John Larroquette won't be sounding off on the presidential race. Probably.

Taking a stand far different than many actors who feel their opinions carry heavy import, Larroquette makes the point, "The fact I'm some sort of a quasi-celebrity doesn't qualify me to spout my viewers in public. I did that once with (Michael) Dukakis and (George H.W.) Bush, and I felt stupid about it. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't feel educated enough or informed enough to speak out."

On the other hand …

The "Boston Legal" co-star notes, "We're going through such a historic moment that it would somehow be wrong not to be part of it. If Mr. Obama gets the presidency, the world would certainly look at us differently. A woman president would also be a paradigm shift for this land. McCain is a good man with strong qualifications, but I'm not sure if it's not time for a shake up. Whoever wakes up in that bed the morning after the inauguration will certainly have to think, 'Holy Moses, do I have a job to do!''

Larroquette, who is a registered Libertarian, "because of my '60s silly attitude," is focusing mainly on work these days. The man who has starred in a string of series (including "Night Court," for which he earned four Emmys) is back before the "Boston Legal" cameras. Fresh segments of the show started to unfurl this week.

Right now he and the rest of the "Legal" troupe are anxiously waiting to learn if the show will be picked up for fall. He makes the point that "It's a matter of finances. ABC has already picked up a few shows — like 'Desperate Housewives' and 'Grey's Anatomy' that the network owns. We're a product of Fox and David E. Kelley, and so we wait. We certainly have the pedigree and respectable ratings, and if I were a betting man, I'd bet that we'd be picked up. But I always have my bags packed. Like a baseball player, you can get traded at any time."

REMEMBERING: As fans around the world celebrate the life and work of late screen legend Charlton Heston, the exulted position attained by the Oscar-winning movie star is undeniable. It's a status Heston himself would have found astonishing at one time. We recall his telling Marilyn that he sometimes couldn't believe the elevated status of actors, considering how looked-down-upon they were when he got his start. He said that as a troupe of them would travel from town to town with shows, they had to stay in the seedy part of a city — that they weren't considered classy enough to be welcome in the areas where the upscale people lived. He went on, of course, to be welcomed by presidents and kings, as well as to play them.

QUICK STEPPING: While the Weinstein Company, Bravo and Lifetime wage battle over "Project Runway," that show's producers have another program premiering on Bravo tonight (4/10).

It's the dance competition show "Step it Up and Dance," hosted by Elizabeth Berkley — who is also currently being seen as the mother of David Caruso's son on "CSI: Miami." Juggling the shows could have been a logistical impossibility for Berkley. But "The schedule just worked out magically," she says. "We shot the introduction to my character just before the writers' strike began. During the strike I did 'Step it Up,' and then I went back to 'CSI: Miami," says the blond beauty, who also stars in a Lifetime movie, "Dark Beauty," coming up May 17.

"Step It Up and Dance" gave Berkley a chance to re-immerse herself in the world of dance. "It's my greatest passion. I've been a dancer since I was 4 years old. In so many ways it's brought me the greatest joy — along with teaching me discipline, goal-setting and other life lessons. So this show is really close to my heart."

Life lessons, self-esteem, body image, family issues, health and fitness are among the topics Berkley talks about with tween and teen girls at the Ask Elizabeth workshops she's been giving at schools and community gathering spots around the country — more than 50 so far. Elizabeth also chats with girls via her Ask-Elizabeth.com website, "in the spirit of a slumber party with your big sister." She says, "I found that other girls can be supportive and give advice on certain themes … It's not about me, it's about girls empowering each other," she says. She's been contacted, she tells us, by groups from the United Teachers Federation to the Girl Scouts to the L.A. Unified School District about her program, which, she notes, "is all free."

MOVING RIGHT ALONG: No rest for Ralph Fiennes, whose West End stand in the sociological satire "God of Carnage" goes into June. Fiennes juggled work in the December MGM release "The Reader" with Kate Winslet around his stage stint. The film was surrounded by an unusually high amount of schedule juggling. It started production in Germany last September with a hiatus built in for former leading lady Nicole Kidman, so she could complete another film. Then Kidman dropped out of the project early this year — prior to shooting any of her scenes — due to her pregnancy. Then Winslet came aboard. Ironically, Winslet was initially asked to do the film, but couldn't because of her own schedule conflict at the time — which was resolved thanks to the films' rescheduling. Got that?

In "The Reader," "I play the grownup version of a man who has an intense physical love affair with an older woman in school in post-war Germany. A younger actor is playing the boy," Fiennes says. "It has to do with what he learns about his lover, and how it affects him." Stephen Daldry is directing David Hare's screenplay adaptation of the Bernhard Schlink novel.

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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