Nancy O'Dell is plunging back into work after her three-month maternity leave — and how! The "Access Hollywood" beauty is breastfeeding her daughter, Ashby Grace, with plans to continue for "at least six months — a year if I can do it." That's making her first postnatal live TV day — the Sept. 16 Emmy Awards — an interesting challenge.

  "It's my first big test," she says. "On the Emmys, you don't get a break. I'll go immediately from the red carpet to the one-on-one room with the winners. I'll have to find time in a private place to pump. I can imagine having time for only one side and then going out lopsided. They'd definitely be different sizes. There could be problems with my dress," she admits, not entirely joking. "I already told my stylist, 'Don't get thin material.' You know, you have all these issues you have to deal with for red carpet gowns anyway — the microphone, having fabric that's sweat proof. This is certainly another dimension."

  O'Dell has been working hard to get back into shape and has already lost 26 of the 30 pounds she gained during pregnancy. "Maybe I'll get the last four by Emmy time," she says. "Before I was pregnant, I had a bulging disc, so I wasn't able to do the high-energy workouts I like to do. Four weeks after she was born, my doctor said it was OK to start back in."

And she has, even running miles during Los Angeles's early-September triple-digit heat wave. "I'm trying to be so dedicated. I've also gone running up and down my driveway when I know it's about feeding time so the baby won't have to wait."

  Her "Access Hollywood" colleagues are being supportive of the demands motherhood have on O'Dell, she says, including on-camera cohort Billy Bush "and our boss coming by here to have dinner and do a photo shoot … the stylist coming to the house to have me try some things. Everyone has been incredibly understanding."

  IT'S NOW OR NEVER: Despite its critical acclaim and 10 Emmy nominations, this season is make-or-break time for "30 Rock" — as its creator and star Tina Fey knows all too well: "I feel like either we'll become a real TV show this year or we'll ride off into the sunset," she admits in Entertainment Weekly's soon-due fall TV preview issue. The NBC comedy is still at the bottom of the ratings chart, but Fey is determined to keep it going as long as she can, no matter what it takes. "I'm going door to door with DVDs. And I want Tracy Morgan to kiss every American woman who's over 25 on the mouth. Then they would at least know they were in litigation with someone who's on a television show."  "Rock" has also had to live with scandals, as in Alec Baldwin's leaked voicemail calling his daughter a "little pig" and as in Morgan's drunk-driving arrest in November. Morgan, however, tells EW, "I think it wasn't too much of a distraction because it's just such a funny show."

  Now if they can only get people to tune in. Morgan's advocating patience. "People want everything instant," he says, "but not everything can be instant. It takes nine months to make a baby."

  THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: "CSI: Miami" regular Eva La Rue says she's stoked about the new season of the CBS procedural drama because things get a little more personal for her. "I get a love interest," says La Rue, who plays Natalia Boa Vista, the DNA lab specialist with a knack for grant writing who's becoming a CSI member. "I'm not sure how much of a love interest it's going to be, but we're going to get some new characters, and a couple of people on the show will end up being in love."

La Rue says her character will still be struggling with becoming a full-fledged member of the CSI team when the show returns Sept. 24. "I'm trying to pass my firearms qualifications so I can carry a gun like the rest of them, but I'm really a bad shot — and evidently that's where this (love interest) comes into play. He's going to be my coach."

  REALLY REAL VS. NOT REALLY REAL: Most "Real World" and "Road Rules" alums are trying to keep their 15 minutes alive with stints on MTV's "Real World/Road Rules Challenges," the last of which was in South Africa. But that's not the case with "Real World: Las Vegas" star Trishelle Cannatella, who says she's done with that show. "I don't get into the challenges. I pride myself on being a pretty athletic girl, and it p——s me off that the challenges are not about athleticism," claims Cannatella, who tells us she has now focused her attention on acting and auditioning. "It's about who you hang out with outside of the challenges. I don't like any of that stuff. If you want to vote me off because I'm not best friends with you or I don't like your outfit or whatever, that's just not real to me."

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 2007 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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