Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"Girlfriends" ends its seventh season with an hour-long cliffhanger Monday night (5/7) — as Tracee Ellis Ross' Joan character must weigh a marriage proposal. Behind the scenes, the cliffhanger is about whether the show will return for another season.

"We won't know officially until the upfronts in two weeks, but I can say it's leaning in the direction of good," says Ross. "For me, either way would be fine. I feel like the show does have juice left. Last year would have felt premature. The season's end was very dramatic and heavy, with the girlfriends split apart. But this year, we've been back to giggling a lot."

The sitcom not only saw a network change, as UPN transformed into part of the CW, but a cast change with the departure of Jill Marie Jones. "It almost felt like doing a brand-new show again. We were at a different studio, had new dressing rooms. I think last year was my favorite year," says Ross.

There was a dustup last fall, however, when it became clear that the CW's decision to switch the show to Sunday nights from its usual Monday night berth was not working — and producer Mara Brock Akil complained in the Los Angeles Times that the new network was ignoring its African-American shows while promoting such fare as "The Gilmore Girls."

"I didn't have the same frustrations as my producers had, except the frustration that everyone, including the network, had, which was that Sunday nights weren't working. But then they moved us back. I feel grateful to have been on the air for seven years — and I do trust in the big process of things." Even so, she acknowledges "Girlfriends" is currently enjoying some very nice promotion. "There are billboards — real whoppers on Sunset Boulevard and in the Cahuenga Pass here in L.A. I don't know about other cities. Maybe it was Mara speaking up, maybe it was just the right time."

OPENING DOORS: "This will be the first major international event to emanate from China, which is opening its doors to 10,000 athletes from 170 nations." So says super producer Don Mischer, talking about this year's Special Olympics, which launches in Shanghai Oct. 2. The event will also mark the 40th such games for intellectually disabled athletes — games founded by, nurtured and supported by the Kennedy family. Mischer says, "I'm hoping Eunice Shriver will be able to come over and speak.

"The Chinese have committed to a major, world-class production with 6,000 people in the cast, historic bells, an orchestra that plays ancient music.

It will be very different," adds the esteemed multiple Emmy winner, who's brought us giant events from Olympics opening and closing ceremonies to Super Bowl half time shows.

At the forefront of his mind right now is his wonderful new "From the Top: Live From Carnegie Hall" PBS series, which showcases astonishing young musical talent — just like its NPR radio predecessor. "This is one of those shows we've been doing because we really believe in it," notes Mischer, who adds that the kids on stage definitely dispel preconceived notions of classical musicians as elitist East Coast types. For example, 16-year-old composer "Rochelle Chester is a Native American, a Navajo, who learned to play guitar in public school. We sent a crew out to film her and her family on a reservation — Monument Valley scenery, amazing. We brought her to New York, and she heard these four young string players from Philadelphia play her music. I don't think she'd ever heard one of her compositions played by a string quartet before we found her." She'd also "never ridden in a cab or seen really tall buildings. The subway was a real adventure for her. The whole experience was great."

HIGH FLYING: Former "NYPD Blue" regular Kim Delaney has been racking up frequent flier miles going back and forth between L.A. and Charleston, S.C., where her June 3-debuting Lifetime series, "Army Wives," is shooting. The Emmy-winning actress says she opted not to uproot the family and move down to the location of the army base on which the show is shot because "My son is still in high school. It would be unfair … he's got SATs, the senior prom, during spring break we were doing college tours … When the producers and I talked about this that was one of the things they said they would make every effort to accommodate, and it's working really nicely."

ORDER, ORDER: Thanks to her new career path on television, Judge Glenda Hatchett says she's done with traditional law. "I don't ever see myself going back into a regular courtroom," claims Hatchett, who's become known for her interventions on her courtroom show "Judge Hatchett." Now she's even thinking of branching out into writing children's books. "That's very much in my heart to do — to write books that talk about empowerment and self-esteem, particularly for little girls."

(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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