Hugh Laurie - Articles & Scans

Hold your calls, folks, We have a winner.

The very night after the Emmy Awards, Hugh Laurie all but engraved his name on next year's best-actor statue with his tour de force performance in the season-opener of House.

In the two-hour episode, an institutionalized House was dragged over the rocky road that leads to surrendering to his addiction. It was a misanthropic One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The cynical House in group therapy? Priceless.

Beyond showcasing Laurie's acting chops, it was a nearly perfect episode, wonderfully written and directed, with great guest stars like Andre Braugher and a sensational score that included artists from Radiohead to Iron & Wine.

All right, enough gushing. I feel, as Jon Stewart observed this week on The Daily Show after an uncharacteristically earnest moment, like I just pulled a sincerity muscle. Now back to our regularly scheduled snark.

Whoa, cowboy. In Arlington did Jerry Jones a stately pleasure dome decree.

NBC was nearly drooling over the opening of the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium Sunday night. Announcer Al Michaels dubbed the complex "Jerry World" in honor of the team's insufferable owner.

It was a little embarrassing, though, when during the stadium's first official act - Jordin Sparks singing the national anthem - the microphone went dead. A billion dollars on decor, and they can't spend 10 bucks on audio equipment? I've been to better-run karaoke bars.

The annoying part is that during the game, NBC cameras showed us more of Jones up in his luxury box than they did of Tony Romo on the field. We were even treated to the sight of Jones picking his nose.

It's easy to see how he made his fortune in oil. He's quite a driller.

Capacity crowd. On the season opener of How I Met Your Mother, Robin went to a hockey game at Madison Square Garden with the muscle-bound Brad.

They were seated in the second row from the ice. Behind them were three more rows of fans and then the arena's back wall.

Man, the Rangers must have a lucrative TV rights package, because they're sure not making any money on ticket sales.

How'd you get here? I don't know which shocked me more: the appearance of Robert Knepper (T-Bag on Prison Break) as a goth gypsy in the opening scene of Heroes, or the realization that Saint John Powell, the tempered British hatchet man on Mad Men, is a nearly unrecognizable Charles Shaughnessy, Mr. Sheffield from The Nanny.

Aye aye. Forget Law & Order and CSI. The strongest franchise on TV is NCIS, which just rolled out NCIS: Los Angeles to great success.

I always thought of the Navy as a bunch of seasick swabbies. Who knew this branch of the service was such a hotbed of murder and intrigue?

Dangerous duty, but pretty cushy. Have you noticed on these two shows how almost nobody lives on a Navy base? They all have apartments. Nice ones.

Winning ways. Some are born funny. Others have it thrust upon them.

Like Jon Cryer. After winning the Emmy for best supporting actor in a comedy on Sunday night, he quipped from the stage, "I used to think that awards were just shallow tokens of momentary popularity. But now, I realize they are the only true measure of a person's worth as a human being."

That's funnier than anything he's ever said on his sitcom, Two and a Half Men.

Enjoy your Emmy, Jon. You earned it. For the acceptance speech alone.