Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

The frenzy over the death of Michael Jackson that continues to envelope the world is no more than deserved, stresses Jenna Elfman.

The star of the popular '90s sitcom "Dharma & Greg," who returns to the tube this fall as the lead of CBS's "Accidentally on Purpose," notes of the fallen King of Pop, "People were extremely affected by his art. He was an amazing artist, and celebrating the glory of his contribution now is only proper. His death is a big loss to our culture. Focusing on the gory details (of his life) is unnecessary, but his artistic contribution is only commensurate to the attention he's now getting."

MEANWHILE: Jenna is now getting ready to make her latest contribution to TV. She starts rehearsals today (7/3) on "Accidentally on Purpose," and though she has yet to read a completed script for the sitcom — in which she plays a woman who gets pregnant after a one-night stand with a much-younger man she takes into her home — she declares, "I'm completely not nervous. I've been hearing story ideas, and the stories are so fresh and take so many twists and turns I can't wait to actually start shooting. The plot line seems so fresh. It's definitely an interesting story you haven't seen on TV."

PEDAL TO THE METAL: TMZ honcho Harvey Levin credits his staff for the fact he's able to branch out with the brand's new "Beyond Twisted" show that's starting its eight-week test run Monday (7/6) on the Fox TV stations in New York, L.A., Dallas, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis and Houston. However, says the attorney/legal reporter-turned-gossip maven/producer, "I must admit, it's hard, especially now, having climbed on the Jackson story, on top of the new show and maintaining TMZ."

The new show was inspired, he says, by "a lot of the videos we've come across, interesting things that are so much fun, that are not celebrity-driven." Such as? "There's this hilarious video of a family of practical jokers. One little girl decides to scare her mom as a prank, but the thing is, her mother is nine months pregnant.

The girl jumps out with a mask, and you actually see this woman's water break," he says. "There are so many of these we are finding. Some are really dramatic, like a 747 landing at an airport, coming in so low it's barely over these people's heads. It looks like it could chop off their heads with the wheels. All sorts of different stuff." They're "packaged with TMZ style, the humor we have … The star is really the video. We don't have a newsroom in this show." Clearly, like TMZ, "Beyond Twisted" is not for everyone. But like the Internet/TV juggernaut, it's bound to attract a mammoth audience, largely of young people.

ACTING HER AGE: Gretchen Bonaduce has found a new lease on life ever since her divorce from former "Partridge Family" star Danny Bonaduce. While he has moved on to a much younger woman, she tells us she has no plans to jump on the cougar bandwagon. "If you go out with men who are younger than you, then I guess that's the category you're put into," notes Bonaduce, who has been dating a musician around her age. "It always intrigues me when 20-something-year-olds ask me out. I'm like, 'Dude, now it seems like a cute, funny age difference, but you won't think that in 20 years when you're changing my Depends.' It's flattering, but I certainly wouldn't consider having a serious relationship with someone in their 20s. You're just in a really different place."

HELLO, AGAIN: Former "Married With Children" star David Faustino tells us he's busy right now trying to create his own projects, which he hopes will help him get back into steady acting work. His most current project has been a series of webisodes on Crackle.com called "Star-ving," where he plays an exaggerated version of himself. "I'm kind of all consumed by it a bit — running this company that I'm running. It's what I eat, breathe, live and sleep at the moment," he tells us. "I need to take a vacation at some point, but when I'm not working, I'm hanging out with my friends and trying to stay out of trouble."

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. COPYRIGHT 2009 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.