TED DANSON stood in his Martha Vineyard's home looking at the ocean. "I was humming to myself, when the ringing of the phone stirred me from my thoughts. "I couldn't believe the voice on the phone. It was the producer of 'CSI' asking me to star in the TV drama. It was surreal, in less than two weeks, I was attending my first autopsy, a real one, in Las Vegas."

This was their 12th season, and the producers had decided since Laurence Fishburne had left, and Marg Helgenberger was saying she planned to be there only a short time, they decided to go with a new CSI supervisor and give a different, lighter spin to the show.

"I play the role of D.B. Russell, supervisor. I'm married and have four children," Ted explained. "I think I've learned a lot over the last couple of years doing TV shows like 'Damages' and 'Bored to Death'. Of course, they were on cable and gave me more free time. 'CSI' is on the network and has a definite longer schedule. You might say I went from gentleman actor to a full-time, and I mean full-time one."

Ted did let his funny bone out when he said, "They still won't let me carry a gun. I kind of feel like Coach Phil Jackson coming on board to handle a group of incredibly bright people who were on a slippery slope because of things that happened the last season. I was brought in to make the team work as well as possible.

"It's really a joy to be there. I am happy to hang around with these people, they make me feel so welcome. The crew is brilliant, it's so effortless." "One of the advisors on this show is a real CSI member, and former army veteran. He told me he celebrated every moment of his life. He said if he was exhausted he was still going to be with his kids and his wife. He said, 'I am going to be grateful for every day, every moment, and live my life one day at a time.' "I think that is brilliant. We should all be doing that. Remember he's doing that while observing the darkest of the dark. That really is helpful."

Ted told me a story about his childhood. "I grew up around skulls. My father was an anthropologist in Tuscon and then later in Flagstaff, Arizona. We would go on these digs, and as a four-or-five-year-old, I would play around in the ancient trash heaps. You would find a skull, and you would be whisked away. So I grew up around skulls.

Once when I was 11, which is a bad CSI story, I was playing with my buddies in the woods. We were playing army, and we came across a skull that had a patch of hair here and a big hole here, and the anthropologist’s son went, 'Oh, cool. Let's play Romans and Gauls,' and stuck the skull on the end of a pole and went off for the rest of the day.

"When I came home, told my father, he went through the roof! He went out looking for the skull, with the police, couldn't find it. Five years later, my friends found the skull while hiking, brought it to the museum where my father was working. He put clay on it, then drew a sketch, and put it in the newspaper. Someone identified the remains. That's my CSI story as a kid. Isn't that cool?"

You know what title Jennifer Love Hewitt likes best? The one that proclaims Jennifer Love Hewitt, Executive Producer. "Don't you think it has a special ring to it?" I agreed. She continued, "I'm trying to get credit as often as possible." She has it on her newest project.

She did a movie-for-television called, "The Client List", on the Lifetime Network. It proved so high in the ratings, they asked her what she thought about making it into an hour-long series for next year. "I thought for a while," she said, "and then replied. Of course, I'll be the executive producer on the series." Of course, they said, and that was that.

In "The Client List", Jennifer plays a young Texas housewife, whose husband just leaves her, with no money, and a child. She has to find some way of supporting her family. Finally, she goes to the next town and finds a job in a spa. "It's really two different worlds, one as a mom, the other in a growing position in what turns out to be a very successful spa. They become pleased with Jennifer's work."

The owner is a woman who soon tells Jennifer she likes she is a hard worker and feels she deserves a promotion. "It's only then that I learn the spa, does a lot more than give massages. The story and the problems multiply from there."

It's amazing that Bill Murray gets any jobs. He's about the only star in Hollywood who doesn't have an agent. Well, I'm delighted that Focus Films did send him a letter (maybe it was by carrier pigeon) and offered him the starring role of FDR, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in their film, "Hyde Park on Hudson."

The film is based on a radio screenplay by Richard Nelson. It takes place in 1939 at FDR's home called Hyde Park on Hudson. It is just before World War II broke out, and it chronicles the weekend visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, who accept Roosevelt's invitation to visit his home in upstate New York.

During the visit, FDR's private life becomes clear. Murray will have many dramatic moments, especially his reported affair with his cousin, Daisy. Some of the photos of Murray made-up as FDR are interesting, but producers say he really looks a lot like the former president with very little make-up.

Jamie Lee Curtis gave me a glance at her schedule, the one she refers to when she isn't working. Says Jamie, "I'm up at 5:30 A.M., get my son off to school, then I'm doing my chores." She laughed, "Now that can be quite different. It can mean working on my new book, or going over the illustrations for it, or it can be as everyday as getting a lamp fixed, shopping for a pair of jeans for my son, or having a tennis date with some of my girlfriends.

"When I'm in a picture, the rise and shine time is the same, but learning lines, checking what I am wearing, and making my role as real as possible is my job."

She writes a book every two years, and she says they are for children, but they have a lot to say to us big folks too. Her newest book, it just came out, is called "My Mommy Hung the Moon." It's a pure delight.

Jamie Lee must be doing something right. She been married 25 years, make it 26 when it comes December. The lucky man is actor, musician, writer, director, producer Christopher Guest. All those hilarious movies, which he and his "stock company" of actors, are so good at, are the brain children of Guest and writer-actor Eugene Levy. Some call them "mockumentories", but they are hilarious films, "Best in Show" (about those fabulous dog shows, and there was "A Mighty Wind" and on and on. The actors make up their own dialogue. Some call it "improvised acting". It's no secret he's one of the funniest men in town.

Jamie Lee is an actress who knows what she wants. Some 26 years ago she saw an actor's picture in Rolling Stone Magazine. "Who is that?", she asked her agent. "Oh, that's Chris Guest, he an actor, didn't you see him in the series of "Spinal Tape" movies? Jamie wrote her phone number on a piece of paper. "Give it to his agent", she said, "and suggest that Christopher call me." That's how it started, and it led to a walk down the aisle. They have two children, Annie, 24 and Thomas, 14.

You may have wondered about Sacha Baron Cohen, what has he been doing lately? Have no fear Cohen is here! He has been starring for Academy Award director, Martin Scorsese, in the new film, "Hugo Cabret". But, that's just the beginning.

Now, comes word that he will star, bare chest and all, in the movie biography of singer, Freddie Mercury. Picture, which will roll next year, tells the story of the rocker and Queen singing group's rise to stardom. Naturally, the film will feature their performance at the Live Aid Concert in 1985.

Mercury was a super performer, born in Zanzibar, who formed the talented group in 1970. He was the lead singer and powerhouse force behind such runaway hits as "We Will Rock You", "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are Champions". They sold over 170 million albums. Mercury died at age 45 in 1991.