Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

It doesn't take a crystal ball to see that 2007 is going to be a year of expanding horizons for "Crossing Jordan" star Jill Hennessy. With the series poised to launch its sixth season Jan. 14, she's putting fresh energy into the music side of her career with a CD in the works. She's directed a tough episode of the series for spring airing. And she has a big-screen comedy on the way, "Wild Hogs," in which she plays wife to Tim Allen.

"It's been hard finding anything that fits into my hiatus — and hard to fight the stereotype of drama attached to me after doing 'Law & Order' and 'Crossing Jordan,'" admits Jill. "I auditioned along with other actresses — young, good-looking, hilarious actresses. I was honored to get it, and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had.

"Tim loves improvising. He's so quick on his feet, and his breadth of knowledge, articulateness and the fact he's very outspoken make him just so impressive and fun to work with. I missed doing improv comedy myself. People forget I started off at Second City," she adds.

The March 2 release — in which Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy play guys whose middle-age crazy biker excursion gets them into trouble — was made in New Mexico last summer. "My third day was a scene where they all show up on their Harleys and I run out and say, 'Honey, you forgot your prescription for Lipitor.' It was 105-degree weather, and all of them hung out in their leathers to act with me, off camera. I never would have expected that. John said, 'No, this is the best. Jill, I want to be there for you.'"

MEANWHILE: There's a bright side to having had to await a mid-season, post-football return for "Crossing Jordan" this year, as Hennessy sees it. The extra time has led to the new season being "one of our best, if not the best. The show is more cutting edge this year. We have a lot of new writers with different kinds of backgrounds, and I find the storylines compelling, verging on controversial," she says. "One mirrors the police shooting here in New York — it's a contagious fire incident where one cop starts shooting and others join in, and a 7-year-old ends up getting mowed down. It's very powerful. Another one is about a boy of about 12 who's trying figure out a way to ask for help after being molested.

HE'S GOT THE MUSIC: Super hot singer/songwriter Ne-Yo reports he'd love to do more film work behind the scenes. "Absolutely," says Ne-Yo, who contributed to the soundtracks for "You Got Served," "Save the Last Dance: 2" and the Jan. 12 release "Stomp the Yard," in which he also stars.

"When you write for a film there are definitely guidelines because people are very specific about the kind of music they're looking for. They want certain songs for certain scenes. It kind of makes my job easier." He adds, "One of the hardest parts of songwriting is finding something to write about, so it's cool when they tell me exactly what they want and need."

The double Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling crooner, who had a huge 2006 with his No. 1 album, "In My Own Words," notes that on camera in "Stomp the Yard," "I'm just an actor … I'm not singing at all."

In the film about black colleges and the popular dance known as stepping, "I play a guy in line in a fraternity who becomes the best friend of the main character, a street dancer from L.A. who gets into a little trouble and either has to go to jail or enroll in this college in Atlanta. There are a few different conflicts. It's a whole fish-out-of-water story, it's about tradition ... He takes elements of street dancing and throws it into the stepping, and it kind of takes stepping to the next level."

THIS NEWS SUCKS: "Six Feet Under" creator Alan Ball is getting down to business with "True Blood," his forthcoming series for HBO that was announced in 2005, based on Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries. Casting is underway for the decidedly offbeat tales of the undead — who are able to roam about freely in the daytime in Harris' fictional world, thanks to the creation of a synthetic blood — with shooting now planned to begin in May. Ball is definitely planning to retain the Southern flavor of the piece, which centers on a single waitress able to hear vampire thoughts. Players are required to have authentic Southern accents.

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Debbie Allen has turned her considerable talents back to television, with a potential series "about a woman in a dance studio. Children come, and she doesn't like children," says the renowned performer and choreographer, who, of course, also leads one of the nation's preeminent dance studios. "It's a fun show, very possible. I just wrote the pilot."

(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 2007 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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