Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"I would be spinning if I told you I wasn't smarting from that," admits Jimmy Smits, speaking of the untimely demise of his first-class "Cane" drama series. The CBS show, about a wealthy rum-producing dynasty in South Florida, drew initial raves, but was struggling to pick up ratings momentum when it was dealt a deathblow by the industry shutdown.

"It's collateral damage to the writers' strike in some ways," he says. "But we got a nice up at bat, and the network did provide us with a nice launch, and I learned a lot."

And the esteemed Emmy and Golden-Globe-winning actor is not one to stay down. It's just been announced that he's joining the cast of "Dexter" in its third season, for 10 out of 12 episodes, playing a powerful and charismatic (natch) assistant D.A. who's after a murderer that also has Dexter's (Michael C. Hall) attention.

Come July 4, Jimmy will host the annual "A Capitol Fourth" festivities seen on PBS from the Mall in Washington, D.C. He's presiding over a bill that includes Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jerry Lee Lewis, Huey Lewis & the News and more.

This week he's in Mexico City after a week off, working on a Carlos Carrera independent film. "I'm the only American actor in the cast," notes Jimmy, who took on his role partly because he "just wanted to keep the old violin in tune," as he puts it. "It's a very small film, from the director who did 'Crimes of Father Amaro' that Gael Garcia Bernal was in."

They've finished the leg of the production schedule that had them near the border, in an area known as a major drug artery, and Jimmy's not sorry it's completed. "Juarez is hot — and darlin', I'm not talking about the temperature, either," he says. "It's a little dangerous, a little dicey over there. We had a couple of hotel lockdowns and a lot of security."

SAD GOODBYES: Emotions are high on the set of "Battlestar Galactica" as the troupe wraps up the last few episodes for this final season, reports Rekha Sharma.

"One of the writers came up to me on the last day of one of the episodes and started saying goodbye, and it was like a shot to my stomach," says the actress, who plays the aide/advisor to President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) on the show that's garnered an Emmy and Peabody Award during its five-year run.

"I said, 'Stop, please. Save it for the end because I can't take it. I was about to bubble up into tears. It's been such an awesome ride. It's wonderful to work on a show that's going to end with such integrity. There are shows that started off good, then petered out, but that won't be the case with this one."

She says, "I just read the ending, and it's so ——ing beautiful ... at one point my heart was racing for about 10 pages, then for 10 pages I was crying. I was on the plane, and the person next to me probably thought I was insane. It's intense. It's a kind of resolution to all the storylines, but at the same time it's like life, life does go on."

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: Taryn Manning has wrapped up work on Shem Bitterman's "The Job" in Detroit — playing a gal who "starts out seeming like a sweet girl-next-door type" — but turns out to be quite different. "It's acting within acting. The character is part of a gang of con artists who prey on this desperate person who is sort of a lost soul. It's hard to explain the movie without giving it away," says the 29-year-old beauty, who stars with Patrick Flueger, Ron Perlman and Joe Pantoliano in the adaptation of the award-winning play.

It's the latest in a string of diverse movies the "8 Mile" actress has shot in succession of late, including Taylor Hackford's "Love Ranch" — "based on the story of the couple who started the first legal brothel in Nevada, the Mustang Ranch, in the 1970s, with Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci"— in which she plays a prostitute. And including "The Perfect Age of Rock and Roll." That one is "about a rock 'n' roll band on tour, their trials and tribulations." Despite Taryn's own musical abilities — she's the vocalist for the duo Boomkat — this time around "I play the tour manager. I'm not in the band. I'm like the boss," she says.

PLAYTIME: "Ugly Betty's" Ana Ortiz went from production of the ABC serial to the TV movie "Little Girl Lost" with Judy Reyes last month — and isn't sure whether or not she'll take on more work before her "Ugly" hiatus is through. "I like to work as much as possible," she says. She is, however, already looking forward to a holiday break: "America (Ferrera) and her man and my husband and I are trying to plan a trip together at Christmas."

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 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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