Fall TV Blog

As House went dark for the summer on Monday night’s finale, House’s confidante Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) held a dying patient in his arms in one of the series’ weepier moments. It wasn’t just any patient, though: it was Amber, aka “cutthroat b—-,” his girlfriend. Poor Wilson, so unlucky in love, with three failed marriages and now a
dead girlfriend. (Amber (Anne Dudek) is no stranger to House (Hugh Laurie); she was a former prospective fellow well-known for her Machiavellian tactics.) After Amber dies, Wilson is left reeling. All the drama overshadows the unexpected appearance of Limp Bizkit frontman (and budding film director) Fred Durst as a bartender. It will be a long summer for Wilson. –Nicholas White

Tell us: Will Wilson recover for next season? Do you want to see Fred Durst come back? What’s next for House?

Greg Gayne/FOX

Not that he’s been labeled a realistic Method actor before, but Hugh Laurie admits he attempted to get closer to the character he portrays on House — by experimenting with Vicodin, the strong painkiller to which Dr. Gregory House is addicted.

“I wouldn’t recommend it — we have to be careful,” Laurie, 48, tells Britain’s Radio Times magazine, “But then again … if you’re not in pain it gives a floaty, pleasurable feeling.”

Laurie, renown as a perfectionist, says he’s unhappy with his Golden Globe-winning performance of the grumpy medic — especially his American accent — and isn’t sure how much longer the series will continue.

“I’m hugely surprised House survives. The odds are against you in this competitive business; wolves snap at your heels. It’s hard to say if I’m pleased with the show,” he says.

“I don’t watch regularly. I avert my eyes when my children have it on. I hate seeing myself, but it’s even worse hearing my American accent … I had no idea I sound so retarded, a dull monotone, full of clunking mistakes.”

Laurie says he hasn’t brought his family, who continue to live in London, to be with him in Los Angeles because of fears that this might hex the show’s run.

“I have this vague feeling that the moment I’m comfortable with my place in the world there’ll be retribution,” he says. “That’s one reason I didn’t want my family to live here. The moment we put down roots the whole thing will be called off.”

Laurie also says the pressures of filming House mean he’s “off the market” for cameos on other shows. And its success hasn’t lead to any offers from his native land either.

“There’s a notion that I’ve sold out,” he says. “Sold out what exactly? There’s a peculiar British attitude that I took an oath I wouldn’t be successful, and reneged on it.” –Caris Davis

Michael Lavine/FOX

In the final episode of House M.D. until the writerss strike is over, the show treated audiences to another surprise guest star and a final eccentric healing session. After Mira Sorvino got long-distance treatment from House on Super Bowl Sunday, comedienne Sarah Silverman’s sister Laura popped up as Roz, a heroin-using music industry refugee, recently converted to Hasidic Judaism and married.

It was the elder Silverman’s first appearance on House, but we recognized her from appearances on King of Queens, as reality show producer Jane on HBO’s The Comeback, and from her sister’s variety show on Comedy Central, The Sarah Silverman Program.

Wearing head scarves, Silverman was convincing — if uncharismatic — as a patient with serious symptoms that House, being the genius that he is, surmises stem from a kidney problem. Sure enough, he’s correct. But staying true to his typical beside manner, House leaves with one final tender quote. “Hasidic women marry young,” House (Hugh Laurie) says. “Thirty-eight means she’s not on anyone’s hot list. [And] she’s being pushed on a guy who’s not on anyone’s hot list. –Nicholas White

Tell us: Will you miss the bizarre medical symptoms on House or the doctor’s hilarious quips?

Adam Taylor/NBC Universal/FOX

Tom Brady and the 18-1 New England Patriots could have used House M.D.’s TLC after their loss Sunday night. Instead, the crack medical team had a very special episode to tend to — guest-starring Oscar winner Mira Sorvino in a seemingly futuristic plot. When her physician tech character is struck with unknown symptoms and is stranded at the ice-bitten South Pole, House (Hugh Laurie) becomes a doctor without borders, using teleconferencing via the Internet to help heal her. To make matters worse, she lapses into a coma before they can determine if she has cancer or an autoimmune disease. Still, despite the thousands of miles distance and with help from Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps), House does his thing.

It all leads to a natural question: Could this happen in real life? Turns out, yes! It’s called telemedicine, a quickly growing practice in which specialized medical information is sent through email or over the phone from desolate communities to doctors. House uses the Web connection to, through a surrogate, drill a hole in the tech’s head, pry loose a broken toenail and do a racy bare-skin examination. Did it work? Sorvino survived — and may return for future episodes (post-writers’ strike, of course). –-Nicholas White

Tell us: Do you want to see Mira Sorvino return? And would you trust Dr. House to give a “telemedicine” diagnosis to you?

FOX

Scoring a guest role on a top-rated show that airs directly after the Super Bowl is quite a touchdown, but that’s not what attracted the “not very sports savvy” Mira Sorvino to her gig on Sunday’s episode of House. It’s actually her favorite show. In fact, being on the set made her so excited she felt like a “stupid kid.” During a recent press conference, the Oscar-winning actress talked TV and revealed the show she would love to do — if only her management would let her.

