Ledger Pop Journal - Celebrity News & Sports

"Californication" actress Pamela Adlon is quick to demur when asked about show lead David Duchovny checking himself into a rehab facility for sexual addiction. "I really can't comment," says Adlon, who also notes that the show is not in production, having recently concluded shooting of its second season, which starts airing Sept. 28.

Pamela Adlon on David Duchovny Sex Addiction (Image: Wenn)

"I just know he's great. David's like my bro'. Everyone's great. We had an awesome time. Natascha (McElhone) is a very close friend of mine now. We all came together when Natascha lost her husband," adds Adlon, referring to the sudden death by heart attack of McElhone's spouse, 43-year-old plastic surgeon Dr. Martin Kelly, last May. McElhone was left with two young children and a third on the way."

"That was very, very difficult, a very intense thing, to work through that. She was extraordinary. She is an extraordinarily beautiful woman who is as beautiful on the inside. You feel like, ‘Wow, she's amazing, and she's talking to me!'" Adlon gushes. "The way she dealt with her situation was one of the most exquisite things I've ever witnessed."

What helped, believes Adlon, is that, "The work saves people. This show feels like lightning in a bottle, feels really good, like we're in a great moment."

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Mark-Paul Gosselaar's "Raising the Bar" series for TNT drew satisfying viewership numbers in its debut outing Monday (9/1). In fact, they're touting it as the highest-ever debut for a series on ad-supported cable, with 7.7 million tuning in. That's great news to Gosselaar, who tells us that he and exec producer Steven Bochco were hoping to tap into the country's zeitgeist with the show about public defenders. "Steven and I think this is sort of a timely piece -- that it fits in well with how the population is feeling about the system these days. That word, 'change,' has come up quite a bit in the recent past," he says. "We're used to seeing police, judges and prosecutors as always good and temperate on some shows. On this show, they're seen as human beings."

VIDEOLAND, TOO: "Law & Order: SVU" executive producer Neal Baer admits he sometimes sweats over whether he and his team can keep coming up with enough new stories for the series, returning for its 10th season Sept. 23. "I always worry with the beginning of a new year on the show -- but the depravity of humankind knows no bounds. Our show is not about depravity, per se, but about pushing the bounds of new legal territory and science." On a more down-to-earth level, there's this year's addition of Michaela McManus, replacing Diane Neal. "A new character always lets you tell new stories. There are new conflicts and questions over how the characters get along."