The Daily Star - Stay Tuned
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/66444
The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, May 18, 2012 2 coverstory By Christina Davies TV Media W Gregory House, Hugh Laurie will hang up his cane and put away the Vicodin for good af- ter his show's series finale on Monday, May 21, on Fox. The end of "House" was announced back in February with producers Laurie, David Shore and Katie Jacobs col- lectively issuing a statement saying that they "have al- ways imagined House as an enigmatic creature; he should never be the last one to leave the party -- how much better to disappear before the music stops, while there is still some promise and mystique in the air." They seem to be living up to that promise so far in the twilight episodes of the long- running series. On the heels of Dr. James Wilson's recent diagnosis of cancer came one of the show's most poignant episodes that saw House car- ing for his friend as he under- went a radical and potentially deadly course of chemothera- py. And though he's been re- flecting on himself more deeply toward the end of this season, the finale episode promises to have House dig- ging deeper, taking a closer look at his future and his per- sonal demons. The series officially wrapped filming on Friday, April 20, with cast and crew celebrating their eight-year run at a series wrap party, but they will reunite one last time for viewers during a special one-hour "House" retrospec- tive to air just before the fina- le. Viewers will get their chance to chime in with fond farewells to the series as well -- the network put out the call back in early April for fans to ith eight seasons un- der his belt as the curmudgeonly Dr. hollywoodQ&A By Adam Thomlison TV Media Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard in "House" submit video, photo and au- dio tributes to the iconic show, which will be aired dur- ing the special. As the curtain draws to a close on "House," it seems the cast is beginning truly to understand what the show has meant to them and to fans. "Somebody said this to me a couple of years ago: 'At some point it's going to come to an end, you should really start savoring.' And, of course, I probably won't until the last week because that's how my little, tiny, pea-sized brain op- erates," said Laurie. "But just recently I have started to think, 'This is a hell of a thing. We did accomplish a hell of a thing here, this group of peo- ple, and I'm going to miss them very much.' " Robert Sean Leonard, who plays House's closest friend, Wilson, said: "I know how powerful that is when you love a television show -- I've had it even lately, for 'Sopra- nos' and 'West Wing' -- but when it's your own show, it's like when someone says 'Hey, your sister's hot' and you're like 'What? What are you talk- ing about?' That's exactly what it's like." The series recently wel- comed back Olivia Wilde, who left the cast to focus on other projects, but she has contin- ued to pop back in to Prince- ton Plainsboro Teaching Hos- pital as Remy (Thirteen) Had- ley every now and again. While she was away from the "House" set, Wilde appeared in 2010's "Tron: Legacy" and 2011's "Cowboys & Aliens," among other film projects. The others in the cast are beginning to broaden their television and film careers as well. After Lisa Edelstein (who played Dr. Lisa Cuddy) left the show at the end of the sev- enth season, she appeared on CBS's "The Good Wife" in a three-episode arc. Jesse Spen- cer (Dr. Robert Chase) ap- peared in an independent film this year, "The Girl is in Trou- ble", alongside Wilmer Valderrama, and Laurie has also been on the indie scene in 2011's "The Oranges," with Leighton Meester, Adam Brody and Catherine Keener, as well as lending his voice to last year's computer-animat- ed Russell Brand flick "Hop," and another computer-ani- mated film, "Arthur Christ- mas," also released last year. "I never imagined I'd be doing any single role for this length of time. I mean, no ac- tor does -- part of the reason you become an actor is that you're hoping to do different things, you know, week by week almost. But when you get to the end of something this substantial, whatever heckling you may get from the back row in years to come, this can't be denied," continued Laurie. Q: How did Mel Blanc get credited for the voice of Dino in the 1994 version of "The Flintstones" if he died in 1989? A: Controversially -- that's how. Mel Blanc, the legendary voice actor behind many of the "Looney Tunes" characters, also did the voice of Dino in the original, animated "Flint- stones" series in the 1960s. The 1994 live-action version, re- leased five years after Blanc's death at age 81, used bits of these previous recordings. However, he wasn't initially credited in the film, which led to a $1-million lawsuit by Blanc's estate. According to an As- sociated Press article, the film's studio (MCA) sent an apolo- gy letter to Blanc's family and offered $500 in compensa- tion, which the family's lawyer called "ridiculous." It would appear they reached some kind of settlement, because only the filing was reported in the media, and the voice credit you saw was added to subsequent home video versions. Blanc's career spanned 52 years, and he continued work- ing right up until his death. His final role was the voice of Mr. Spacely in the animated 1990 film "Jetsons: The Movie," which was dedicated to his memory. Q: I just read the James Bond short story "Quantum of Solace," but it didn't seem anything at all like the film. Was it just a very loose adaptation? A: It wasn't an adaptation at all. The 2008 film "Quantum of Solace," the second with Daniel Craig as super spy James Bond, was a completely original script that only took its title from a story by Bond's creator, Ian Fleming. And that wasn't the first time. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), "Moonraker" (1979) and "A View to a Kill" (1985) all used the titles of Fleming stories, but little or nothing else ("You Only Live Twice," for exam- ple, shares the novel's Japanese setting, but that's about it). The original "Quantum of Solace" story wouldn't have made much of a Bond film, anyway. All the legendary spy does in the story is attend a dinner party in the Bahamas, and listen to the governor tell a mid-level bureaucrat's tale of heartbreak and betrayal. The film, on the other hand, is another action-packed Bond picture in which he jets around the globe to foil a coup and a scheme to take control of vital natural resources in Bolivia. Previous Bond films "You Only Live Twice" (1967), "The Fox and fans bid farewell to the iconic medical drama The doctor is out Chirstopher's Coins 2 x 2