“I’m a crazy House fan,” says Sorvino, who also made that fact abundantly clear to Hugh Laurie years ago when the two met up at the Golden Globe Awards. So when the writers came up with “one of the best female characters they’d ever written” — a psychiatrist trapped at the South Pole who falls ill and needs Dr. House to treat her via web cam — they tapped Sorvino to play the role. Though only one episode, there’s been talk it could turn into more after the writers’ strike ends. “I would love to come back for an extended arc,” she says. “It would be fun.”

When not watching House, Sorvino says must-see TV for her is So You Think You Can Dance?.

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While some folks watch Fox’s hit series House for the intense medical drama or the grosser than gross symptoms (last night’s patient Maggie — played by Janel Moloney — suffered from paralyzed hands, bleeding eyes, smoking bones and a lactating tumor located in her calf!), others watch it for the quick quips dished out by Hugh Laurie’s heartless doc.

Here are our favorites from last night:

When asked who gave him the present sitting on his desk: “Santa obviously. You know I worship him. Oh wait, that’s Satan. I always get them confused.”

After being told Maggie never lies: “Okay, this is going to be a tough case. I have almost no knowledge of alien physiology.”

After Taub ran down an extensive list of diagnosises for their patient d’ jour: “Listing all the possible causes is only impressive if you can do it backwards alphabetically.”

After deciding Maggie, who previously had a preventative double mastectomy when she discovered she had the breast cancer gene, needed an MRI to check for breast cancer: “Set the machine to scan for irony.”

Upon scanning Maggie’s stolen computer for clues to a secret life: “Well, that sucks. 4,300 saved e-mails and not a single mention of “lesbionic,” “sanchez,” or “man-gina.”

But the night’s best line did not from Dr. Gregory House, but his best buddy, the upstanding oncologist Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard). When the crippled House tried to keep up with a quick-paced Wilson to barrage him with questions, he paused long enough to ask, “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere,” Wilson replied. “I just know it hurts you.” –Caryn Midler

Isabella Vosmikova/FOX

Just when you’ve finally sucked up of every last lingering strand of tinsel, it’s holiday season again — on House. Because of the writers’ strike, producers held over some episodes until 2008, so Tuesday’s show is actually the Christmas episode complete with a Secret Santa gift exchange. But when PEOPLE caught up with Olivia Wilde, we were more interested in hearing if Thirteen and Dr. House would be smooching under the mistletoe.

“I never picked up on romantic tension between Thirteen and House,” said Wilde, who previous starred in The Black Donnellys. “But I have read the speculation about them. At this point, what I see between them is not a romantic connection — it’s a mutual respect between two very unorthodox and stubborn doctors. But anything is possible with her because she’s unpredictable.”

Wilde says though she was a fan of House before joined the cast — she became a series regular right before the writers’ strike — she’s been an even bigger fan of Hugh Laurie (Dr. House). “I loved him since A Little Bit of Fry and Laurie and Blackadder and a lot of [his British shows] that people here don’t know him from,” she says. “It’s amazing when an actor can stretch themselves between two genres and do it so successfully. So I had a immense respect for him before. But I also loved the show itself.”

As for tonight’s post-holiday holiday episode, Wilde said the timing is off, but it’s not that unusual for the offbeat show. “I think the fact that it’s Christmas is odd and funny,” she told reporters, “but it’s also in the vein of House humor. Something House would do is throw Christmas late.” –Suzy Byrne

NBC Universal

The scapels have been put away (for now) and three interns are left (semi-unscathed) with regular roles on House. The last contestant to get the ax? None other than the extremely competitive and annoying Dr. Amber Volakis, a.k.a. Cutthroat B—-h (Anne Dudek). And with a nickname like that, is it any surprise that she was the one that got fired? Actually, in the world of Gregory House, where being unlikable is an attribute, perhaps it is a surprise after all.

House’s new diagnostic dream team? Kutner (Kal Penn), Taub (Peter Jacobson) and Thirteen (Olivia Wilde). (By the way, does anyone remember Thirteen’s real name?) —Caryn Midler

Photo: Isabella Vosmikova/NBC

What would Gregory House be like if he was a normally functioning human being? Well, we found out last night, albeit in a roundabout way. Mirroring this season’s reality show-themed fellowship contest, a documentary film crew finds its way into Princeton-Plainsboro under the guise of following a genetically deformed teen on his quest for facial reconstructive surgery. What the film crew captures at the end of the episode, through the magic of editing, is a reel that makes Gregory House (much to his chagrin) look like a compassionate, warm and likable guy, inspired to become a doctor by the movie Patch Adams!
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OK, let’s get the bad news out of the way first: In last night’s episode of House, we didn’t get a lot of Dr. House’s entertaining interaction with the rest of the staff due to the fact that he was whisked away by the CIA (yes, really!) to work on “the case of the poisoned spy who actually just overdosed on Brazil nuts.”

And now for the very good news: Doc’s got a possible love interest! Sparks positively flew when our favorite pill-popping curmudgeon met Dr. Samira Terzi, the CIA’s in-house resident played by the drop-dead gorgeous Michael Michele. Lucky for the increasingly lonely Dr. House (and for us) it looks like Ms. Michele will become a permanent addition to the diagnostic team at Princeton–Plainsboro, assuring Hugh Laurie more come-hither one liners such as, “You know I happen to have a position available on my penis.”

Tell us: Are you psyched Michael Michele’s character is taking House up on his job offer? And do you think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or an endless flirtation? —Caryn Midler

Photo: Paul Drinkwater/NBC/FOX