Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Sounds as if AMC's "The Walking Dead" cast is feeling certain parallels to the plucky band of surviving humans they portray in their critically admired, massive hit show — that's been plagued with problems during production of its second season.

"It's been hard. It's been a tough season," admits Jon Bernthal, who plays Shane Walsh in the series adaptation of the popular comic book series. In the midst of shooting this new season, creator and driving force Frank Darabont parted company with the series in an unhappy way, with conflicting reports as to whether he quit or was fired. "Losing Frank was a huge blow to all of us. The cast — we love Frank, one of the finest writer-filmmakers of today. It was a huge blow, creatively and personally," Bernthal says. "I'm unbelievably saddened by that."

But there's more. "We've had a bunch of serious injuries on the set. There've been accidents," he reports. He also notes, "People have lost family members this year. There's been so much people have had to deal with.

"But between 'Action' and 'Cut,' everything has been great. We haven't stopped believing in each other, haven't stopped believing in what we're doing. Nothing is going to stop us. Nothing is going to let us down. We love the show and love each other," he goes on. "We agreed we're all going to make it the best it can possibly be."

Bernthal stresses that Darabont mapped out the Season 2 stories and "he hired everyone in that writers room. He believed in them. The tone may change a little bit, but the fans will not be disappointed this year." He adds, "I think the real danger is when people get caught up in the crap in the trade papers and start to whine and give excuses. We didn't do that. We don't read the trade papers. I don't think we even processed it. We didn't slow down, not for one second."

But Bernthal, a classically trained actor whose eclectic background includes playing pro basketball in Europe and studying at the Moscow Art Theatre School, did get away from the Georgia location for a different reason.

"When my son was about to be born, I was able to get on a plane and shoot right back there from the set. Andy Lincoln took on the responsibilities of the day — and did five scenes he didn't know beforehand that he was going to have to do. And Sarah Wayne Callies — she took care of my dogs for six days while I was gone. Nobody even had to ask. No matter what pops, we're there for each other. You hear actors say these things about the people on their sets being a family. This one really is."

With former No.

2 man Glen Mazzara now serving as show runner, the team has only three more episodes to shoot. "We'll wrap up just before Thanksgiving," Bernthal says.

AND BY THE WAY: We enjoyed reports of the U.S./Canadian survey sponsored by Value Village stores that found "Walking Dead" zombie costumes the most popular Halloween getup this year. Zombies are the new vampires! That was No. 2 on our Fearless Predictions list for the New Year in Entertainment this past January. Item No. 1 was that new "American Idol" judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez would prove highly watchable and give the show a fresh life.

Well, hey — when you're right, you're right.

THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE: Interesting casting going on for the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan "After Earth" Columbia movie that will star Will Smith and son Jaden Smith. They're determining the actress who'll play the wife and mother to their characters, respectively. She's described as brilliant with an inner calm, age 32 to 34. There's also a teenage daughter to be cast, who is described as spunky and fun. Sounds sort of like the Smith family.

Jada Pinkett-Smith is still listed as a producer on this film, despite the swirl of reports about her and Will's marital woes and the reasons behind them. The Smiths also just sold a comedy series pilot to ABC.

SEEING IS BELIEVING: In what had to be a first, funnyman T.J. Miller wrote a tribute song to his ophthalmologist, Dr. Paul Dougherty, on his recently-released Comedy Central album. "I was actually pleasantly shocked. He texted me about it, and sent me a copy. I did his eyes a couple of years ago," the medico tells us. "It's fantastic."

But that's not the end of the number, it turns out. Now, Miller "is planning to do a video to go along with the song. We're trying to find the right time to make that happen," according to the good doctor.

Miller was inspired by more than Dougherty's superlative lasik surgery. The eye doctor to the stars (Leighton Meester, Leeza Gibbons, Dennis Miller, etc.) is also a practitioner of extreme pro bono medical services. When he's not ministering to the wealthy and the famed, chances are he is working with the poorest of the poor, whether in a Palestinian refugee camp or at a local Santa Monica homeless shelter. He has also performed surgery on patients from the warrior transition facility at Fort Hood in Texas — soldiers "who've gone through trauma, been severely injured."

He explains, "I've been doing this philanthropic stuff for awhile. For me, the reason was: Between six and seven years ago, I lost my son. That put things into perspective about why I'm on this Earth." (His child went into cardiac arrest while fighting the flu.) Dougherty, who has a book called "See for Yourself" on the way, plans to expand his mission, which he's calling the World Vision Project. No wonder Miller is singing his praises.

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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