Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

With Plethora of Imported TV Stars, It's Time for Talent Tariff/James Wolk Loving Those Comparisons to George Clooney

What do Hollywood casting directors have against American actors? Oh, sure, we've been seeing this explosion of Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Irish folk and other English-speaking foreigners on U.S. primetime for several years now, but there hasn't been any complaining out of fear the U.K. would take back Hugh Laurie, and goodness knows nobody wants that.

However, things have gone too far. Now we have an Australian (Alex O'Loughlin) playing Steve McGarrett on CBS's new "Hawaii Five-O," for crying out loud. Plus, there's this $13 trillion national debt thing that makes even ludicrous revenue-generating ideas sound good. So the time has come for Uncle Sam to make some money off this imported TV star phenomenon. The time has come for a talent tariff.

Think of the increasingly annoying Piers Morgan, for instance. The arrogant Fleet Street tabloid editor's claims to fame include being fired in the wake of the revelation that Daily Mirror photos purportedly showing British troops mistreating Iraqi prisoners were faked. But Brighton-born Simon Cowell ordained Guildford-born Morgan as his substitute (aka "the mean one"), when Cowell himself was contractually prevented ("American Idol") from being an "America's Got Talent" judge — and America went along. Now Morgan is the man who would be King, as in Larry King, as in being in the running to take over King's 25-year-old CNN show.

This is not right. If we have to take Piers Morgan, we should be making money on it — or at least, the British should have to take Perez Hilton in exchange.

Speaking of "America's Got Talent," there's oh so much more to love about Morgan's London-born cohort, Sharon Osbourne, than him. And yet, Ozzy's purple-red-haired frau is nearing massive overexposure with yet another gig, CBS's "The Talk" daytime show for fall. But let us not be irritated. Let us be enriched. Talent tariff, people!

There's Australia's Simon Baker, England's Natascha McElhone and Ed Westwick, and Scotland's Kevin McKidd. The list goes on and on. Money, money, money.

And let's not forget the growing South Asian/Indian contingent. As "The Big Bang Theory's" Kunal Nayyar declared to press at last week's TCA panel in reference to himself, most of the cast of NBC's new "Outsourced" and various other shows, "We are everywhere now ... It doesn't surprise me. We are all really good-looking and talented, and I'm really happy that we continue to take over the world."

Can you say "Ka-ching"?!

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Twenty-five-year-old actor James Wolk — of Farmington Hills, Mich.

— can't help but smile over the fact that he's been likened to George Clooney. "Are you kidding? I'll take that any day," says the star of Fox's forthcoming "Lone Star" series.

The handsome Wolk is actually younger than his con man character was originally written for the much-touted new show. He tells us that his concern was "playing someone 10-15 years older than I am over a period of years, which could happen with a series." Once he went in to read for the role of Robert/Bob — who has two fraudulent lives complete with a wife in one and a girlfriend in the other — the series' producers decided to rewrite his character as a younger man, which Wolk also can't help smiling about.

Wolk tells us that while he was exploring how to go about playing his character, a friend suggested to him that he could be a "sweet" con man. "You use whatever you have" in the confidence game, he points out. And if that happens to include a sweet vibe, well, work it. Wolk assures us, however, he really is nicer than Robert/Bob, who "feels guilty about some of the things he does, but does them anyway."

STILL FUNNY: With CBS Video releasing the first season of Phil Silvers' classic "Sgt. Bilko" series on DVD today (8/3), his acting coach daughter Candace has been spending a lot of time thinking back on the late, great comic and what made his fast-talking comedy so special.

"I'm so glad that his genius is going to touch a whole new generation," she says. "I've been teaching for 25 years. I've taught people who've been up for Oscars and Emmys. And I really believe, in a way, I've been extrapolating what he did. He would fall into an action instead of thinking it through his mind."

The same dynamic was in play for Phil's famous ad-libs. Candace recalls that series creator Nat Hiken would lay out scripts in which "'So and so says this, so and so says that, and then Phil says something funny here.'"

Silvers herself couldn't be much busier, and that's the way she likes it. The beautiful, young-looking mother of four and grandmother of one has a book coming out next year and three movies in the works — in addition to teaching at her Candace Silvers Studio.

IN THE BUCKET: Talk about a skewed sense of reality (unless you happen to be Lindsay Lohan). You'd get the sense, watching American TV, that having a mom or dad in prison is pretty common for youngsters hereabouts. The now-defunct "Sons of Tucson" and forthcoming "Raising Hope" and "Melissa & Joey" are among the shows in which incarcerated parents figure prominently into the central plot.

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 2010 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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