Lawless, star of the former hit syndicated series "Xena: Warrior Princess," is playing what she refers to as a "tart with a heart" on the Thursday night comedy (8:30 p.m., WMAQ-Ch.5) whom Elliot (Enrico Colantoni) hooks up with after he and Maya (Laura San Giacomo) break up.

Seeing an action star in another genre might raise some eyebrows about weather he or she is stretching. But "Xena" is known almost as much for its forays into broad comedy as it is for its elaborate action scenes and instances when the Warrior Princess is extremely buddy-buddy with her sidekick Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor).

"A great many of the offers I've been given, almost all of them are comedy," explains Lawless. In fact, not only is she a fan of "Shoot," but also she says they've been after her for a few years to make an appearance.

Aside from a scene where she had to pop someone in a more "girlish" fashion ("For years I've been slugging them"), the New Zealander had nothing but kind words for her "Shoot" experience.

She said she always wanted to work with Colantoni, and thought Davis Spade at first was going to be a "rat bag," which is slang for rascal, but found him quite charming and respectful.

Lawless had some great fun with George Segal, who, she says, didn't know her ,"from a bar of soap."

"He says, 'Who do you know here?' I went , 'I beg your pardon?' 'Who do you know here? You got this job, do you know one of the producers?' He thinks I'm some bimbo, some businessman's handbag!

"And I said,'Well, no, they've been asking me for awhile, it just didn't fit in with my schedule." He's going 'What schedule." He thinks I'm having him on!"

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