Emeril Lagasse is trying his hand at the talk show format as he launches a new weekly prime-time series that will mix equal parts music, celebrities and food.

Like Lagasse's long-running Food Network series, "Emeril Live!," his new hourlong "The Emeril Lagasse Show" on the ION Television network will be taped before a live audience and feature a band on set.

The Food Network ceased production of "Emeril Live" in 2007. In early 2008, the rights to Lagasse's franchise of books, television shows and kitchen products were purchased by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., which will share production oversight of the new show with ION Television. "The Emeril Lagasse Show" will air Sunday nights beginning March 28.

DANIELS RECOVERING FROM MILD STROKE

Fiddler-guitarist Charlie Daniels said he suffered a mild stroke while snowmobiling in Colorado and has some stiffness and numbness in his left hand and arm.

Daniels, 73, suffered the stroke Friday just outside Durango, about 230 miles southwest of Denver. He was treated at a local hospital then airlifted to a Denver hospital, where he was released on Sunday.

In a posting on his Web site yesterday, Daniels said he was starting physical therapy. He didn't say whether his playing had been affected but wrote, "I'm doing fine."

SHEEN'S WIFE IN ICU AFTER ORAL SURGERY

Charlie Sheen's wife, Brooke, was in a Los Angeles hospital intensive care unit yesterday with a high fever and an infection following oral surgery, her lawyer said.

Attorney Yale Galanter said Brooke Sheen was running a fever of 105 degrees when she was taken to Sherman Oaks Hospital.

She already had obtained a postponement of a hearing in the Colorado domestic violence case against her actor husband because she was to undergo the surgery.

Meanwhile, Sheen was attempting to get permission to visit his wife in the hospital. A court order prevents them from communicating with each other. A judge was expected to rule later in the day on his request.

GUN REMAINS IN EVIDENCE FOR JA RULE CASE

Rapper Ja Rule lost a bid yesterday to keep a loaded gun found in his luxury car from being used against him in a weapons-possession case in New York.

Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Richard Carruthers rejected the platinum-selling artist's argument that the gun was found during an unjustified police stop of his Maybach sports car after a July 2007 concert.

His lawyer, Stacey Richman, said outside court she would pursue other avenues to fight the charges.

— Advertiser News Services