DEAR STACY: Why was Alexis Cruz killed off "Shark"? — Michelle F., Bronx, N.Y.

DEAR MICHELLE: His character was never given much to do on the series, so when it came time for some cast trimming, away he went. The show's producers' response to your question is simply that "casting things happen all the time."

DEAR STACY: My friend says that Joe Rogan of "Ultimate Fighting Championship" and "Fear Factor" is related to Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. Is this true? — Carrie P., Cleveland, Ohio

DEAR CARRIE: Gerard and Mikey Way, singer and bass player of My Chemical Romance, are Rogan's mother's cousin's sons, making them first cousins once removed.

DEAR STACY: I like Lisa Guerrero of Fox Sports. She asks questions of athletes with such ease and knowledge that my friends and I wondered if she ever seriously played sports herself. — D.D., Ozone Park, N.Y.

DEAR D.D.: Lisa credits her dad's passion for sports as the key influence in her becoming a dyed-in-the-wool sports fan. He raised her (in San Diego and Huntington Beach, Calif.) after her mother's death when Lisa was 8, and as the sports reporter/"Inside Edition" correspondent has noted, rather than placing her in dance classes, "he put me into teams, so I was playing softball, basketball and volleyball." She did particularly well as a softball pitcher. Lisa's dad also got her involved in theater as a youngster. As an adult, her involvement has been on the sidelines — first as a cheerleader for the L.A. Rams and then as entertainment director for the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots. Her career as a TV sportscaster began at Los Angeles station KCBS before she moved over to Fox, where she found fame on "The Best Damn Sports Show Period." The wife of baseball pitcher Scott Erickson since 2004, she also acts (daytime's "Sunset Beach," the big screen's "Batman Returns" and episodic TV, including "Seinfeld" and "The George Lopez Show") and has posed for Playboy, Maxim and FHM.

DEAR STACY: Whatever became of the boy who played the title character in "Simon Birch"? I loved that film. — Doris D., Tipton, Iowa

DEAR DORIS: Ian Michael Smith, now 20, continues to impress. Afflicted with Morquio Syndrome, which affects the skeletal structure, causing dwarfism, he's gone through several surgeries, including spinal fusion — and nevertheless managed to enroll at MIT in 2005. His hobbies include playing the trumpet, kayaking and playing chess.

DEAR STACY: Anna Friel of "Pushing Daisies" is hot! Can you tell something about her? — Ray H., Flushing, N.Y.

DEAR RAY: Friel, 31, hails from Rochdale, England. She got her start on TV in the U.K., where she grabbed attention with a lesbian kiss on the daytime soap "Brookside" and with a m?nage-a-trios prime-time sex romp in a production of "The Tribe" with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Jeremy Northam. Broadway ("Closer") and film ("A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Goal!" and "Goal! 2") followed. She and the man in her life, actor David Thewlis, have a 2-year-old daughter.

DEAR STACY: I've seen Peggy Lipton and Clarence Williams III through the years, but whatever became of Michael Cole, the third member of "The Mod Squad"? Also, what about Tige Andrews? — K.R., Yonkers, N.Y.

DEAR K.R.: Though "Mod Squad" marked the zenith of Cole's career, he's continued to work. He has a role in this year's Demi Moore movie, "Mr. Brooks," playing her attorney, and has appeared in episodic shows, including "ER" and "7th Heaven." Tige Andrews, a.k.a. "Mod Squad's" Capt. Adam Greer, died at age 86 of cardiac arrest this past February.

DEAR STACY: Please settle a question that came up among friends. Didn't comedian Chris Farley of "Saturday Night Live" die of a heart attack? If not, what was the cause, and when did he die? — Joan W., Austin, Texas

DEAR JOAN: Farley died Dec. 18, 1997, of an accidental overdose of cocaine and morphine at age 33.

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.