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Do You Give Yourself Time Off Between Jobs?

SavvySugar — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:15:49 -0700

Kal Penn gave notice to his old job acting on House three months ago, and yesterday he completed his first day as a liaison between the White House and Asian communities. Three months is probably more of a job hiatus than most of us can afford, but it's not rare that I hear of people taking off a few weeks when they're changing jobs. How have you approached time off between jobs?

Link Time! 4/9

BuzzSugar — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:30:16 -0700

Save One Show is back - can your fave get saved? - Watch with Kristin
This "trailer" for an Everybody Poops movie spoofing Where the Wild Things Are cracks me up. - Cinematical
Speaking of spoofiness, did you catch "Kanye West" on South Park last night? - Popwatch
Chuck week continues with some fun Chuck polls. - Give Me My Remote
Check out No Doubt covering Adam and the Ants' "Stand & Deliver." - PopSugar
Leonard Nimoy as William Bell on Fringe: highly illogical? - The TV Addict
Speaking of which, someone may have cracked the Fringe symbols code. - TV.com
More on Kal Penn's new White House gig. - CitizenSugar
Ben Silverman's time at NBC, in handy charts and graphs. - Vulture

Would You Give Up Your Job For One That Pays Less?

SavvySugar — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:30:39 -0700

Anyone who saw Monday's episode of House knows that Kal Penn is no longer part of the cast. His character shocked viewers by committing suicide on the show, and off-screen he made an unexpected career decision that has people talking.

The actor is taking his talent from the hospital set to the White House and will assume his new role as associate director in the Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs. He commented, "There's not a lot of financial reward in these jobs. Obviously, the opportunity to serve in a capacity like this is an incredible honor."

Undoubtedly, Penn's previous well-paying jobs allow him greater flexibility than most of us, but would you be able to voluntarily give up your position for one that pays less?

Source

Kal Penn on Why He's Moving From House to the White House

CitizenSugar — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:01:07 -0700

Kal Penn can add White House staffer to his resume, which already includes a stint on House and a successful escape from Guantanamo Bay prison as Kumar Patel.

Yesterday, the budding politico jumped on the phone to chat about his decision to leave House to go work for President Obama. Here are the highlights:

Penn asked for the job. After volunteering for the campaign, he was drawn to "the types of change that President Obama had campaigned on and the opportunity to bring those changes into fruition was incredibly moving."
He's talked to the boss. Penn said he spoke to "the president, and some of his aides. I reached out that this was something that I really wanted to do. I'm deeply honored and feel deeply privileged."
What will he be doing exactly? "I will be an associate director in the White House Office of Public Liaison. They try to take the administration itself out of Washington so they go into communities across the country and continue the sorts of dialogue that they started during the campaign."

Since actors typically make the jump to politics later in life, it's refreshing to see a younger talent follow a dream of serving the public.

Source

What Does That Shocking House Death Mean For the Show?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:30:25 -0700

As I mentioned in today's rundown, Kal Penn has decided to trade House for the White House. Today, the actor-turned-political outreach liaison and his former bosses, House executive producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs, hopped on the phone to talk about Penn's decision, Kutner's death, and what it all means for the show going forward. Here are some key things to know:

Penn's interest in politics is nothing new. "Growing up, I always had two passions, one being public service and the other being the arts and acting," said Penn, who described himself as "formerly a very cynical independent" (now less cynical, but still an independent). During President Obama's campaign, he worked on outreach for young voters, Asian Americans, and the arts, and he'll now be doing something similar in an official capacity.
He was surprised to hear about Kutner's suicide, too. "I loved playing Kutner, and there was more than a little bit of shock and loss when I found that out," he said. And he said he liked the mystery with which his character went out: "People did feel types of loss and anger and confusion about [Kutner]," he said. "I don't think you would have gotten that same feeling if it had been a very Kutner-heavy episode where you see his trials and tribulations. . . . I asked if there was anything in his background that might have indicated [he'd be suicidal] or any warning signs. The answer generally was no. It's kind of tough [as an actor] to know that he was obviously tormented by something but didn't share it with anyone."
Kutner's death will have a lasting impact: "It'll resonate at least through the end of the season," Shore said. "It's a question House can't answer, and he has an answer for everything. That's what was really exciting, the unexpected nature of it."
The element of mystery was key to Kutner's exit: "Had we seen some major dilemma in his personal life, we couldn't have done this story the way we did," Shore said. "If he'd just broken up with a girlfriend, even though the answer would have been much more complicated than that, that would have been something that somebody could just hang on to."

