Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Brody Jenner acknowledges that he puts himself in a position to be criticized by being on a reality show as popular as "The Hills" — but he believes certain media outlets have taken it too far.

"I feel like a lot of media is very negative. I think that Perez Hilton started this whole thing where people started being mean," says the much-derided, 25-year-old Jenner, speaking of the proliferation of vicious bloggers. "If you look at all of these Web sites, people are just straight up mean. They look for anything to just ruin celebrities," says Jenner, whose dad is 1976 Olympic decathlon gold medalist Bruce Jenner. "People are into that, though. It's not Perez's fault. He just caught on to something that no one was doing. At the same time, it sucks because it messes with a lot of people's heads."

The scrutiny certainly hasn't discouraged the 25-year-old male socialite from being in the public eye, considering he has his own reality show, "Bromance," premiering Dec. 29 on MTV. "Everybody tries to do television shows about finding love and I feel like that's really hard to do. Nobody had really explored the idea of male friendship so I thought it would be a good idea," he tells us of the show in which a group of guys compete to be his newest buddy.

Meanwhile, Jenner weighs in on his other friend Lauren Conrad, who had a recent bust-up with "Hills" co-star Audrina Patridge over a boy. "When people have problems with their friends, obviously I'm there to support whoever, but in that situation I know for a fact that Lauren did not do anything to betray Audrina's trust," claims Jenner. "It's a shame. They were good friends, but I'm sure they'll move on. It's not going to stop the world." Jenner, who prides himself on staying out of drama, says he's sometimes surprised by how much drama tends to follow his good friend LC. "Sometimes I think, 'Why is this happening all the time?' Honestly, I don't know."

WEIGHT AND SEE: With "The Biggest Loser: Families" airing its live finale tonight (12/16), host Alison Sweeney notes that this season of the NBC hit show has been its most tumultuous yet. "There's been a little more of what we commonly call soap opera-style drama, which I, for one, am very comfortable and familiar with," laughs the actress, who's been a mainstay of "Days of Our Lives" for nearly half of her 32 years.

"From what I understand, it's definitely a tight race," she says of the weight losses of the finalists — loud-mouthed Heba, uxorious Ed, conniving Vicky and gracious Michelle.

"Everyone's trying to guess, of course. We really don't know until they get on the scale for that last time."

Sweeney tells us she spends a lot of time with the show's contestants off-camera. "I see them on the ["Biggest Loser"] campus, I'll go work out while they're working out in the gym when I can. They talk to me; they confide in me. I care about their stories. For me, it's hard to see every single person go," she says.

Expecting a daughter next month, Sweeney — who already has a 3-year-old son with her California Highway Patrolman husband David Sanov — has been busy shooting the next cycle of the show as well as doing her work on "Days." She says the daytime show's production will be working around her maternity leave, but "production of a scripted series is very different from that of a reality show. As far as 'The Biggest Loser,' we'll just have to see how it times out when I go into labor and how that unfolds." Nothing like a good cliffhanger.

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: Barry Watson of "Samantha Who" has 3-year-old and 1-year-old sons at home, and jokes that his New Year's resolution is "if I could just get some sleep for one night — one full night's sleep. I guess that's not a resolution. It's a wish." He notes that his wife Tracy "needs it just as much as I do. Our two little guys are the best, but they definitely keep you going."

TREADING THE BOARDS: Noah Wyle recognizes that Los Angeles is much more of a TV and film town than it is a theater town, but the "ER" actor continues his quest to promote stage drama in the city as well. It's part of the reason he got involved with the Blank Theatre Company in L.A. many years ago, and currently serves as its artistic producer. "It's been about a year and a half since I've been in a production but I've been working behind the scenes," Wyle tells us. "The company has grown exponentially over the last few years both in critical acclaim and audience attendance. We're really trying to position ourselves to become the preeminent regional theater of Hollywood, which doesn't currently have one," he says. "We've been around for 18 years now and have a nice trophy case and we have a great artistic director, so I have high hopes for where we can take the company."

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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