Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Lisa Kudrow isn't worried that the growth of her "Web Therapy" show — from an Internet comedy bit to a Showtime series — will lead to a more intense work life than she bargained for. Not at all.

"That's what I love about doing this show — because to do 15 webisodes? It takes only a weekend to do that. I'm not kidding. It takes a few more weeks to prepare outlines and all of that," she says.

Speaking to this column exclusively, Lisa, who has been doing her three-minute "Web Therapy" blasts on LStudio since 2008, says she's still hands-on with all aspects of the show. On "Web Therapy," she plays the narcissistic, frequently bored, self-styled therapist Fiona Wallace, whose guest clients have included a string of A-listers — from Jane Lynch and Courteney Cox to Meryl Streep. More big names are coming up (Rosie O'Donnell, Conan O'Brien), and Lisa told press last week that she hopes to get more of her former "Friends" cast mates to come in and join the improvisational fun. She's awaiting word on a season-two pickup.

At first, Lisa was making all the calls to get friends to come in and play on the show.

"We definitely had to start off with people we knew — but we didn't know Lily," she says, speaking of Lily Tomlin, who plays Fiona's awful mother. Lily, in fact, was one of the actors who inspired Lisa most while she was growing up. She perfected her own version of Lily's Edith Ann character at an early age.

"That was sort of a cold call," Lisa says of nabbing Lily, "and she was like, 'Sure!' and she came in and talked to us. That was so much fun — talking about the character and where to go with it. That was really perfect."

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Fox president Kevin Reilly pretty much spelled out the importance of Simon Cowell's "The X Factor" to the network, saying that Fox had built its fall schedule around the competition, which will take up two and a half hours of prime time on the schedule.

The "X Factor" press panel last week certainly attested to interest in the new show, with a packed Beverly Hilton ballroom that even included Chef Gordon Ramsay — the main course at an earlier session.

The chef stuck around to watch Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and the rest of the live "X Factor" panel, including Cowell, who was present via live video hookup. We happened to be next to the chef as he responded with a laugh here and a comment under his breath there, clearly into the whole "X Factor"-Cowell oeuvre. Fox's Reilly referred to Cowell as having a "dark charm" that's irresistible. That could describe Chef Gordon as well.

The panel gave a taste of the all-too-familiar Abdul-on-the-high-wire feeling, as her statements meandered. Would she make sense? Or fall? Abdul told the assembled writers that "Simon is turning into me," for example. Say what? She meant he's a "pussycat" on the new show. Time will tell.

ALSO: Another Fox gamble is the modern-family-in-prehistoric-times-themed "Terra Nova," with a producing team that includes "24's" Brannon Braga — and has Steven Spielberg's imprimatur. Many questions had to do with the special-effects dinosaurs that inhabit this hostile environment, and whether the "Terra Nova" team could get the episodes finished in time.

Producers were quick to insist they're going to make it — even though they allowed that there was a "learning curve" for the innovative motion-capture photography and CGI techniques being used on the show. The family at the center of the show has to work, however, stressed the show's executive producer, Jose Molina.

"If the audience doesn't care about them," he said, "it doesn't matter how great the dinosaurs look."

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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