DumbBrunette, see Uptown Girls if you must cool your affections for Jesse Spencer. If you want to be completely turned off, listen to what is supposed to be music. It's crap. If you want to sample the music, you can go to the Uptown Girls soundtrack at amazon.com and listen to a few god-awful bars there.

Do not ask me how I know this stuff.

"Do you mean his singing, or the soundtrack?

Where is the Omar Epps love? Since the NBA playoffs are underway, OE was quite good in "Love and Basketball" and another vaguely sport-tinged film, John Singleton's awful "Higher Education" also starring Jennifer Connelly and film Buffy.

If you haven't seen Hugh Laurie play Jools Siviter in MI-5 (Spooks in the U.K.) he is an absolute hoot: condescendingly nasty and very funny. He was only Season I but he was wonderful.

As for the Aussie swimming film. I tried but jeez what a waste of Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. Pitiful. Even JS in a Speedo couldn't keep it afloat.

DumbBrunette, his voice is fine. The music itself sucks--oh, maybe I shouldn't say that--no, it sucks. It isn't music the poor boy is singing. I'm sure he is singing what was written, but, oh, my.....it is bad. Not music. No. Go listen to it, but be prepared. It's not the execution, it's the stuff.

JeanPoole (here, here I am!) I am about the Omar love!! And thank you for giving him a shout out. I truly adore him. However, I have only seen a few films of his. If you or anyone else can recommend others, I would so appreciate it.

I love his role on ER a few years back (where he played a doctor). It was a good performance but also very sad. I remember crying when his character died. And he had that small part in Scream 2 (and that was really gross).

As long as it's not the execution, I should be able to see it then. I will, however, listen to it first. Just to prepare myself.

ETA: Well. I did it. Jesse Spencer has a lovely voice, so that's enough to get my ass to the video store. However, the song itself is every bit as atrocious as flakewhite warned, y'all.

That's where I've heard of him before! I don't watch E.R., so I knew I didn't know him from that. I haven't seen Love and Basketball, either, but I remember reading a lot about it--more than I have about E.R.

I saw some of Love and Basketball. The plot didn't intrigue me at all, so I was tuning out often. Omar was awesome in what I saw though.

Apparently Omar Epps was also in "Alfie", the new one released in 2004 (aka "The Year of Jude Law").
I haven't seen it but heard it was not so good.
He was also in the "new" version of "The Mod Squad", also not so good unless you happen to be in an altered mental state whereupon it's really solid.

The moral of the story is that Omar Epps should never, ever do a remake of any film released in the 20'th century...that should narrow it down some.

Ha, I'm glad I'm not totally alone here with the cheesy movie viewings.

I have to say I agree that the songs from Uptown Girls are a few rungs below good. The Egyptian cotton sheets one was almost funny the first time but that died fairly quickly. I do think his voice is pretty nice though.

Speaking of singing in roles, I've just gotten my hands on some songs of Hugh as Bertie Wooster although I haven't yet seen the series. I have read some though, so I'm not totally lost. Hearing him try to fit all the words into the chorus of "Puttin On the Ritz" cracks me up.

When I saw HL in "MI-5", I remember thinking, "They should give him his own show playing this character. I would love a show where HL snarks at lesser beings for an hour." I was ecstatic to find that someone who actually produces for TV finally agreed with me.

Oooh -- I have that DVD sitting in my possession. And heck yeah, I rented it solely for the Jude Law factor. Crappy, horrible movie or not -- I'm there for Jude. But now to find out Omar is in this, as well? I am a happy girl.


I'd say!

Well then, I can't wait for him in the remake of Harold & Kumar Go To Whitecastle. Or Ray II: The Deafening.

So Cameron's in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I may have to take my newly employed (until something better comes along) ass to see it.

The Young Visiters is just lovely. Highly recommended.

I guess this must make me the low-brow end of the comedy spectrum, but my favourite HL role so far is of Sam Bell in the movie "Maybe Baby".

The one scene where he is moped-ing his sperm to the hospital wearing his little crash helmet never fails to crack me up, because he has this great sense of comic timing, and doesn't mind looking completely stupid!

