Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Scott Baio lost his father Mario this past year, and his wife miscarried one of their twins at 11 weeks gestation. Still, the star tells us, he's glad he kept working on his VH1 show "Scott Baio is 46 … and Pregnant" despite being emotionally vulnerable.

"It was just the roughest year of my life. It's my father, and I miss him every day. For the first couple of months after your father is gone, when the phone rings, you think it's him. I would go to call him, and then when I was by myself I would get really sad and cry," recalls Baio. "I took a couple of days off, but it was one of those things where there was nothing I could do about it. He's gone. What am I going to do? Am I going to sit around and sulk and cry, which I did a lot? My father wasn't that guy. His whole thing was, 'You're getting paid to do something. You go there and do it.' I just sort of listened to his words in my head, and I got up and went and did my thing."

With the finale airing on Sunday (March 16), Baio says fans will have certainly seen him come full circle, having gone from a notorious womanizer to a proud husband and father. "People would say this to me, and I thought they were so full of crap. It gives your life a purpose. It made me feel full," he says of having his daughter, Bailey. "I'd always been looking for something, and nothing really made me happy, and I couldn't really figure out what it was. I thought maybe it wasn't the right house, the right car — and then, we had the baby, and it was like, 'This is it.'"

READY TO RHUMBA: Penn Jillette goes into the new season of "Dancing With the Stars" next week already a winner — or loser, depending on how you look at it.

"When they started to bring up the idea of my doing the show last year, I realized I was much too heavy, so I actually lost 47 pounds before I started working with Kym," he says, speaking of his professional dance partner, Kym Johnson. "Then I lost three more since we've been working together."

How did he lose the weight?

"Oh, crazy fad diet stuff — exercising and taking in less calories," he deadpans. "I run eight miles a day on a treadmill." Even so, admits the 53-year-old, 6-foot, 6-inch illusionist/comedian/actor/provocateur, "I'm still the tallest and oldest on the show. At least I'm not 70 pounds heavier than any other contestant. Now I'm probably 30 pounds heavier. I was told by the producers that it is a total disadvantage, but Kym is doing everything she can to spin it to our advantage."

As far as the competition: "Of course I looked at the Vegas boards, and we're about fourth from the bottom with 12 to 1 odds.

Kristi Yamaguchi's at 2 to 5. That seems like a reasonable spread. Teller put $5,000 on us," he reports. "I think Marissa (Jaret Winokur) is very undervalued as a Broadway performer who's bubbly and fun. Everyone loves Priscilla (Presley). No one is more likeable than Steve Guttenberg. Adam Carolla is one of the funniest guys in the country."

But do not underestimate Jillette, whose eclectic career credits include being a unicyclist, a bass player, a wire walker, a graduate of Ringling Bros.' clown college and a juggler. Of late, he's been juggling his and Teller's regular Vegas shows at the Rio and their Showtime "Bull@#!t" series chores with five hours of dance rehearsals a day.

HE'S BAAACK: Former "Stargate: SG1" regular Michael Shanks reports he's been invited to come aboard "Stargate: Atlantis." "It was the most cryptic, enigmatic pitch of a story I've ever heard," say Shanks, who'll be reprising his popular "SG1" role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in a recurring capacity. "The pitch was: 'You go to Atlantis and something happens and Daniel has to help everybody to get rid of the bad guys that are coming.' I was like, 'Wow, did you spend a lot of time thinking that one up?' But it's one of those things. Stargate is like old home. It's always nice to be able to revisit that universe and those individuals and to play that character again."

Meanwhile, the direct-to-DVD "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" the troupe shot almost a year ago has finally been released. "We got to see it on the big screen, and I watched it with one eye to get over my wince-worthy moments, but it looks good. I wish we hadn't tried to wrap up a whole season's stuff in a two-hour movie, but I think it might satisfy the fans."

FOR NON-ACTOR PERFORMERS: Casting forces for Nickelodeon's March 29 Kids Choice Awards are lining up BMX riders, skateboarders and roller skaters, ages 14-18, to do their extreme sports thing on the show that'll be hosted by Jack Black. Stars set to appear include Cameron Diaz, Steve Carell, Shia LaBeouf, Harrison Ford, Chris Brown, Heidi Klum, Drake Bell, Hayden Panettiere, Ashlee Simpson, Howie Mandel, Amy Poehler and America Ferrera.

And even though Labor Day seems a long way off, well, it's never too early to line up variety acts for Jerry Lewis's annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon. The casting for those has already begun. Hey, it's a long show.

MARCH MADNESS: Shirley Jones is trying to keep this month's collection of her family birthdays straight. March 8 was son Ryan Cassidy's birthday. March 11, it was husband Marty Ingels' and granddaughter Juliette Cassidy's (Shaun's daughter). Son Pat celebrated his birthday March 12. The next day, Shaun's son Caleb celebrated his, and today (March 14) is Shaun's other son Jake's day. And her Golden Retriever, Buff, had a birthday, too, on the 11th, but apparently he wasn't expecting a party or anything big.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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