Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"60 Minutes'" Steve Kroft reports that he and his fellow correspondents on the storied show have been putting their shoulders to the grindstone since Mike Wallace stepped back last year and Ed Bradley met his untimely death of leukemia in November.

"The workload is heavier," says the distinguished journalist, who has been with "60 Minutes" for 18 years. "Ed was very productive and, particularly with his passing, we've been left with a sense of urgency. We've had to quicken the pace."

The plan, he says, calls for bringing in a permanent replacement for Bradley — "but not this season." Scott Pelley and Bob Simon, who are now each doing a full complement of "60 Minute" stories, seem likely candidates for the job.

As things stand now, Kroft and his "60 Minutes" cohorts are working longer hours and with more intensity. Steve says that since the first of the year he's been overseas three times, has spent two weeks in Washington, D.C., and has also hit Chicago and Los Angeles.

"I try to make it home on weekends," he says. Home is where he lives with his author wife Jennet Conant and their 12-year-old son, John — and where he usually comes loaded down with research work.

Right now he's working on a piece about U.S. Controller General David Walker, "who's going around making speeches about our budget deficit and how, if something isn't done, we'll be thrown into bankruptcy that will ruin our standard of living. It's a very important story," he says.

EXPANDING HIS HORIZONS: Rapper Common took a break from his tour with Kanye West this past year to film the movie "Smokin' Aces" — only to find out that acting is not as easy as it looks. "This is my first movie," he reminded us at the movie's Hollywood premiere, where he was joined by friend Kanye West. "I've been working at acting. I've been taking classes. I love it like music." However, Common, whose next film is "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington, said it took a while for the techniques to settle in. "Some things are hard because you've got to learn the technical stuff.

You have to be in a certain spot or be in the light, but it's all a part of the process, and it's fun learning something new."

The movie, about a group of thugs and hitmen who descend upon the hotel room of a mob snitch in order to kill him, boasts an all-star cast including Ben Affleck, Jeremy Piven, Alicia Keys, Ryan Reynolds, and Andy Garcia. "I'm a quiet killer in this movie. I play Jeremy Piven's right-hand man. All these people are trying to kill him, but I'm there," explained Common of his part in the movie, which hits theaters Friday (1/26).

DESTINY TAKES A HAND: Former "Eight Simple Rules" regular Kaley Cuoco says she was obviously destined to do the CBS/Chuck Lorre pilot "The Big Bang Theory," shooting the end of this month. "The pilot was first up a year ago, but when I went to network for it they thought I was too young so I didn't get cast." When the pilot finally got the go-ahead this year, Cuoco says, "Chuck called and said, 'We want to recast the female lead, are you still interested?'"

Cuoco stars in "The Big Bang Theory" with Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons as two "geniuses who've known nothing else but school. They've never been on a date in their lives and don't know anything about women," she says. "I'm this wild, earthy, vegan girl who barely graduated high school who moves in with them and takes them on the ride of their lives, showing them how to date and go to parties. It's all about how their worlds collide."

BAD GIRLS: Delta Burke, a judge on Monday's (1/29) "Miss America Pageant," on CMT, reports that her recurring "Boston Legal" character, cosmetics queen Bella Horowitz, gets into a major tiff with Candice Bergen on a forthcoming episode. "I get into her face big time," she says. "It might be my last episode, but it's hard to tell with 'Boston Legal,' because they leave the door open." Burke barely knew Bergen before starting the show, but the two actresses had a memorable moment back in 1990, when the former "Designing Women" star lost out on an Emmy to Bergen, who won for "Murphy Brown." "I was ticked off, and she knew I was ticked off, and she said, 'I hope I don't meet up with Delta Burke in the parking lot.' Later we did a gag photo for People where I was choking her."

(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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