For which characters will have a significant reaction to Kutner's death, just read more.

Cameron and Chase's reaction will be in the spotlight: "We are gonna see, perhaps surprisingly, more of Cameron and Chase's reaction to it - and of course House's reaction and Wilson's reaction," Shore said. Ultimately, though, the producers said House will have the hardest time coping: "He has no resources," Jacobs said. "He has no family to go home to."
We'll probably never know what made Kutner do it: "Something went on in that man's head, but it went on in that man's head, and that is ultimately unknowable," Shore said. "Knowing that and accepting that is a more interesting issue than trying to put a little pin in the answer."
As for Penn, he's not retiring from acting for good. "I'm not packing up and saying I'm leaving Hollywood and all this sort of stuff," he said. "I'm just pursuing another passion right now." He plans to spend at least a year or two in Washington, and he'll be on a total break from acting during that time - which, he acknowledged, probably means no more Harold and Kumar sequels.

Photo courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode 20, "Simple Explanation"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:30:56 -0700

In this age of spoilers, I'm always impressed when a TV show manages to pull off something shocking. So kudos to House for keeping a secret; that made what happened in Monday's episode mean even more. To say more would risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it, so if you're ready to chat, just read more.

If you'd asked me which House character would be most likely to commit suicide, I never would have said Kutner. Taub, sure. Foreman? Wouldn't have been surprised. Thirteen? Definitely. Even Wilson and Cuddy have gone through things this season that could drive them to the edge. But Kutner? He's the goofy one, the Guiness Book of Records crawling champ, and the surprisingly good doctor who - in his last act on House's team - let Taub take credit for one of his discoveries. And maybe that's why it's so interesting for him to commit suicide: There is no simple explanation. House, whose entire idea of himself is built around solving mysteries, can't crack this one.

As he tries to figure it out, House does some truly terrible things. Telling Kutner's parents it's their fault? That's awful, and even though he does look a little shamed when he realizes how far over the line he's gone, that's not a thing you take back. He's ruthless in his investigation, breaking into Kutner's apartment multiple times to search for clues (to the shock of Wilson, though I don't really know why: House's primary motivation is never kindness). And in the end, there's nothing - no outward signs of pain, no diary. House even believes for a while that Kutner must have been murdered; he can come up with a better explanation for that than for why Kutner would take his own life.

Watching the rest of the doctors deal with Kutner's death reveals a few interesting things: One, Foreman doesn't know how to get and give support in a time of crisis. He's used to dealing with things alone, so he rejects Thirteen at first - but finally steps forward at the funeral to take her hand. Two, Taub would rather wait with his dying patient than mourn the death of his friend. But this episode also made me sad that Kutner (and Kal Penn) didn't get to do more on the show. The fact that Kutner is a blank slate may be why his suicide is intriguing, but it made me feel much less than Amber's death did last year, simply because Amber was such a rich character and Kutner (other than a few key touches, like his childhood trauma or his geekiness) was always on the periphery. I'm sorry to see Kutner go, and I wish we could have known him better first.

