Carin Baer/FOXJen here. Today is "Bunch of New Shows We Don't Know If We Care About Yet" Day at the ABC TCA, so we’re filling in the gap with one of the existing shows that never fails to make y'all happy. So, enjoy more House news, derived from the good stuff at yesterday's panel that didn't make it into the first-look report and from Korbi's interviews with the cast:
Flighty Ducks: Korbi queried about the start of the season, and got great dish from the regulars.
Jennifer Morrison said her character is MIA in the season premiere: "When you come back for the first episode, you don't know where Cameron is, and in the second episode back, you sort of discover where she's at, but I can't give it away."
Foreman, meanwhile, has struck out on his own. Omar Epps reports, “Well, when we start out the season, he’s heading his own team, and stuff happens there.”
Jesse Spencer, thank heaven, actually spilled some details, telling K.G., “House spends the first episode without anyone there—he doesn't have a team, and it takes quite a few episodes for us to come back. And I'm actually hired back by Cuddy, so now I'm not under House anymore. That adds new weight to the characters. I'm in a different position, and House has to come to me if he's got something he needs.”
Does this mean House can't harass Chase quite as much? "Oh, I don't think so!"
All Here: Robert Sean Leonard filled us in on the rest of gang: "I'm still at Princeton-Plainsboro, as is Lisa [Edelstein]'s character, and the ducklings have gone to wing. House needs a new team, and he goes about it in a very interesting way. And I've only read the first three [scripts], but it is great—it's very fun to watch him whittle these doctors down."
Lack of Quack: Hugh Laurie gave us a little insight into Dr. Gregory’s bitter, black heart. When Korbi asked if he missed his “kids,” Laurie admitted, “The truth is, yes, but House being House, the last thing on earth he wants to do is admit it, but yes, I think it's pretty clear that there is a gap...Whether he wanted to or not, he's grown attached to these people."
On the Heart Beat: Korbi did good for those of you who like your docs hot and bothered, asking around about potential romantic developments for the season. Epps wasn’t optimistic at all, noting, “Foreman’s married to his job.“ Leonard was similarly grim: "A love interest for my character terrifies me in anything I'm in!" Last but not least, any chance of House and Cuddy making out this season? Well, the official word from Hugh Laurie is, “ I have absolutely no idea. That file is under lock and key." Damn it!
Ode to Joyless: For those of you who want nothing more than for Drs. House and Wilson to get horizontal, here’s Robert Sean Leonard’s testimony of Dr. Gregory House’s many attributes, when, at the panel, he was forced to defend Wilson’s devotion to the great curmudgeon: “At the risk of spreading even more wildfire rumors, I don’t really see what’s so unattractive about House. Maybe I’ve just been playing Wilson too long. He’s extremely self-effacing, he’s extremely funny, he’s brilliant, he’s scathingly honest, he’s incredibly candid. What don’t you like about him?...I think he’s extremely likable. I’m not sure what people mean. He’s shocking, and he’s bold, and he can be unnerving. But as a friend, I would seek out someone like that, I think...I think [Wilson’s] somehow attracted to this guy that seems to be the opposite. I think he admires his outlook and his view of the world and his methods.”
A Bit of Fry and Laurie: Responding to a reporter’s query about having best pal Stephen Fry over on Fox’s Bones, Hugh Laurie said, “It was an absolutely fantastic experience, actually, for both of us to be—I mean, after 20-odd years of working together to wind up 8,000 miles away from where we started, in two trailers that were only 50 yards apart. It was a very peculiar and a very enjoyable thing.” Awww...
Pregame Jitters: At the panel, someone asked about the pressure inherent in House being awarded the post-Super Bowl slot, and exec producer Katie Jacobs noted, “Well, it’s going to be a two-parter, which is kind of exciting—we’ve only done one two-parter before...David [Shore] has an idea for the Super Bowl. Hopefully, we won’t do anything wacky. I don’t think we’ll do anything too gimmicky. I hope!”
Quote of the Moment: “Mr. Laurie, sir, [would] you address an alarming trend—the sudden influx of British actors coming and pretending to be American, thereby taking bread out of the mouths of Canadian actors pretending to be American?”
—Reporter, House session