My opinion of this movie tends to change depending on my mood, but even on the days I love it, I'm still not all that crazy about it as a fully realized work. Too many gaps. That said, I do love Sam. Hugh did a great job with him. And one of the few scenes in the movie that really, really worked for me was the one where Sam is giving Carl Phipps motivation on the scene at the fertility clinic and it's intercut with scenes of Sam at the clinic, just sitting there. It's really lovely and he played it so well.
edited because Colin is the *character*, Carl Phipps is the *actor*...

As has been discussed ad nauseum in the giant defunct thread, the UK version of Maybe Baby is a good bit longer and is much more fully realized.

As one of the ones who discussed it ad nauseum in the other thread, I'm still not thrilled with the gaps. It makes the ending far more believable and Sam's betrayal of Lucy is fleshed out to make the viewer more sympathetic to her feelings, but the movie still felt uneven.

Backtracking several pages to mujer's question:



I do remember that. What I remember is that she was the sexually free friend who went along with Faith to snuggle preemie babies and her baby thrived while sweet little Faith's did not.

Pretty sure this is connected to "Maternity" somehow, if only by the contrast.

The "Bambi" episode (guest starring Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Stephen Fry) of The Young Ones is airing tonight on BBC America at 11:40 PM CST. And speaking of young, Hugh certainly looks and sounds it.

Omar is terrific in "Against the Ropes" which if you have those extra Showtime channels seems to be in rotation this week. Showtime is able to sell it as a boxing movie, a movie about a successful woman and a generally feel good movie so it seems to pop up on all the channels, It's a Meg Ryan flick but Omar and Charles Dutton really sell it. You could say that Meg brings the cheese, Omar brings the beef, Tony Shalhoub and Tim Daly together add the special sauce. Anything more would be a patent violation.

Thanks for the tip, eejm. I almost missed recording it. It's repeated again at 3:40 am CST.

HL as Jools Siviter is actually my all time favorite character from MI-5/Spooks. I remember watching Series 1 on DVD and one of the special features is Matthew MacFayden (Tom) and Peter Firth (Harry) talking about HL and his acting abilities, as well as his character on MI-5/Spooks. They said that HL has a knack for bringing a comical, snarky side to drama and that he is a wonderful actor, which I agree with wholeheartedly!

I also completely love HL as House because he still snarks on everybody and he does it in a way that is so convincing and real that I can't help but wonder if he is like that in real life!

Hey guys - I'm new to TiVo and generally technologically challenged, but when I look at the lineup for BBC America for the next day or so, The Young Ones doesn't turn up. Is there more than one channel of BBC America? Does programming vary by regions (I'm on Eastern time, not Central?) Any thoughts?
Obviously you never know what someone is like in "real life" - I imagine many people are quite different in public than they are behind closed doors, but in interviews and such, HL doesn't seem (to me) to be particularly snarky. At least, not with the bitter/angry note that he brings to it in House (I never saw MI-5). He does come off as highly intelligent and very, very funny, but the only person he snarks on is himself. He's very self-deprecating, but I've never really heard him say anything about anyone else that wasn't complimentary. I have a feeling that he's sort of unfailingly polite, actually. He definitely has much better social graces than House (in interviews I've seen, he's also not rumpled and better dressed and groomed than House, but that's an answer to a different question, I suppose).

Thanks to all the discussion on this thread, my Netflix list has grown substantially.

Lizzim, have you seen the photos from the SAG interview - he certainly looks rumpled there, don't you think? No matter - I'll take him any way, any time.

Except for the crack about LA drivers being like baboons on crack. Very, very funny, but not exactly polite. Gotta love HL.

From my (admittedly limited) experience with LA drivers, I thought that comment was a polite understatement. But yeah, I see your point...

I'm not quite sure if I understand your question about BBC America, Lizzim. As far as I know, there is only one channel of BBCA, and I'm not sure if the programming differs by region. It looks to me that the only rebroadcast of Bambi was the one very early this morning that MsJ mentioned.

Was that what you were asking, or am I way off?

You're fine eejm - I'm an idiot. Had I read the date and time of your original post, I'd have realized that I missed it already. Thanks for trying to make sense of my addled mind, though :)

Back on topic, Chi McBride, aka Vogler, is in The Terminal, which is currently playing on Cinemax.

As a born and bred Angelina, HL's comment on L.A. drivers was spot on. I'm continually amazed that 80% of the drivers here actually passed any sort of driver's test and figured out how to start the car. I realize it's hard to drive, talk on the phone, drink a latte, and read Variety, but Red Lights should ring a vague bell once in a while.

