TVSquad

Another day, another list of 10 semifinalists from the Emmys. This time, it's the Best Actor in a Drama.

There are a lot of the usual suspects on the list (which will be knocked down to five nominees in the next round), including actors from Dexter, Mad Men, Grey's Anatomy, Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad, and House. One show that's not represented is Lost. I thought Matthew Fox did some great work this season, especially his drunk/screwed-up scenes.

After the jump, the list of the ten semifinalists (also check out those in contention for Best Actress - Comedy, Best Supporting Actor - Drama, Best Comedy, and Best Drama).

Attention, TV Squad readers, my friends and fellow television fans, it's time to announce the winner for The Excellence in Outsourcing Award, that is, the foreign actor who possesses the best American accent. There were many worthy nominees, but the overwhelming winner was House, MD himself, actor Hugh Laurie. That Englishman, one of her majesty's loyal subjects, has been making us all believe that he's just a Jersey boy. As Dr. Gregory House of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, he sounds like he was born in south Jersey, spent his summers in Asbury Park, and is as much a Garden Stater as Bruce Springsteen and Tony Soprano.

Have you been checking out the best American accents on TV today? TV Squad has selected five fantastic nominees for The Excellence in Outsourcing Award, the television actors who have the best American accents. These five are all non-Americans, naturally, but you would never know it by their performances as good old folks from the United States.

So read all about these five worthy candidates and see why they've been selected. Then, check out the poll at the end. That's when you have a job to do. We want to know your top choice from the five nominees we've selected. Please take a moment to answer our poll at the end, casting your ballot for the Reader's Choice award in Excellence in Outsourcing.

Outsourcing: it's running rampant in America. You know, you call for technical support when your PC is out of whack or you have a problem with a credit card and instead of hearing an American voice on the other end, you're left to chat with Kim in Karachi or Biff in Bangalore.

Well, in TV, outsourcing is also taking place. Parts that were once strictly American roles -- requiring a real, colloquial U.S. voice -- are being played by foreigners. The thing is, many of these roles are being brilliantly played by actors donning American accents -- they're doing a great job.

Think about it; some of the best performances on TV feature foreigners with great American accents, like Hugh Laurie on House and Jonny Lee Miller on Eli Stone. Two of Her Majesty's loyal subjects, two wonderful American voices. The Brits are all over the dial.

But did you know that Anthony LaPlaglia (Without A Trace) and Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters) are Australian? It's true. And they're not alone. There are a lot of other actors who were not brought up speaking like typical Americans who sound like they were.

Therefore, you tell us: who are your choices for the best American accents on television right now? Give us your thoughts on who should be nominated for TV Squad's Excellence in Outsourcing Award.

(S04E16) "Her heart won't stop racing. No idea what's causing it." Doctor in inferior hospital.
"Are you sure it wasn't the bus that landed on her?" House.

The season finale of House packed a wallop. I let my Tivo get ahead of my watching it so I wouldn't have to see the commercials, and I had barely begun the episode when my next-door neighbor burst into my living room exclaiming, "Have you seen House???" We barely had time to hit the pause button while yelling at her to leave and leave quickly without saying anything. But that is the kind of impact this kind of episode has. The season finale, which started last week, covered a bus-load of big themes: fear, wish-fulfillment, anger, risk-taking, the nature of friendship, remorse, and love. The episode was written by four writers, including producer David Foster: that was one of my first clues that this episode was going to be significant. They called in the big guns.

When a series is successful, it's not surprising that there are talks of spin-offs. In the last few years, we had spin-offs for Grey's Anatomy, Girlfriends, CSI, Law & Order, etc., while others are in the works for Battlestar Galactica and Beverly Hills, 90210.

Therefore, I don't think you'll fall off your chair if I tell you that FOX is toying with the idea of a House spin off. But you may want to make sure you are properly seated before reading this: the spin-off would not focus on doctors but private investigators!

[S04E14] "You don't deserve to be happy." House to Wilson.
"And yet I am. You?" Wilson to House

House treats the symptoms, but he doesn't treat the whole person. He doesn't even claim to. He often makes a clear point that he doesn't care. House likes medicine because he likes to solve puzzles, and what greater consequences can a puzzle have than a human life? But ultimately, even someone dying doesn't matter unless House can't figure out the puzzle.

So, if the above paragraph is true, then why does House go out of his way to kidnap a soap opera star he believes to be dying in order to save his life? Is it really because he can't stand the idea of not watching his soap? I don't think so; he even encourages angsty actor Evan Greer (Sex and the City's Jason Lewis) to quit if he's not happy... well, sort of. But, back to the question: If House doesn't care, then why bother? Because it's a puzzle he can see daily, right in front of him, and he has to solve it. Apparently he has made multiple calls about it, because the actor knows who House is, so House simply takes matters into his own hands because that is what House does. House lives a life without consequences.

