Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Skateboarding superstar Rob Dyrdek may have amassed a huge fan following with his "Rob & Big" and "Fantasy Factory" MTV reality shows, but he foresees the day when he might be too busy to remain a television star.

"I'll do TV for a little bit more," assures the holder of multiple Guinness book records for skateboard stunts. "I have so many other things I'm doing like developing a cartoon. I'm developing a professional skateboard tour. I've got my shoe and clothing line. And I actually sold MTV another show that I'm developing ... At some point I'll have to focus more on that stuff, but for now, I'm having a lot of fun shooting TV," he says, referring to his current "Fantasy Factory" show — on which he's up to even more outrageous adventures than ever before.

"I think part of last season was sort of understanding the dynamics of everybody in the building and sort of each person's role," notes Dyrdek, whose office contains an indoor skate plaza. "Now we're just having fun. We're making some really ridiculous and over-the-top television, from buying a racehorse and jockeying it in its first race to building a mini drifting car and doing tandem drifting with the world's most famous drifter, Ken Block — to bringing back Bobby Light and opening up for Blink-182 in Vegas, to swimming with tigers." Wow.

For those who didn't get a chance to see Dyrdek's antics in Season 1 (such as riding the purported world's largest skateboard with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa), it is now available on DVD. "There's so much funny, ridiculous stuff that could not find a place in a 22-minute episode," he notes, "so it's all on the DVD."

Meanwhile, Dyrdek tells us his thoughts have been with his buddy and business partner Travis Barker, who has been mourning the loss of DJ AM. Barker and DJ AM survived a plane crash together last year. "It's just so tragic. I think for Travis, especially, because of the significance of what he lost in the first crash and being bound by that, and to see DJ AM come to an untimely passing was really hard on him."

A GIVING SPIRIT: "Dancing With the Stars" participant Kathy Ireland sent flowers arrangements to every one of her 31 fellow performers (stars and their dance partners), for Monday night's kickoff of the show, designing the displays herself since they were from Fabulous Florals.com, one of the companies of her $1.4 billion-per-year lifestyle design empire.

The supermodel-turned-super-mogul is giving any money she earns on "DWTS" to nonprofit charities, much of it to her dear friend Elizabeth Taylor's HIV/AIDS foundation.

Dame Elizabeth did some giving of her own, selecting and purchasing the Valentino gown Ireland wore on the show's premiere. And those fabulous jewels in which she was bedecked were from Taylor's personal collection. Ireland is one of the top jewelry designers herself, but Dame Elizabeth is her lucky charm.

LEFT HANGING: Ever since "CSI's" Robert David Hall told us that we'll be seeing the cast suspended from wires this season, as "a moment in time is frozen," we've been kinda wondering what exactly that means. Hall declined to elaborate, beyond saying that tonight's (9/24) season premiere is some of the most ingenious TV he's ever seen. "Not just in terms of the story line, but in terms of camera angles. It's just movie magic," according to him.

That's not all they're keeping suspended. Now we hear from casting sources that "CSI" is looking for real pole dancers "who can hang upside-down unsupported" for an upcoming episode. "Must be athletic ... No nudity."

SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT: With "Little Miss Sunshine" being turned into a musical via the Sundance Theatre Lab at White Oak, casting is under way for all the characters remembered from the quirky 2006 flick about a family trip to a children's beauty pageant — that was made for $8 million and grossed more than $100 million worldwide, and scored Oscars for Best Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin) and screenplay (Michael Arndt). The plan is for the new show to be unveiled Oct. 25 in Yulee, Fla.

And they're looking for a girl to play Mary Jane Greenberg, daughter of '60s record producer ("It's My Party," etc.) Florence Greenberg, for the Pasadena Playhouse production of "Baby, It's You." That musical has been moving up the Equity chain — with intentions aimed at Broadway next year. It arrives in Pasadena in December.

With reports by Emily-Fortune 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.

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