Jennie Garth is convinced there is an urgent need to raise AIDS awareness among today's youth. The former "What I Like About You" and "Beverly Hills, 90210" star declares, "We're talking about AIDS in Africa, but we're not talking about AIDS in America anymore, when there's actually a resurgence. It's going undetected in young people who are spreading it and have no idea."

Garth portrays a high school teacher who is secretly HIV-positive — and who becomes the confidante of a student (Andrea Bowen of "Desperate Housewives") who thinks she may have been infected with the AIDS virus — in "Girl, Positive," premiering on the Lifetime channel Monday (6/25).

She believes "Girl, Positive" is not like a typical Lifetime movie — stylistically relying on documentary film devices such as teens speaking directly to the camera, a story propelled by text messaging and, most of all, its tough edge. "I really wondered whether some of this could work when I read the script, but it does," she says.

Garth, expected back on the tube this fall as part of the Season 5 lineup of celebs on "Dancing With the Stars," tells us she had no intention of returning to work for quite a while after the birth of her and husband Peter Facinelli's third daughter last September. However, she was so moved by the "Girl, Positive" script, "I got the call and left on the following Sunday to do it." She was still breastfeeding, in fact, when making the movie in Louisiana — and admits the production was hard on her and her family. With Peter and the girls on hand, "We did do some family things in Louisiana, so that was nice, but I was definitely glad to finish the movie."

IN A NEW ZONE: "Dead Zone" star Anthony Michael Hall leaves the dead weight, pun intended, of his series for a little comedy break on HBO's "Entourage" episode airing Sunday (6/24). "They had me on as myself, which was an honor," says Hall. "I love that show. We did a scene on the balcony at a big party at the Grand Hyatt on Sunset Blvd. that they throw for Vince (Adrian Grenier). But they don't let anybody at the party use the bathroom because Drama (Kevin Dillon) is germaphobic. It's funny. I ad libbed a bunch of stuff at the edge of the balcony, and they gave me like a round of applause."

Hall, who plays a man who awoke after six years in a coma with psychic abilities in "Dead Zone," says the new season of the popular USA Network drama "has come through a big transition. We moved the show to Montreal for economic reasons. And we have a whole new production team, a whole new photographer and a new writing staff." The actor says to also expect "some shakeups with the core characters." As for his nemesis, Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery), the unstable politico he's foreseen as the catalyst for Armageddon, Hall says, "He's going to be getting closer to the White House, and there are going to be some surprises with him."

ANOTHER VIEW: Former co-host of "The View," Lisa Ling, acknowledges that things "certainly got interesting for a little while" amid the Rosie O'Donnell/Elisabeth Hasselbeck feud, but she's surprised by how much attention it received. "It just seems like the media right now, any time there's a fight or squabble, that's the only thing that anybody covers anymore. That kind of bums me out," admits Ling, who has gone on to work for "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and National Geographic. "In terms of the politics of [what happened on "The View"], I honestly don't pay attention to it, and I'm astounded that people care. I like Rosie, and I think she's a very courageous person. What went on behind the scenes and the politics of it, you know, I'm sure she'll find an outlet somewhere."

Ling has more important things on her mind, like her most recent documentary series on Oxygen, "Who Cares About Girls?" The second installment, "Slave Girls of India," premieres Sunday (6/24). "I don't mean to begrudge people's interest in pop culture and so on, but you see all this attention on like Paris Hilton, for example, and then I look at these little girls in India. The notion of what's happening in this country is so unfathomable to them because they're literally being forced to work from the second they wake up to after everyone else goes to bed," explains Ling, who said she was shocked to learn that two million children worldwide are forced to work. "It certainly made me want to alert people around the world in the hopes that something will be done. I think we have the opportunity here to not only raise awareness but also provoke action."

TOGETHER AGAIN: The Discovery Channel has been casting about for Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, George Armstrong Custer, John Dooley and Sally Myers for its forthcoming "Battle of Gettysburg" docudrama, shooting at the historic site itself next month. It's not a big money job; the top general's rate is $300 a day, and it's down from there.

(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.