THURSDAY: You have to admire "Scrubs" for continually finding offbeat new ways to tell stories. This episode has Dr. Cox paying homage to Hugh Laurie's grouchy physician in "House." Limping and relying on a cane, he finds himself tackling three medical mysteries. 9 p.m., Channels 3 and 11 (NBC).

Hugh Laurie, 48, who stars as Dr Gregory House in the TV series House, was awarded the OBE. Laurie also shone in an entirely different role as Bertie Wooster in the early 1990s TV comedies Jeeves and Wooster, based on P G Wodehouse's stories.

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are:

Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE)
Knight Commander or Dame Commander (KBE or DBE)
Commander (CBE)
Officer (OBE)
Member (MBE)

Only the two highest ranks entail admission into knighthood allowing the receiver to use the title 'Sir' (male) or 'Dame' (female) before one's name, such as Sir Clive Woodward who is a KBE.

Medical television has increased in popularity among teenagers in recent years. TV.com’s list of top 100 shows ranks “Grey’s Anatomy” as number nine, “House” as number 12 and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” as number 27. “Grey’s Anatomy” attracts over 20 million viewers each week and “House” attracted 14.1 million on its premiere. Science teacher Melanie Toth takes advantage of the medical aspect of these popular shows, and finds episodes of either “CSI” or “House” to show on Fridays that relate to her AP biology class’ current unit.

Male surgeons are taller and more handsome than male physicians, according to a study in this week's (traditionally lighthearted) Christmas issue of the British Medical Journal. ...

"We hypothesize that, on average, surgeons are taller and better looking than physicians," said the study authors in their report.

Researchers selected a random sample of 12 surgeons and 12 physicians — and senior staff, and all male — from the hospital, recorded their height, and compared digital pictures of those real doctors against pictures of four well-known stars who play doctors in movies or on TV.

The stars were Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble (a neurosurgeon in the film "The Fugitive"), George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross (a pediatrician in the television series "ER"), Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd (a surgeon in the television series "Grey's Anatomy"), and Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House (a nephrologist and infectious disease specialist in the television series "House").

Fox had the highest percentage of anti-religious depictions, with 1 of every 2 depictions of religion – almost exactly half (49.7%) – being negative. NBC closely followed, with 39.3% of their depictions of religion being negative, while 35.4% of UPN depictions were negative. 30% of ABC’s portrayals were negative, followed by 29% of CBS’ and 21% of WB’s. ...

House tells a religious patient that the patient is either psychotic or a scam artist for believing that God speaks to him. (Fox, House M.D., April 25, 2006) ...

House remarks on a Christian patient with an STD: “Yeah, the hand of God reached into the kid’s pants and made him have sex…he’s just another liar and manipulator.” Dr. Wilson responds: “Oh, nobody’s as perfect as you are. It is possible to believe in something and still fail to live up to it, y’know.” (Fox, House M.D., April 25, 2006) ...

FURIOUS THAT WILSON HAS STRUCK A DEAL WITH TRITTER,
HOUSE TAKES ON THE CASE OF A YOUNG DWARF
WITH AN UNEXPLAINED ILLNESS THAT’S KILLING HER
ON “HOUSE” TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, ON FOX

David Morse Guest-Stars


It’s Christmas at Princeton-Plainsboro and Wilson has a present for House – he and Detective Tritter have struck a deal and House has three days to accept it. Wilson will testify that he didn’t sign the prescriptions House used to illegally obtain Vicodin, and House will receive two months in a rehab clinic for pleading guilty, avoiding jail time. Even though the deal apparently would make the whole nightmare go away, House is furious at Wilson, will not admit he did anything wrong and immediately goes looking for Cuddy. Barging in on Cuddy in an examining room, he meets her patient, Abigail, and Abigail’s mom, Maddy, both dwarfs. Abigail has a number of symptoms and is recovering from a recently collapsed lung, but Cuddy doesn’t recognize the gravity of her illness and House takes on the case. As House and the team get to work, Cuddy finds out about the deal offered to House, pulls him from the case, suspends his treatment privileges and refuses to dole out any more Vicodin until he takes the deal. As Abigail’s condition worsens, House begins to detox and the team tries unsuccessfully to solve the case without him. When Abigail reaches a critical point, Cuddy begs House for help one last time, but they play a game of chicken to see who will flinch first as he holds out for his pain medication before he’ll offer any more of his insights into the case. Cuddy is forced to make a difficult and potentially life-threatening choice between her patient’s life and House’s life in the “Merry Little Christmas” episode of HOUSE airing Tuesday, Dec. 12 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT). (HOU-310) (TV-PG L)

From AndyB: Scrubs is back! Scoop me—stat!
An inside source tells me that the season's fourth episode is titled "My House" and makes a total mockery of Fox's Gregory House, M.D.! Apparently Dr. Cox will solve several medical mysteries in a short period of time. Of course, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I'm sure the Scrubs producers are actually huge House fans. But you gotta love a good crossover p****** match, no?