Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Tom Bergeron reveals that although "We haven't gotten a definite pickup," Season 10 of "Dancing With the Stars" has been targeted for a March 22 premiere.

The show took a ratings dip in Season 9, which is being attributed to less audience interest in the season's lineup of competitors, including winner Donny Osmond. So next season's cast of stars will be all the more important. Bergeron tells us he's already aware of a couple of the celebrities who'll be joining the show — but, of course, his lips are sealed.

He won't even spill the details to friends, he says.

"I remind them that when my wife was pregnant with the first of our two daughters, for six months, I knew she was going to have a girl, but she did not want to know. If I could keep the sex of our child secret from my own wife for six months, then keeping the names of celebrities from friends is a walk in the park."

"DWTS" still came in at No. 1 in total viewership its finale week and is still one of TV's top-rated shows, and Bergeron continues to feel that as a job it offers him "an embarrassment of riches. I just really love the fact that it's a live show, and I get to be on with those three judges and Samantha (Harris), who are all friends."

We caught up with the genial host as he was driving down a Connecticut highway in 28-degree weather, en route to having "Christmas with family. Then we'll do a little bit of traveling. We're a very family-centric family," he says.

Bergeron resumes his "America's Funniest Home Videos" hosting duties in January.

YULE LOG: Shelley Long, who made quite a splash playing the unstable ex-wife of Ed O'Neill on "Modern Family" this season, tells us she has special plans for Christmas. "My mother is 93 years young, so I'm going to be going back to my hometown of Fort Wayne, Ind., to see her. And I'm also seeing two girlfriends from when I was really little," she says. "We grew up together. They lived next door to me. I got back in touch with them 10-15 years ago. When we get together, we fall right back into our old rhythm."

Ray Romano and family will be Christmasing in Los Angeles, "then from Christmas to New Year's, we go to Mexico."

Dean Cain and son Christopher, 9, will be back at Cain's Rocky Mountain getaway. "We always go to Colorado for Christmas. Our compound is our main sort of family hub," says Cain.

"We certainly have a white Christmas every year. It's nice to have your own place. That's my favorite thing."

Bill Engvall is also heading to snow country. "We always spend Christmas in Park City, Utah, so that's nice. My wife and I are big family people."

Ralph Macchio will be in New York with family. "We alternate. We're doing Christmas Eve with the in-laws and Christmas day with my parents this year," says the actor recently left broken-hearted on "Ugly Betty" — who in real life is the 22-years married father of a 17-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son.

Brooke Elliott of "Drop Dead Diva" says, "It's family time with my family. I always go home to my parents' house for a big Christmas with them and my brother and sister. They're in Oklahoma."

MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH: Mark Valley, who returns to the tube as the title comic book hero of Fox's "Human Target" Jan. 17, is certainly bound to have a more rewarding Christmas than the one he recalls when asked what holiday memory stands out to him. Says the former "Boston Legal" actor, "I was in the Army and stationed in Germany. I wanted to go to a Christmas market on the 24th, which is also my birthday. I took a train to the center of this town and when I got there, I found out that they closed it down on the 23rd. I was in the middle of this huge, empty German village so it was pretty disappointing. I was like, 'Wait, did I miss Christmas?'" Happy birthday, Mark.

HOLIDAY PERKS: "When I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be an actor, but I never thought of all the peripheral stuff — like the network asking me to host a tree lighting," says "Chuck" star Zachary Levi, who was recently on hand for the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. "It was just unbelievable. I flew back there and my best friends and my sister were there. There were 100,000 in Rockefeller Center, with Michael Buble and Aretha Franklin performing. Part of me was thinking, 'What am I doing here?' Stuff like that — I do appreciate it. I continue to thank God for the many blessings in my life."

Levy tells us he spent time with his family over Thanksgiving, and now he's up for traveling. "Christmas is the only time I can count on where there won't be any work, so it's my 'Get out of Dodge' time. My girlfriend and a couple of other couples are going to Puerto Rico for a friend's wedding, and I thought, 'Why don't I spend a week before that and just get away?' So I'm going to Turks and Caicos, just to go and do nothing."

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.

COPYRIGHT 2009 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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