPORTUNITY TO WALK THE DOG.
Anderson got a call one afternoon from Ralphie May, a very funny standup who might have a juicier career if he was more interested in work and less interested in downing two steak dinners in one sittin. May wanted to know if he wanted to meet him at a dog park with their pets. Even though the location was a bit of a hassle, Anderson made the trip - and ended up waiting almost an hour for the comic. He never showed up. When Anderson returned to the house, his phone was ringing. It was Ralphie. Hey, come back, he said. I’ve got Jay Mohr with me. Jay, of course, is one of the smartest, and sometimes snarkiest comics, out there (He currently stars in CBS’s “Gary Unmarried”). Anderson begrudgingly make the trip back. It was a smart decision. After some, um, recreational intake (we’ll let you fill in the blanks), Mohr asked Anderson - out of the blue - if he would be interested in being the head writer for a new sports/comedy show. The show didn’t last long; the relationship did. That experience reminded Anderson that friendship with VIPs can be fun; it can also be really good business.
3) DON’T LET IT STEW; HAVE A BREW. “If there’s a problem,a hundred times out of a hundred, it’s because of miscommunications,” Anderson preaches. The Minnesotan is no saint. He’s butted heads with plenty of people, including his producing partner on “The Soup.” But he says it’s important to recognize that you’re not going to love everybody all of the time, and that sometimes you have to agree to disagree (a particularly hard lesson for us Minnesotans). A recent example: (this gets a bit racy, so you may want to discontinue reading write now if you’re not a fan of vulgar jokes or you’re a big fan of Paris Hilton) Anderson conjured up what he thought was a great joke for “the Soup’: What if a dumpster rolled onto the set, filled with Paris jokes that Joel McHale would pick from? And what if McHale feigned frustration and called for the dumpster to be taken away? And what if Anderson, offstage, would say the immortal words: “Come, dumpster.”
Anderson thought it was hilarious. The censors begged to differ. After the VP of the studio nixed the joke, Anderson tore out of the studio and went across the street for a couple beers. After spewing his genius to the bartender and sulking, he returned - cleansed. “You can’t let these thing manifest themselves and become an emotional thing,” he said.
If you have that ability - to rage and then let things go - you’ll have a better chance to make it in Hollywood.
I look forward to seeing Anderson in LA later this summer. I’ll even put up with his “genius rantings” - as long as he buys the beers.

A major, major music star unexpectantly dies. At the same time, there is significant international news. Which story does a newscast lead with? CBS News decided to go with the foreign story - back on Aug. 16, 1977. That was the day Elvis Presley died. Instead of leading with that story, as ABC and NBC did, the head honchos went with a story about how Gerald Ford was in favor of giving the Panama Canal back to the the people of that country.

Flash forward to the last two weeks. CBS not only led with the story of Michael Jackson’s death; it bathed in it. News from Iran came a distant second.

And I’m just fine with that.

There are those that would argue differently. In fact, most might. According to the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of Americans thought the media paid too much attention to the death of Jackson. In a blog, ABC’s John Stossel complained that his bosses had pulled his report on Canadian health coverage so they could run more on MJ. “Maybe my bosses made the wrong choice,” he wrote in his blog. “Maybe more viewers would have tuned in for my health care report. But the beauty of themarket is that if they regularly choose wrong, they will go bankrupt.”

Sorry, Stossel. Your story might be award-worthy, but it would never have gotten the eyeballs MJ is getting. “Nightline” is leading the late-night wars largely because of their MJ coverage. The recent BET Awards had its highest ratings ever, primarily because of the MJ tributes.

The interest in MJ is as high as any story this year may get. I was sitting outside The Local when the news broke - and to watch the crowd slowly learn about the news from their cellphones, Blackberries and ol’ fashioned conversation was extraordinary. This is a story that everyone had a reaction to.

Is that the only criteria the media should consider? Of course not. But the media should not be judged on its decisions on one day or even one week. If NBC News, for example, led with show biz news every night, I would have a major problem with that. It doesn’t. In fact, one could argue that if they did it more often, they might retain enough audience to stick around and learn what’s going on in the rest of the world. Granted, that’s a tougher argument. Here’s an easier one: Michael Jackson was one of the most influential artists of our time. He was also one of the most mysterious ones. That alone should merit interest - and to be snooty about it is a huge mistake.

I must admit, I have a bias towards obits. I have long argued that our paper, and other mainstream media, promote stories about the deaths of interesting people. I think they are often the most fascinating reads and most educational forms of news. There’s a lot of young people - and older people - that may not have understood MJ’s influence on pop music in general, from turning MTV into a giant to advancing a new kind of R&B that all but killed disco. Let’s hope these reports taught them something.

Did MJ’s coverage keep us from learning about other major stories? I don’t think so. The same resources flocking to LA probably weren’t heading to Iran anways. I feel I got enough info about Franken-Coleman, Gov. Sanford and the Iranian election rebellion even with tons of MJ coverage. The news is out there, and if it was a little more difficult to find for a week because an icon died, well, I can live with that.

I don’t know how much Boyd Huppert makes a year, but I’m guessing it’s not enough. The KARE’s ace feature reporter won another national Edward R. Murrow award. By my count this is number 6. I’m not sure how many other regional reporters can make that boast. This time it’s for the piece he did with photojournalist Jonathan Malat about Frank the Duck, who rides shotgun with a truck driver. YOu can see the video at kare11.com. I’ve got a call into Boyd. On the downside: The KARE piece is the only local winner at this year’s awards.