Re: The Terminal. I guess I can tivo it and then fast forward through the Zeta-Jones portions. The woman sets my teeth on edge. As much as I love Tom Hanks I couldn't force myself to see another CZJ movie. Yes, she was good in Chicago .

Lizzim : I would whole-heartedly recommend renting/buying Series I of MI-5/Spooks just to take a gander at HL in full condescending, charming, oily snarl as Jools Siviter. I think he's in two eps of that first year and well worth it. The show's good too so you don't waste the six hours.

If you're lucky enough to have Showtime, Fathers & Sons with Lisa Edelstein will begin in about five minutes.

Suggestion taken, JeanPoole - they're now on my netflix list. There's a complicated mathematical formula that I use to determine how much HL screentime makes watching a given movie/show not a "waste" of my time. Whatever numbers I put in, it always works out to "any." I'll just have to work to get past the fact that his character in MI-5 has the same name as the dead cat in Detox. :)

I caught the show on Sat night (I think) and wow, all three of them really were young then.

RSL in Dead Poets? Heartbreakingly beautiful.
HL, of course, is wonderful in many incarnations but I have to say that it's sometimes hard to believe that snarky House is played by the same actor as my favorite Blackadder character of his, Prince George.
"I have the most magnificent trousers!"

I'm pretty sure that it airs a couple more times this week. "The Young Ones" is one of the shows that they kind of cycle in and out from time to time and those shows usually replay multiple times during the week. Check the website for the full week's schedule.

And everytime I see anything at all with Ben, Stephen, Hugh and Emma I remember just how badly I want to *be* Emma Thompson.

Consarn it, I can't believe I missed Bambi. Looks like I'll be setting up the TiFaux. Whenever my friends & I didn't have an answer to a question, we always said, "I'm going to wee on Lord Snot." Aaah, good times.

ETA: Wednesday, 6/22, at 9:40 pm.

I did happen to catch "The Young Ones" ep this go round and word on the young. (Also interesting that both Emma & Hugh got much better looking as they got older, while Fry looks about the same.) Question -- who's the 4th guy? I'm not up enough on my Footlights mythology to know which of the many famous names (Robbie Coltrane!) that zip by in the credits he is.

I think the 4th guy is Ben Elton....who wrote the Blackadder Series with Richard Curtis (except the first series)

Ben Elton also wrote The Young Ones, Maybe Baby and about 9 novels, all of which I own. He also wrote the book to a musical about soccer with ALW that never made it to NY. It was about the time of the collaboration with Sir Andrew that I realized he had no street cred left.

One of my favourite HL appearances was in the Annie Lennox's video for Walking On Broken Glass. He plays Annie's husband and he is fantastic, his tortured embarrassed looks to to the other guests as Annie loses it at her lover's wedding are stunning. John Malkovich is great as well as her lover but Hugh I think steals the show. I never really liked the song until I saw the video.

I remember the first time I saw House I saw Jennifer Morrison and thought, "Oh yeah, she played the dead girl in Stir of Echoes".

Lisa Edelstein was in "As Good as it Gets" it was in the beginning and she was sitting on Jack Nicholson's favorite table. Nicholson yelled at Helen Hunt, "There are Jews sitting at my table". Nicholson also said something deregatory about her nose and her companion's.

She was also in a show called "Leap of Faith". It starred Sarah Paulsen. It was a sex and the city type show and she played the slutty one.

She was also a guest in "Mad about you" playing a woman Paul thought was the great love he let go. It turns out that she barely remembers their time together.

Robert Sean Leonard was in "A Glimpse of Hell" yesterday, on FX. Interesting film. He was awesome, as always.

" And I missed it. :-(

BBCA is showing Hugh's episode of the Young Ones (Bambi) again today at 4:40 p.m.

I'm sure you guys have discussed this to death on the old thread,but I just watched 'Dead Poet's Society' with RSL. I liked the movie, and loved, loved, loved RSL. He was very good, and it was fun seeing him so young! I also got a kick out of the fact that his character was going to med.school and had a friend named Cameron. Of course, my delight was kind of killed at the end of the movie...:( Still, great movie.

And didn't his dad go on to play Eric Foreman's dad?