Some other thoughts:

It's impossible to separate what happened from why, so here's the quick answer: Kal Penn asked to leave the show to go work in President Obama's White House. ~~I'll be talking to him, and to House producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs, later today, so leave any questions in the comments.~~ Update: Here's more on that.
The patient-of-the-week story barely held my attention given everything else that was going on, but I will say there seemed to be some pretty significant ethical lapses going on re: potentially letting patients die rather than treating them appropriately. An intentional side effect of Kutner's suicide? Or did the writers figure we wouldn't spend a lot of time picking apart the case when there was so much else going on?
So who's looked at Fox's Kutner memorial yet? It's a very web-savvy thing to put together, but at the same time, something feels very eerie about it. And I wish there were some info about prevention of actual suicides (which I'm glad they included at the end of the show).
Everything in this episode was so dark! Especially at the beginning, that upped the eerie feeling; the first shot back in the hospital after Foreman and Thirteen find Kutner felt particularly ghastly.

Were you shocked by Kutner's death? Sad to see him go? Wondering what this will mean for the rest of the season?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode 18, "Here Kitty"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:30:59 -0700

This week's episode of House finds the team chasing around a "death cat," a little gray kitty named Debbie who's come to some amount of fame (at least local TV fame) by predicting deaths of nursing home patients. Meanwhile, Taub thinks he's found a way out of some financial and personal misery, but that ends up being a trickier proposition than it looks. To chat about it, just read more.

I suppose if this episode had a theme, it would be "believing in stuff" - and, as usual, House seems to come out ahead. His adherence to facts and science gets him not just an explanation for the death cat but also keeps him from falling prey to a con artist who wants to take all his money and run (ahem, Taub). There were some funny moments, and it's always nice to see Judy Greer get a job, but episodes like this where House's beliefs aren't really challenged always turn out to be a little on the dull side for me.

I would have liked it better if the writers had really gone full-force into showing everyone's superstitions. Instead, we just got poor Kutner edging his way around the ladder as he leaves the room and tossing salt over his shoulder. I'm not surprised he ends up becoming the victim of a particularly mean-spirited House prank ("do you like cranberry juice?"), though he seems to have gotten some revenge at the end with the cat pee - or, perhaps, "cat pee" - on House's chair. The show draws a little parallel between the patient being superstitious because her son died and Kutner being superstitious because his parents died, but it didn't have a ton of oomph for me.

Even though it's a tangent, I actually enjoyed Taub's storyline on its own. He's apparently going through some tough financial times - he's not making high-powered plastic surgeon money anymore, and he lost a bunch of money in the stock market - so when a guy he maybe kinda remembers from high school shows up at the hospital and thanks him for treating a minor problem with cigars and expensive scotch, he sees a chance at a different life. But his golden parachute turns out to be a major scam, and Taub's only saving grace is that he didn't turn over his money. So it's back to the team - with a big box of donuts, just as House predicted - to a job he never really liked in the first place.

The death cat story itself seems pretty lightweight, but it has its moments, including House's James Bond reference and the rather evil decision to test the cat's death-predicting powers in the coma ward. While House hates the whole idea of cat as omen, he doesn't seem to mind the cat itself, considering he rustled up a litter box and some genetically modified mice for it.

A couple of other thoughts:

I did like the patient's argument for why she believes in things: "If there's no greater purpose in the world, that's not a world I want to live in."
Love how House so accurately predicts that if Taub doesn't actually have another job lined up, he won't follow through with quitting.
House, when the cat is making particularly nasty-sounding noises in the elevator: "Stop it, Dr. Wilson! It's just not cute anymore!"
Also, House to Cuddy when Cuddy suggests the hospital will end up getting sued for House's work on this case: "I wish there was a lawsuit cat that would warn you."

What did you all think? And was the heavy emphasis on Kutner and Taub to make up for all the Foreman/Thirteen earlier in the season?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode 11, "Joy to the World"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:30:57 -0800

This week's episode of House just plugs along like normal - a confusing case, a blown diagnosis, maybe a little extra holiday spirit but nothing that out of the ordinary - until suddenly, in the final 15 minutes, it takes one big honkin' emotional turn. Maybe I should have seen it coming, but I was pretty surprised by all the twists this episode took, and it sets up some pretty interesting stuff for when House returns in 2009. Want to chat about it? Just read more.

