Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Joe Mantegna won't have much time for movie work between seasons of CBS's "Criminal Minds." He doesn't mind.

Says the actor who's racked up some 60 feature films, dozens of TV credits and numerous award-winning stage performances, "The series is doing well, and I anticipate the network will want us to start shooting for fall in early summer. Nothing could please me more. When you've been around as long as I have, you look at things with some perspective. I'm in an occupation that been a dream of mine since I was a kid. Life couldn't be better — and I never lose sight of that."

The 61-year-old Mantegna, whose series returns with new episodes Wednesday (2/11), says he learned long ago, "to make the best decision you can — and learn to live with it."

He was just lucky that things turned out as they did when he was just starting his career and turned down an invite to star in a stage production of David Mamet's "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" in favor of playing an understudy role on Broadway that carried a better paycheck.

It was 1974, and Joe had no idea David would become "one of the world's most esteemed playwrights." Says Joe, "I didn't turn him down a second time and am just fortunate he didn't hold my decision with 'Sexual Perversity' against me. "

Indeed he didn't. Mantegna went on to win a Tony for Mamet's Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, "Glengarry Glen Ross." He was back on Broadway in Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow," and in Chicago starred in the Mamet plays "A Life in the Theatre" and "The Disappearance of the Jews" — and also directed Mamet's "Lakeboat" in Los Angeles. He went on to make his feature film directorial debut with "Lakeboat," based on Mamet's screenplay. In addition, he starred in the David Mamet films "House of Games," "Things Change" and "Homicide."

"He's my honored friend and associate," says Mantegna. "To this day he will phone and say, 'Hey, there's a project I think will interest you.'"

WHITHER WEATHER: "Today's" Al Roker was boasted about by colleagues as the person to get the first interview with President Barack Obama at the inauguration, but the weather man admits it's not as official as it sounds.

"I wouldn't call it the first interview. I would call it the first comment from the president," says Roker, whose shouts of excitement got Obama to say, "It's warm" while he was walking in the parade. "That's the great thing about this job. At a lot of places I would not have been on the parade route.

I'm the weather guy, and that would be that," he notes. "I think the folks at NBC News know that all of us can do a lot of different things, and they've tapped into that."

First interview or not, Roker says the experience is one he will always remember.

"This one was exciting for different reasons — from the personal satisfaction of seeing an African-American elected president to the fulfillment of the promise that each one of our parents told us no matter who you are, you can grow up to be president. Well, this past election showed that that is in fact true."

Meanwhile, Roker has been busy behind the scenes as he and his production company are bringing back the second season of Spike TV's "DEA," premiering tomorrow (2/10). The show will give viewers a glimpse into the inner workings of New Jersey's Drug Enforcement Administration. "Because of the network of interstates, buses and trains, you've got a lot of drug activity that goes on in northern New Jersey. The drug amounts are higher. The stakes are higher. The cash flow is higher," he explains. "Unlike a lot of reality shows with manufactured reality, I think the reason the show did as well the first year is that people could sense this is real. There's more of that this year."

THE DEVIL YOU SAY: Ray Wise, who plays the Devil on the CW's "Reaper," has become an aficionado of devilish actors since taking on the mantle himself. "I'm a great admirer of Walter Huston as Mr. Scratch in 'The Devil and Daniel Webster,' he says. "And then there was Ray Walston in 'Damn Yankees,' Nicholson as Daryl Van Horne in 'The Witches of Eastwick,' Pacino in 'Devil's Advocate' … so many good ones." However, "After viewing all those Devils, I prefer mine." Notes Wise, "My playing the Devil has developed to the point I think like him. He's very vain, you know." Wise, who is obviously enjoying his reign over hell, is going to be more in evidence in the second season of "Reaper" — launching March 3 — than he was in the first season of the show about a young slacker-turned-Devil's bounty hunter (Bret Harrison). "I think people enjoy seeing what the Devil is up to," he says. "They're interested in that whole mythology."

FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT: Enrico Colantoni of the CBS/CTV series "Flashpoint" admits that his character's real-life counterparts in the Toronto Police Department's Emergency Task Force occasionally tell him they've seen certain scenes in the show "and say, 'We'd never do it that way.' But their wives and kids love us. In Canada, specifically, the PR for these guys has just changed because of the show. We paint them as humans. They're not Neanderthals. I love it when policemen come up to me on the street and compliment me. On top of the pride I feel about the show, on top of that, there's Canadian pride," notes the Toronto-born actor.

With reports by 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 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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