Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Good news for Billy Crystal fans. His long-in-the-works "Us and Them" is now heading toward production at last. The funnyman, who hasn't been on screen nearly enough over the past decade, wrote the story of a grandfather (who also happens to be a AAA baseball broadcaster) who clashes with his offspring's generation when he takes care of his grandkids for a week. Billy developed the movie at Paramount, but when John Lesher's turbulent reign at that studio ended in 2009, he moved the project over to Fox.

Last year, it was reported that Billy's old "City Slickers," "Forget Paris" and "Father's Day" collaborators, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, were lending their talents to reworking the script. Now, pre-production is moving along briskly, with casting being completed and plans for shooting in Atlanta later this summer.

FAREWELL AND GOODBYE: "CSI: Miami's" Eva La Rue, who returned to her old stomping grounds of "All My Children" this week, reports she's aiming to make three more guest appearances on the 41-year-old daytime stalwart before it comes to its end Sept. 23. That's going to mean some schedule juggling for the actress, who's also just returning to her nighttime series chores. But the once and future Dr. Maria Santos Grey makes it clear she doesn't mind.

La Rue is part of a growing list of former "AMC" stars returning in its final weeks on air (including Josh Duhamel and Lee Meriwether next month, Carol Burnett in September and — possibly — Sarah Michelle Gellar and Christian Slater).

La Rue adds, "I know it just got picked up on the Internet. I don't know how that's going to actually play out. I don't know if all the same people are going to be involved or anything. I'm glad to be part of it while it's still on the air."

She says that being back on "AMC" has been "awesome. My first day back, I happened to show up on a day that everybody I know and loved working with was there — Susan (Lucci), Walt (Willey), Rebecca (Budig), Alicia (Minshew), Michael Knight..." La Rue's storyline "definitely has to do with David Hayward and his Orpheus thing and bringing him down," she says, referring to a plot by the show's longtime villain, played by Vincent Irizarry.

La Rue says she's rested and ready for the double duty after a hiatus that included a family trip to Africa.

And now, as far as what is in store for her "CSI: Miami" character, Natalia, who was last seen being put into the trunk of a car that then plummeted over a cliff? "I do know that I survive," she says with a laugh. "That's about all I know so far."

HOT DISH?: Fox's "Dish Nation," which begins a test run in even markets Monday (7/25), brings a selection of the nation's funniest radio show hosts before the cameras to share their snark and silliness with a TV audience. "I think it's going to be hot," says Atlanta's Rickey Smiley, whose burgeoning "The Rickey Smiley Morning Show" airs in more than 50 markets. "We do what we do on our end, and the way they edit the show and put up clips — by the time the producers put it together, it's just a lot of fun. I'm definitely prepared to keep going," he says, should the half-hour show's six-week run prove successful.

Smiley and his radio cast mates, including two standup comics, "have been together almost seven years now," he tells us. "Our comedy is just flat-out natural. We are just naturally funny people, not real edgy." (On the radio, their shenanigans include phone pranks and Paternity Test Tuesdays, which are just what the name implies.)

Other radio hosts on "Dish Nation" are more or less edgy: New York's Scott Shannon and Todd Pettengill; Detroit's Blaine and Allyson; and Los Angeles' DJ Felli Fel. Everyone makes fun of the celebrity scandals, awards-show nonsense and other news of the day. (The test markets are N.Y., L.A., D.C., Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit and Baltimore.)

Smiley's own life sounds like it's ripe for a reality show unto itself. He's the single father of "five, two grown and three smaller kids. So, you know, I cook a lot, and I love to do laundry and all that stuff" — in between making people laugh. THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE: A September production star in Savannah, Ga., has been set for "Battlecreek" with Clint Eastwood's daughter, Alison Eastwood, directing as well as producing. The story has to do with an artist who only goes out at night due to a serious skin condition and his relationship with an emotionally tormented girl who winds up in his depressed Southern town. Alison gets credit up front for having a lot of nerve, considering the size of the footsteps she's attempting to follow.

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 2011 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM