It's hurry-up-and-wait time for Julianna Margulies. Fox has pushed forward the debut of "Canterbury's Law" series from April 14 to March 10, and she's trying hard to spread the word about the show because, she relates, "they're going to air the five segments we shot before the writers strike and then decide … If the show does well, we'll return to production in August."

The actress, who gave up many millions of dollars when she turned her back on her Emmy-winning role as "ER's" Nurse Carol Hathaway after a six-year run, was hardly looking for another hour-long network show. But she decided that the role of the lead character in "Canterbury's" was too good to resist.

"Elizabeth Canterbury is a very conflicted person. … Three years prior, her child disappeared in a playground and is still missing. Her marriage is crumbling, and she self-medicates with alcohol to ease the pain. She throws herself into her job as a lawyer, doesn't care about her reputation, has nothing to lose. But at night, she crawls into her missing child's bed and falls asleep. How can you turn that character down?"

Margulies realizes that she might well be throwing herself into another "ER" situation — long hours on a long-running show. But this time, she says, she has a big advantage. "I've got producer credit — a big deal to get and something that was very important to me because it gives me some control. If I'm going to work tremendously long hours, I want some control. I know what happens when too many stir the pot."

TOGETHER AGAIN: The feuding original members of multiplatinum rock band Warrant have buried the hatchet — and not in each other's skulls, happily reports vocalist/guitarist Erik Turner.

The Van Nuys, Calif.-based group will "officially announce that the five of us are back together for the first time since 1994" at a press conference today (March 4) at L.A.'s famed Whisky a Go-Go to reveal the artist line-up for the Rocklahoma 2008 festival July 10-13, says Turner — whose band mates are vocalist Jani Lane, lead guitarist Joey Allen, bassist Jerry Dixon and drummer Steven Sweet.

Over the course of 20 years and creating some eight albums, the band has endured death, record-label changes and the departures of band members, most recently in 2004, when Lane went solo, taking two newer members of the group with him. The band took legal action against Lane at the time, forcing him to cancel a series of solo shows.

Turner says things turned around "last year, when we got asked to play Danny Bonaduce's bachelor party and a bunch of people told me Jani was there. About the same time, Jani's drummer kept telling me to 'call Jani if you've got any business to resolve.' I hadn't talked to Jani in over three years, but I said screw it. I gave him a call, didn't know if he was going to tell me to f—- off or what. He picked up the phone, and we just started talking about family and what's been going on. We were tired of all the infighting, it was mostly all done through lawyers, but it was stressful and very negative." Now that's all behind them, Turner says in addition to Rocklahoma 2008, "we're slated to go out for six weeks with the band Cinderella July through August, and we're working on a new DVD with old vintage footage." He adds, "You can drop by Warrantrocks.com and see what we're doing."

STAR SIGHTING: "So You Think You Can Dance?" Not so much! At least, that's the case for the host of the Fox dance show, Cat Deeley, who was spotted getting her country line dancing on at Oil Can Harry's, a popular country-western bar in Studio City the other night. The blonde beauty showed up at the down home bar in a stretch limo with several friends in tow. She certainly had her fair share of fun as she chatted with the locals and sat on the bar taking silly pictures, cowboy hat and all. However, when it came to busting a move to the choreographed line dances being perfectly executed by the bar's regular patrons, Deeley was less than stellar. But, hey, she tried! Luckily for her, she's pretty!

THE FAMILY THAT LAUGHS TOGETHER: An early April start date has been set for the yet-untitled Wayans Family feature that will be directed by Damien Dante Wayans, with uncles Keenen Ivory, Shawn and Marlon and cousin Craig all involved. That's in addition to Damien and Craig producing and directing uncle Damon's planned "The Underground" sketch comedy show for Showtime.

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

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.