Ho hum, today just another day at the office.

Not!

I found myself having lunch at the Chateau Marmont’s sitting at the same table as Jean Smart, Kathy Griffin, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Sharon Lawrence and Sally Kellerman among others.

OK, it was a really long table but the funny thing was, I was the only man at this luncheon of 30-plus women held to celebrate the More [magazine] Women In Film contest for screenwriters over 40. Casey Affleck was eating lunch nearby and looked over as he walked out, wondering what the hoopla was all about.

I’ll write more about the event later this week. I want to first share with you my conversation with the sublime Jean Smart of the new ABC hit comedy “Samantha Who?”

She plays the mother of Christina Applegate’s title character who suffers from amnesia and is forced to find out who she really is.

“I’m having a blast,” Jean said. “I’m dying for this [writer’s] strike to end so I can get back to work. It’s kind of like a disgusting lovefest, we all fell in love with each other in the first week. I know actors always say the right thing, ‘Oh the writing’s wonderful and the cast is wonderful’ but it really is.”

I have been a big fan of hers since her days as Charlene on “Designing Women.” She went on to win two Emmys for “Frasier” and was nominated twice more for her role as First Lady Martha Logan on “24.”
So with the role of Regina on “Samantha,” Jean is adding to a collection of already memorable roles.

“When I read the pilot script and she’s videotaping herself so she can be on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” because of her sob story about her daughter. She makes her daughter open her eyes again when she comes out of the coma after eight days because she missed [the shot]! I said, ‘I have to play this person.’”

Regina also doesn’t bother to tell Samantha that they have not been speaking for the last two years.
“She’s starting all over again,” she says. “She’s been reading the mother’s manual and is trying to do it by the book and treats her daughter like she’s 12 years old.”

The last original episode of “Samantha” for 2007 airs next Monday night.