WEINSTEINS' MIRAMAX BECOMING HOUSE OF USHER?

Byline: Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith

Miramax is on the trail to round up more work for the very hot r&b singer-turned-actor Usher. The 21-year-old talent reports Miramax's Weinstein brothers are so impressed with his performance in the upcoming ``Texas Rangers,'' ``We're working on more movies to do together.''

Usher, who also starred in Miramax's ``She's All That'' - plus ``The Faculty'' for Miramax's subsidiary, Dimension Films - says, ``If there was a class over at Miramax, I guess I would be the student pet of Bob and Harvey. The Weinsteins really look out for me.''

Usher adds that, for his role as a black Texas Ranger in the upcoming film, which also stars James Van Der Beek and Dylan McDermott, he had to learn how to handle guns and ride a horse. ``Horses can sense fear through their backs and they clutch up. I just had to go for it, and I did. I got to know my horse real well. He became my best friend.''

RHINESTONE GODDESS?

Ribald comedian Judy Tenuta reports she'll be tackling the country/western arena next. No, she's not going to become a country/western singer. She's just going to play one in her next film. ``I'm already revving myself up. ... I somehow feel I was born in the South anyway,'' quips the self-proclaimed comedy goddess from Chicago. She does plan to do some singing in the next special she's putting together for Comedy Central, but she promises, ``I'm not going to bray at everybody.''

NO REGRETS < ``Party of Five'' is two-thirds through shooting for the season, and Paula Devicq, who plays brother Charlie's girlfriend, says it's still a big question whether there'll be a seventh season for the Fox show. Adding fuel to the possibility that this might be the last season for ``Pof5'' is the fact that series stars Neve Campbell and Scott Wolf have launched successful big-screen careers. Devicq, however, is maintaining a positive attitude. ``This show has been great. If we go another year, I'll be excited. If we don't, I'll simply be grateful I had the amount of time I've had on the show. To me, it's a win-win situation.'' She adds that she and the rest of the cast have become ``a family. We keep in touch and really support each other.''

ANDY ON LINE

If you're looking for a different kind of greeting to send to a friend via e-mail, comic Andy Dick says his new line of Internet greeting cards is the way to go. ``You can send free e-mails with video images of me singing Happy Hanukkah or Happy New Year in my twisted way,'' says the former ``NewsRadio'' regular, who launched andydick.com last week. ``And we're about to shoot a bunch more that'll say 'Happy Birthday,' and 'Happy Anniversary' ... that you can use all year long. I was also thinking about doing one you would send to an enemy. Instead of having 'Happy Birthday,' I'd do something like 'I hope you are in a living hell!' You know, wacked out, trippy stuff like that.'' In addition to the greetings, which are also available on vgreetings.com and LOADtv.com, Andy's Web site features a couple of artists (``one of them is my ex-wife'') and tunes done by him and his band.

WHO AM I THIS TIME?

``The Profiler'' regular Roma Maffia reports things got ``a little schizophrenic'' while she was juggling her series duties with the filming of ``The David Cassidy Story.'' ``I worked every other day on each show, and I was like, 'OK, who am I today, and what am I saying?,' '' says Maffia, who plays Cassidy's long-time agent in the NBC telepic that airs Jan. 9. ``I got more tired than I thought I would.''

She says she looks very different than the forensics pathologist she plays on ``Profiler.'' ``In the film, we start in the late '60s and go into the '70s, and I have this little page boy wig I wear. I look like a cross between Diahann Carroll and Mary Tyler Moore.''

RISING TALENT

The upcoming film, ``A Rising Place,'' was a definite change of pace for S. Epatha Merkerson, who plays Lt. Van Buren on ``Law & Order.'' ``It's a story about a friendship between a young black woman and a young white woman that takes place in Mississippi in 1939,'' says Merkerson about the film that co-stars Frances Fisher and Elise Neal (''The Hughleys''). ``It was written by Tom Rice, a young man I met about four or five years ago. We ended up becoming friends and when he decided he was going to do his film, he wrote a part in it for me, which was lovely.''

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Photo:

(1) TENUTA

(2) CAMPBELL

(3) WOLF

(4) MERKERSON