Major developments first: Cuddy's getting her baby! And in a most unusual way, for a number of reasons: It's she, not House, who finally diagnoses their teenage patient; the baby's supposed to be dead but instead has been kept alive by a couple of squatters; and now she's going to become at least the foster parent - and at best the adoptive mother - of the daughter of a patient who really resonated with her. The story took a lot of turns to get to that resolution, and I'm not sure I really believe all of them (The baby's alive? The squatters don't put up more of a fight? The patient's parents don't want to raise the baby?), but it's sweet and emotional and a good holiday tale - especially with House's "Merry Christmas, Cuddy" at the end. I wonder if this baby will also be named Joy?

While all of this is going on, House takes Wilson up on a challenge to be nice - kind, even. So he goes to the clinic, full of "if you can't be nice, why be a doctor?" speeches. The woman with the inhaler is an instant classic, but House's response to the question about whether a woman can get pregnant from sitting on a toilet seat really made me giggle: "There would need to be another guy sitting between you and the toilet seat - but yes, absolutely." Also, House fakes a virgin birth (to Bitsie Tulloch of Quarterlife!) rather than have to tell his patient's fiance that she cheated on him, which is apparently how you do "nice," House-style.

Foreman, meanwhile, keeps doing very House-ian things while insisting he's not like House, and this episode's case in point is the way he's treating the patients in his clinical trial - like numbers and data points rather than people. It's what he's been trained to do, but he ultimately lets his human side show through. Even while apologizing to Janet, he's not exactly the picture of warmth, but Foreman does care (at least a little) or he never would have gone after her at all. And then Foreman and Thirteen kiss! I buy their chemistry at least a little bit, but that still seemed sudden.

Some other thoughts:

Kutner was a bully! I guessed that as soon as Taub sarcastically pointed out that as an adopted Indian kid, school must have been a breeze for him - but I still liked him showing up on the doorstep of the guy he tortured.
This week's patient just made me sad - and afraid for all teenage girls in the world. I wouldn't go through that again if you paid me.
Wilson's story about Irene, "the one who got away," had me laughing from the start. Taub's so gullible! That said, his "a love like this needs to fly free" speech was one of my favorite moments of the night.
Speaking of Wilson, line of the night No. 2 for me (after House's pregnancy thing) is: "If it's a subpoena, he's gotten that kind of present before."

Do you buy the "Foreteen" kiss? Are you happy for Cuddy? And how did you feel about our "medical miracle"?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode 10, "Let Them Eat Cake"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:30:41 -0800

After last week's big hostage episode, this week's installment of House went for something a little smaller, and you know what? I liked it better. Almost every character got a storyline, and some of them were awfully clever. Cuddy and House become office-mates, Thirteen starts her clinical trial, and Kutner reveals an, uh, interesting strategy for making money on the side. Ready to talk about it? Just read more.

I really liked the patient's story this week, which is rather surprising since I usually treat the cases as kind of an afterthought. As a personal trainer who'd had gastric bypass surgery to do what she's now convincing her clients they can do naturally, she's a perfect representation of a bunch of House's themes: lying, cheating, denial, etc. Taub, in particular, is wildly offended by her lies - honestly, why does he think he's so morally superior? - and she rightly points out that it's not like he's never been a hypocrite. The ending of her story also surprised me: Faced with the choice of being thin and sick or heavier and healthy, she chooses her beauty over a diet of cookies and cake.

Meanwhile, Thirteen starts her clinical trial afraid she doesn't deserve to be there, which Foreman quickly puts to rest by discovering her nerves have already started to decay. You guys, I really didn't think I cared about Thirteen, but I suddenly do. The episode's peppered with soft-focus flashbacks to young Thirteen watching her mom suffer with Huntington's; eventually she admits to Foreman that she's scared to be around other patients not because she knows what will happen to her someday but because it reminds her of how much she hated her mother.

