Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Followers of NBC's "The Biggest Loser" can't be all that surprised by Anna Kournikova's departure from the show this week. The current season has underscored trainer Bob Harper's effectiveness as a weight-loss manager again and again ... and again and again — pretty much leaving tennis ace Kournikova and trainer-to-the-stars Dolvett Quince in the dust. Humiliatingly far back in the dust, that is.

Anyone want to bet on how much longer before we hear that Dolvett won't be on the show next season either?

Rumors of behind-the-scenes friction between Kournikova and "Biggest Loser" staff aside, Harper told this column back in August that he was afraid that stepping into the slot vacated by the beloved Jillian Michaels on the show was going to be hard for her: "It's going to be a real struggle, I think, because it's such a specific job. You can come in with all the heart you want, but you also have to know what to do."

Harper also made it clear that he wasn't a proponent of messing around too much with the "Biggest Loser" format. "I think producers get all wrapped up in what is going to make a show bigger and what is going to make it better. Well, I'm a reality TV watcher, and you know what? Don't veer too far off of what has worked."

Maybe next season all the contestants can be trained by Bob and have an equal chance.

THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE: Sam Levinson's "Another Happy Day" boasts a cast including Ellen Barkin, Demi Moore, Thomas Haden Church, Ellen Burstyn and George Kennedy — but it's Kate Bosworth's performance that stunned her costar and producer on the film, Michael Nardelli.

"It's a much more raw role for her than has been seen in the past. Her emotions, her vulnerability, the places she went for this character who's been emotionally victimized in the past, she is really great. She's really serious," declares the hunky blond Nardelli, a USC grad, Groundlings member — and increasingly hot property.

Nardelli started off being cast as Bosworth's and Miller's older brother in the film, opening tomorrow (Nov.

18). He credits his "obsession" with the project and Levinson's script when asked how he wound up among the producers on the Sundance Film Festival favorite.

"It was odd. I was in Michigan doing prep work for another film, 'The Giant Mechanical Man,' and I heard 'Another Happy Day' was fluctuating — the way they do in independent films," Nardelli explains. He contacted producer Celine Rattray ("The Kids Are All Right") and said, "'I know you're in Michigan. I'm already there, forming a production company, and I'd be happy to help with locations, financing, whatever I can do.'" Two months later, he was brought in officially as one of the producers on the feature.

"Sam's script was just this great ensemble family dark comedy. What was so attractive to the actors is, there's nothing black or white about it, there's no villain, no hero. These are real people with real flaws and real attributes, there's dimension to every facet to them," he goes on. "They're each very relatable. I think, for an actor, it's much more interesting to play different shades of a character."

Nardelli found himself multi-tasking in an enormous way, with two jobs on "Another Happy Day" — while he was overseeing filming of the upcoming "Giant Mechanical Man" cinema love story starring Jenna Fischer.

REALITY RULES: A reality politics show? Many of us find that politics is, in and of itself, a reality show. Nevertheless, casting is under way for a program whose producers are touting it as the "first-ever political debate reality show." They're looking for aspiring pundits who care about America and who are "strong-willed, well-informed, great-looking participants in the political system" — people who could go toe-to-toe with the likes of Bill Maher, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck and Keith Olbermann. But they must be 21 to 35 years old. The new show will be produced out of Washington, D.C.

"Dance Moms," except with teenage singers? It sounds as if something like that is being planned, with a new reality show on the way centered on wannabe young recording stars. It will feature not only teen performers doing pop, folk and rap — but their families as well. Talent and passionate drive required.

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.

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