Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Cedric the Entertainer not only has his NBC "It's Worth What?" game show newly on the air this summer. The King of Comedy will also show up as a character on TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland" next month. And, he reveals, if things go according to plan, that character will land in a spin-off sitcom of his own.

"TV Land got very excited about developing a show based on the character," says Cedric. He describes his role as a hot R&B singer turned preacher — ala several real-life recording stars — who "has a real-world, modern kind of point of view that clashes with that of my father, an old-school minister." As far as when the show might debut, "We're in the early stages of development."

Meanwhile, he has a slate of standup gigs this summer, and the "It's Worth What?" show has already spawned a drinking game wherein participants take a sip each time he utters "Whaaaat?" Cedric is well aware that "It's Worth What?" faces stiff competition (including Chef Gordon Ramsay), but he points out, "With our show, people can have fun playing along. Everyone thinks they know the prices of things, but everyone gets surprised." Items from Roy Rogers' taxidermist-treated Trigger to a flying saucer home are the big lure, he feels. "We have plenty of fun stuff ahead — items that are quite amazing."

For Cedric, the timing of "It's Worth What?" was "very serendipitous," since "I definitely wanted to find another way to get back into television. I had a deal at ABC for the past eight years to do a sitcom for them, but we never found anything that would stick," notes the former "Steve Harvey Show" and "Cedric the Entertainer Presents" star. "I see the fun my good friend Steve Harvey is having doing 'Family Feud,' Howie Mandel on 'Deal or No Deal,' Jeff Foxworthy on 'Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?' and doing a game show looked interesting. When this came up, I thought, 'OK, I'm out of my box right now. Let's try it.'"

OUT FOR BLOOD: Despite reports that have Kerry Washington all but set to play Jamie Foxx's wife in Quentin Tarantino's forthcoming "Django Unchained," a casting notice went out this week for the role. Whether Washington or another actress lands the role, it's a great place to be — surrounded by actors including Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio (as the brutal slave owner keeping her character captive), Samuel L.

Jackson and Christoph Waltz. The story, though, is marked for Tarantino violence. It has to do with caged Mandingo warriors forced into "bloody, savage" fights to the death. Interestingly, Tarantino has been intrigued by the 1975 movie "Mandingo" for years, having been quoted as saying it is one of only two instances of a major studio making a "full-on, gigantic, big-budget exploitation movie" in a 20-year span (the other being "Showgirls"). "Django Unchained" is due to begin production in November, with shooting to take place in New Orleans and Los Angeles.

CHEW ON THIS: Funnyman John Pinette, whose "Still Hungry" special has its Comedy Central premiere tomorrow night (7/29), is about to take a month off from his normal hectic itinerary of standup dates. He'll get "back on some kind of schedule" and have a chance to get in better shape as well, he lets us know. Rotund as he is, "I don't want to glorify being heavy," he insists. "I laugh about it, or talk about it as I would any trial or tribulation in life."

But weight-related jokes are his stock in trade. Aren't those on the un-PC list nowadays?

"I would say the weight jokes are really more like food-oriented jokes," Pinette differentiates. "I did 'Show Me the Buffet' in '98. Now we have three shows on about cake, and 14 stars out there that — they make food, and that's all they do. I actually prefer to think about it as I was ahead of the curve."

He also notes, "The parameters of what makes people laugh, you could drive a 747 through. There's room for all kinds of comedy. I try to be a little bit cleaner than some, a little bit more family-oriented. I'm not St. Francis up there, but I try to have some respect where maybe you can bring your kids, and Grandma won't go screaming out of the room."

SPECIAL VESSEL: Proving that you can't keep a good conspiracy theory story down, a remake of "The Philadelphia Experiment" is set to be shot next month for TV. This is the story (and 1984 movie) about the supposed secret government experiment carried out in 1943 in which a U.S. naval ship, the Eldridge, was made invisible, thanks to another genius theory — this one suppressed, of course — from Albert Einstein. In the new TV movie version, the Eldridge reappears in 2012! Filming is to take place in Vancouver.

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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