Pat Sajak has some strong complaints about "American Idol."

The genial host of "Wheel of Fortune" blasts the Fox singing competition for its cruelty and charges that its success is not in finding winners, but in "voting people off — making fun of them. If they did away with the early episodes of the show each season which feature contestants so horrible one laughs at them — if you took away Simon Cowell's caustic, often unkind remarks — you'd basically have 'Ted Mack's Amateur Hour.' 'American Idol' is offering nothing new under the sun, except for the fact it eliminates people."

"American Idol" is hardly the only show that bothers the popular game show host. He takes aim at the reality genre in general and says, "There have been shows on the air so nasty that I'm just glad they didn't succeed." And, he notes, "the term 'reality show' is in itself a misnomer. The idea that people are going to act naturally on TV — when they know cameras and crews are recording everything they say — is ridiculous. Let's face it, they know how they're supposed to act, and they play along. These shows may not be scripted word for word, but you can see from the way they're shot that they're anything but reality."

Pat sees little hope that things will change any time soon.

Though "Wheel of Fortune" has ranked No. 1 of all syndicated shows during each May sweeps period for the last 25 years, he says, "If I went into a network today and pitched the show, the meeting would probably be over in 30 seconds. We're a throwback to the days when you did a show that made fun with people — that didn't make fun of people."

SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT: Dolly Parton's been working, you guessed it, 9 to 5 for the last two years to get the music finished for the live theater adaptation of her classic film "9 to 5," which is anticipated to make it to the Broadway stage in 2009. The star of the musical, Megan Hilty, who will play Dolly's part of Doralee, wants us to know the work paid off. "It's brilliant. A lot of movie musicals, especially recently, haven't really done well, and it's because they don't know how to transfer that to the stage," she notes. "After doing the workshops of this musical, I've never seen a script taken from a movie that has translated so well, especially with all of the fantasy sequences. There's an acceptability there that you can understand why we're singing,"

While Hilty is no stranger to the stage, currently starring as Glinda in the Los Angeles production of "Wicked" until May 11, this will be the first role she's originated.

"I almost have an anxiety attack thinking of doing Dolly's role in front of her. It's even scarier than taking over Glinda in some ways, but this has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid."

The new musical will premiere at L.A.'s Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre, with previews starting Sept. 3 for a Sept. 20 opening. It will also star Stephanie J. Block, Marc Kudisch, and "The West Wing's" Allison Janney, who Hilty claims will surprise everyone. "I didn't realize she could sing like that, and she's got such a stage presence. She's playing the Lily Tomlin role, and she's amazing!"

MOM'S THE WORD: Tori Spelling, who's pregnant with her second child, a girl, tells us she's the happiest she's ever been. "Things are going great. I say, 'Well, my book came out in March. The third season of my show is coming out in June. And my baby is coming out this summer. I have a full plate of things coming out,'" says Spelling with a laugh. However, the "Tori & Dean: Inn Love" star (with hubby Dean McDermott) isn't getting much in the way of down time. "It's definitely different than the first pregnancy because it's more challenging having another young child to take care of while I'm pregnant," she says. "My last pregnancy I could kind of take it easy, and with this one I'm running after a little man who's trying to walk for the first time."

ON A ROLL: "When you've got a breakout character on a show you start to get heat. Everyone's calling you. It's a whole process, a weird human chess match." So says comic J.B. Smoove, who found himself mulling moves after industryites caught on to Leon, the trash-talking houseguest who tried to help Larry David find his inner homie on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Says Smoove, "I had a few offers for different shows and also a development deal with another production company. The last meeting we had set up was with Sony, and I thought it was going to be kind of a courtesy meeting, but it opened up a whole 'nother world," he says. That world includes his recurring character on "'Til Death," as Brad Garrett's 38-year-old "little brother" Kenny. (The story goes that Garrett's character tried to do the community-minded thing and become a big brother, but wound up, due to a computer error, matched with a grown man involved in a bitter divorce.) And it includes a TV development and Internet deal with Sony.

"It's great to have the chance to get my feet wet in the sitcom world without having the pressure of a whole show on me," says the former "Saturday Night Live" writer. "And I'm a huge fan of Brad."

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.