Sam Waterston admits he thought about not returning to "Law & Order" for its 18th season, soon to begin shooting for midseason launch. However, he adds, "I've had that thought every single year I've done the show."

Waterston shows off his formidable acting skills as a man apparently afflicted with amnesia in the "Masters of Science Fiction" movie anthology premiere episode, "A Clean Escape," this Saturday (Aug. 4) on ABC. He found it "a joy" to work Judy Davis as the psychiatrist trying to get to the bottom of his character's mysteriously missing memory. "I'm fascinated by the whole idea of the cunningness of madness," he says. Esteemed filmmaker Mark Rydell directed the adaptation of John Kessel's award-winning short story, which Waterston considers "very smart."

Meanwhile, Waterston moves up from prosecutor to New York district attorney, with Linus Roache filling his old post, on "L&O" next season. Jeremy Sisto is coming aboard as a new partner for Jesse L. Martin's detective character.

"I don't know how it's going to play out, but I'm looking forward to doing the same thing while having it be all different at the same time," Waterston tells us. "There is supposed to be a lot of structural change," he adds. "While I loved doing what I was doing and I've never been bored, I think maybe I've explored it as much as anybody can, and now there is a chance for more fun of a different kind — more brain teasers and new problems to solve."

ON THE PERSONAL SIDE: Rodeo champion Ty Murray tells us marrying his girlfriend of nine years, Jewel Kilcher, may be in store, but don't expect it anytime in the near future. "Yeah, we talk about it," responds Murray when asked about the possibilities of marriage. "It's just that we watch the success rate of marriages and we feel like we're pretty lucky that we get along so good and that we're such good friends. Everybody asks when we're going to get married, and we just don't think about it as much. We're together, so that's most important."

The two, who are currently in Nashville while Jewel is recording a new album, have been spending more time together since Murray retired from the rodeo — something that came as quite a relief to the singer. "I don't even think she realized how glad she was until after I retired. She says it scares her more now looking back on it than it did at the time — that she kind of maybe stuffed it down when I was riding."

Murray's certainly getting a taste of being on the other side with the premiere of his new CMT reality show "Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge," premiering Aug. 10. "There ended up being a lot more pressure on me than I anticipated," he admits about teaching bull riding to the likes of Vanilla Ice, Leif Garrett, Stephen Baldwin, and Jonny Fairplay, to name a few. "You start getting to know these guys, and you hear them talking about their wife and kids, and you start realizing I've got their lives in my hands. I'd tell them, 'Look, at the end of the day, there's not a safety net or a cable that's going to save you. There's a really good chance for an injury, and you can even die.'" Luckily, the show only involved a few trips to the hospital.

FOR HIS NEXT FEAT: Former circus performer Mark Ivanir has moved from the big top to the big leagues as he's soon to get up close and personal with screen legend Robert De Niro in their upcoming flick "What Just Happened?" "De Niro is playing Art Linson, who is a well-known Hollywood producer, and I'm playing this Israeli producer, who's gotten money from shady characters and I bring it to De Niro to make a movie," explains the Russian-born actor, who grew up in Israel. "I based my part on what some Middle-Easterners are like, though not all of us, but things like invading the personal space of whoever they're talking to. I asked him about it beforehand because you don't just invade Robert De Niro's space. He didn't mind, so I was in his face throughout the movie. I think he liked it because it did what it had to do to create the conflict between the characters."

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Former CNN political analyst/host Carlos Watson confirms reports he's "talking to each of the major networks about doing a daytime talk show next year. I want to explore the notion that a talk show can be a broad place where you could talk to, say, Halle Berry comfortably, but also at the same time talk to Sen. Barack Obama." Watson doesn't foresee mounting the talker before next fall, and for now he says his new quarterly Hearst-Argyle TV specials, "Conversations with Carlos Watson," are "really my focus and heartbeat." He's excited about the diverse group he's lined up for the Aug. 13 special. "If you like Joss Stone the singer, she's absolutely going to tear it up," he says. "If you're a football fan, you'll love star quarterback Jonathan McNabb, and if you're a presidential junkie, you get to see Sen. John McCain."

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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