Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

The raft of rave reviews that preceded Ed O'Neill's "Modern Family" sitcom onto the ABC lineup this week is being received with a mixed response by the actor.

"It's kind of spooky," says the man who first found television fame as Al Bundy on the long running "Married ... with Children." "I'm not used to such good fortune. I've never had a show that's come out of the gate like this. It seems too good to be true."

It was too good to be true at first. O'Neill reveals that the creators of the hilarious three-generation sitcom offered him the starring part before it had even been written. But it turned out the network wanted Craig T. Nelson as the lead, "and it was only when that didn't work out," says O'Neill, "that they came back to me. I told my manager, 'Make the deal — it's too good a show to pass up."

It wasn't the first time fate played a happy hand on him. "The hardest job I never got was David Milch's 'Deadwood.'" he says. "I was slated to play the lead, but it turned out that HBO didn't want me. There was no point in asking why. But about 15 minutes after I got the word that I wasn't doing the show, I received a call from producer Dick Wolf, who was doing a remake of 'Dragnet.' Danny Huston was supposed to star, but backed out, and here was Dick telling me, 'I need you to play Joe Friday.' Joe, of course, was the lead."

O'Neill reveals, "I'm rarely the first pick, and there have been times that that's been really upsetting. But it didn't put me to bed. After a day or two, I would shrug it off. I'd be crazy if I didn't consider myself one of the lucky actors. At first, after 'Married … with Children,' there was the tendency to typecast me, but I never took it personally. I just kept going forward and thought that eventually, I'd be able to get away from the role of Al Bundy. And I have. And that's enabled me to get out of the system money-wise, where I don't have to do jobs I don't want to do just because I need the money. Indeed, I am lucky."

THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT ACTING: When you're an actor on a series doing love scenes with the actress who is married to the star of the show in real life, it would seem things might get a little nerve-wracking.

But David Ramsey — guitar-playing, pot-smoking confidential informant Anton Briggs to "Dexter" fans — makes it sound as if he, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter take it all in stride.

"Love scenes in general are awkward. I don't know that it's more awkward," he tells us. "You try to be careful in scenes where you have to kiss, to make sure you haven't had hot dogs that day or whatever."

According to Ramsey, there's lots more of Anton and Debra (Dexter's sister) ahead on this season of the Showtime hit, which has its season premiere Sunday (9/27). "The writers, to their credit, aren't going for the same type of shock value they did last year in terms of something life-threatening happening to Anton," divulges the actor — whose character, last year, was nearly skinned alive. This season "delves into the psychology of Debra and Anton's relationship. He's the calm in the storm for her. The major challenge between Debra and Anton this season is how she sees herself as not really worthy of love. She has a major problem with her self-worth. That fact becomes illuminated by Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) coming back into her life."

THE INDUSTRY EYE: Keanu Reeves' "Henry's Crime" is set to go into production the end of November with shooting set for New York City and Buffalo, Malcolm Venville directing and Reeves producing. Just one big element still missing, it would seem, from the romantic comedy about a nice guy who's misidentified as a bank robber: the leading lady. They're talking to prospects now to fill the role of Julia, an aspiring actress (a good one — who's in a production of "The Cherry Orchard") who's Henry's love interest.

An even bigger actor space to fill is that of the lead character Sutter Kelly in Fox Searchlight's adaptation of the Tim Tharp novel, "The Spectacular Now." The coming-of-age dramedy is about a hard-partying, popular high school boy whose world changes when he meets a shy, insecure girl — a boy also facing the uncomfortable realization that his youth is almost over — so it's a very choice role. Marc Webb of music video and "(500) Days of Summer" fame is set to direct the movie.

It was announced last March that Corey Feldman would be on board for "The Lost Boys 3" — and now preproduction is picking up on the direct-to-DVD threequel, with casting being completed on subsidiary roles.

With reports by Emily-Fortune 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.

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