And Kutner! Jeez, the guy goes online and sets up a second opinion clinic under House's name but doesn't think House will find out? I'm sure House is the kind of guy who has all sorts of Google alerts on his name. Anyway, it all turns out to be an elaborate House punking, with Chase and Cameron in on it and the "patient" turning out to be an actress who got paid to sing the "Lime in the Coconut" song. How quickly did you pick up on this being one of House's pranks? It honestly took me until he showed up in the morgue and started doing CPR on the "corpse." Also, how much of Kutner's money will he actually get now? House gets 50 percent, Taub claimed 30, and Chase took a piece of it, too . . .

House ends up with a few extra hours with the actress that leads to flirting (and other things?), which is extraordinarily unfortunate because right when Cuddy's coming to make nice with him after he somehow finds her desk from med school, she sees them being all cozy and walks away. Argh! Thwarted again.

Some other thoughts:

How'd you like that sad "Lime in the Coconut" slow jam at the end?
So did House really have a change of heart about rewrecking Cuddy's office, or is there still a bidet instead of a toilet ("Not in addition to. Instead of.")?
The scene with House asking Cuddy why she dresses like that (seriously, Lisa, we all want to know) feels so tense, with them so close together and Cuddy saying "everybody knows this is going somewhere." Where it's going, though, is to House's hands on her breasts. Nice one, Mr. Smooth.
Apparently Kutner's an oversharer: "You told us when you renewed your subscription to National Geographic."
Best. Taub. Line. Ever: "Sure, but I wouldn't call a meeting of the Lollipop Guild and tell them they can grow if they work real hard at it."

What did you think? Surprised at how much they managed to pack into this one? Feeling any sympathy for Thirteen? And ready for a House-style Christmas?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode Eight, "Emancipation"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:30:45 -0800

The people you work with can become a sort of weird, twisted family - especially if you spend as much time together as the House doctors do. It's great to have a close safety net when you need support, but it can also get a little too stifling sometimes. On this week's episode, a few of the doctors seek freedom from the PPH family, with varying results. To chat about it, just read more.

So, this was one of the House episodes with a clear parallel between patient and doctor - maybe the most obvious one this year, and a little too obvious for my taste. The main patient is an emancipated minor who first says her parents are dead (drawing the interest of fellow orphan Kutner), then says she cut them out of her life because she was raped, then admits she has no contact with them because she accidentally killed their son. The doctors know pretty early that she's lying in some way, but it takes lots of different strategies (including guilting her with the fear of dying, as Taub did by pretending to be a Huntington's patient like Thirteen) before House finally figures out how to tell her what she needs to hear: that she's hiding from her parents because she did something horrible, but if she lets herself die, she will have killed both their children.

While all of this is going on, Foreman's becoming something of an emancipated minor himself, taking on a secret case in the clinic without House's approval or backup. (And just in case we needed another family parallel, this one turns out to be about an older brother accidentally hurting his younger brother.) The best thing about that story was seeing Foreman, Chase, and Cameron together again, batting around suggestions for what was wrong with the boy - and seeing how quickly Chase in particular picked up on what Foreman was trying to do. No matter how much he wants to prove he can be free of House, Chase tells him, nothing will ever be enough. But in the end, he saves the boy and gets House to agree to let him do clinical trials. Shouldn't he have known by now that you don't ask House, you tell him?

I was disappointed that there's so little follow-up in this episode to House's utter failure to ask Cuddy out, but I suppose we need an episode off every now and then if that story's not going to get tired. All we know is that House tells Wilson he went to Cuddy's house but did not (hee) ring her bell, and he stares at her longingly as he leaves PPH. Pretty much the status quo.

Some other thoughts:

Hey, Thirteen says her own name for the first time! Remy Hadley. Sounds so weird. Did we know the Remy part?
Interesting to see how hurt Kutner was when he found out the patient had lied about being an orphan. He'd take even bad parents over no parents, it seems.
Taub pretending to be the one with Huntington's: overstepping his bounds, or an interesting way to get the patient to admit the truth (and Thirteen to confront her own issues with her family genes)? Discuss.
Cuddy's sweater at the end is very cleavage-y, no?

All in all, this seemed like sort of a placeholder episode before next week's big crisis at PPH. What did you all think?

Photos courtesy of Fox