Fancast: Inside TV

by Julie Zied
Fancast editor

Superbowl Sunday is not exclusively about football, commercials, and drinking brews. Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino guests on a special episode of “House,” playing a psychiatrist who falls ill while trapped at a South Pole research station and relies on House and his team to treat her via remote communication. The Harvard grad spoke about everything from working with co-star Hugh Laurie to whether she’d ever appear on “Dancing With The Stars.”

On what she thinks of the show:

I’m a crazy House fan. It’s my favorite show on T.V. and it’s funny because once I got pregnant with my first child, I ended up watching a lot more T.V. than I had for years and I just became absolutely addicted to House and just thought it was so intelligent and thought Hugh is so fantastic and the writing and the other characters. Everything about it just drew me in every week and continues to do so.

On first meeting co-star Hugh Laurie:

I met Hugh at the Golden Globe three years ago, and I was five months pregnant and nominated for Human Trafficking and he was nominated for House and we were all seated at the same table, I just started gushing about how much I loved the show. And I think I might have frightened him.

On fandom:

I think the funny thing is, when you’re a film actor, you kind of reserve T.V. as the last bastion of suspension of disbelief. You get used to the characters and you don’t really think about the way that it’s made. When I watch movies, I’m a lot more critical about the stunts, the edits, the performances. But on T.V. that’s my little place where, ‘Okay, I’m just watching.’ I’m like everybody else; I’m just a spectator enjoying this.

By Julie Zied
Fancast Editor

In a season where most shows are wrapping up early because of writers strike issues, House returns triumphantly tonight with a new Christmas episode titled “It’s a Wonderful Lie.” While we’re still trying to work off the extra pounds, the shows producers wanted to give us one last taste of the holiday season.

In celebration of its return to air, we caught up with “Thirteen”, played by the lovely Olivia Wilde (some may remember her as Alex, Marissa Cooper’s lesbian love interest on The O.C.). Here Wilde discusses her character, the show, and some inside tidbits on tonight’s episode. We hear the grumpy Doc actually participates in a Secret Santa!

Olivia on her impressions of House before she was cast:
I was a big fan of the show. I always thought it was really entertaining. And I’ve loved Hugh Laurie since Fry and Laurie and Blackadder and all the shows that a lot of people here don’t know him from. But I think it is amazing when an actor can stretch themselves between two genres, and do it so successfully.

On working with castmate Hugh Laurie:
I was so terrified my first day, because he’s so fabulous and he’s immediately disarming, because at heart he has this incredible sense of humor that comes across and completely disarms you. He started as a comedian at Cambridge and obviously worked very successfully as a comedian. And even though he is brilliant at doing drama, he has this amazing sense of humor and a lightness of heart that permeates the room. I think that immediately softened me and made me more comfortable and able to do scenes one-on-one with him, which previously I had been so terrified to do, because I thought I would mess up and destroy it for him. But he couldn’t be more encouraging.

Last Sunday night’s "House" was the show’s highest rated episode ever across all demos and the highest rated scripted program on any network in two years among Adults 18-49 and total viewers, according to Fox. As such, on February 15, the network will repeat “Frozen,” featuring guest star Mira Sorvino as a psychiatrist trapped at the South Pole who must rely on Dr. House to diagnose and treat her deadly illness via webcam. In addition, "House" encores, otherwise known as repeats, will continue airing Fridays through April 18. But why wait? You can watch them on Fancast now.

The dour doc is back in all new episodes of House on Monday. Check out how he turns the tables around in this video sneak peek Cuddy's Review.