As AOL Television continues their look at the 50 Best TV Comedies -- Ever with their Top 10, we here at TV Squad are also looking at television comedy, but with a slightly skewed difference. Last week, we took a look at the Saturday Night Live cast members from 1996 to 2006 that made it to the big time. This week, we get a bit more serious.

There are those in the industry who say that it is easier to go from acting in a drama to acting in a comedy than it is the other way around. Yet, as you will see from the list we've compiled after the jump, there are plenty of comedic actors who have jumped from the world of comedy films, stand-up comedy, and television sitcoms into the more serious world of drama. In many cases they have had even greater success than they did on the other side of the tracks. There have even been instances where they stayed in the drama genre and never went back to being funny.

(S04E12) "People don't change." -- House, who mentioned it several times.

So Wilson is going out with Cutthroat Bitch (aka: Amber), huh? And, for awhile all is well. That's a pretty good record for Wilson, and devious as hell since he was able to keep it from House for so long. Of course, there is now a challenge for Greg to figure out why Amber seems such a catch for his best friend.

Manipulation? Well, that's a possible answer since Wilson is directly connected to House and can be the avenue to get her a fellowship. Revenge? Certainly, especially the way the good doctor treated Amber during the competition. Actual love and affection for Wilson? Nah, couldn't be! I mean, that would just be ludicrous coming from someone who was only concerned about herself during the game. Come on, doesn't anyone remember when she got all of those candidates to stop washing House's car and walk away from the competition? Plus, according to House, people don't change.

(S04E11) "Never before has a profession been so decried by someone who needed it so badly," Wilson [about psychiatry] to House.

One of my favorite parts of this episode was the quote I have chosen to put at the beginning of the entry. Wilson accuses House of not liking Cate, the patient, because she is a psychiatrist. House counters that there are many reasons he does not like the patient, and Wilson comes back with that retort. The reason I like it so much isn't because I think it's meant to be about House. I like it so much because I think it's a sneaky little slam on Tom Cruise. Or at least, if that is too much of a stretch, then I like it because it certainly can be applied to Tom Cruise and his very public outcries against psychiatry.

(S04E10) "Who's that from?" -- Kutner

"Santa, of course. Don't you know that I worship him? Oh wait, that's Satan. Sorry, I get them confused." -- House

Well, maybe it was the fact that I haven't seen an episode of House in nearly two months, but dear ol' Greggie seemed more cynical than his normal cynical self. Most likely it was due to the holidays. You know, the holidays that came and went over a month ago. I know that FOX is trying to save as many episodes of its hit shows as possible, but it would have been nice if they aired the House Christmas episode around, you know, Christmas.

Sure, Oprah Winfrey might have her own TV network, but that doesn't mean she's number one.

The Harris Poll has released their annual list of the 10 favorite TV personalities, and Oprah actually came in second (after being on top for five years). The first place winner? Believe it or not, it's Nancy Grace.

OK, just kidding about that. Number one is actually Ellen DeGeneres, who was number eight last year. The full list is after the jump.

The nominees for Best Actor in a Drama are not all from the movies like the Best Actress nominees are, but they are still a damn fine group of actors. I am glad that I don't have to vote officially for the Golden Globes, because I really think this is a very hard group to choose from. I have to say that my top three contenders are Michael C. Hall, Bill Haxton, and Hugh Laurie-- and not just because of their performances last year, but also because of their bodies of work as a whole. I don't know whether that is entirely fair or not, but I don't live in a vacuum. However, that is not to take away from the other two nominees, and the group as a whole are:

EW.com put up the The Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations and we've got the nominees in the television categories for you. Not surprisingly, The Sopranos swan song continues to get awards show nods, with bids in all three categories it qualifies for. 30 Rock accomplished the same feat in the comedy categories. No other show was represented in all three drama or comedy categories.

Newcomers include Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Michael C. Hall (Dexter) in male dramatic actor. Holly Hunter (Saving Grace) was a new face in female dramatic actor, while Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?) and Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty) represented comedic actresses. Only Mad Men was able to creep in as a new show in the ensemble drama category. The complete list is after the jump.

First Buffy, then Scrubs, eventually Ugly Betty and maybe House? TV Guide reports that the cast of FOX's House would like to do a musical episode. Jennifer Morrison, who plays Allison Cameron, claims that since most of the actors on the show have some sort of musical background, they have been poking the writers to have the doctors break into song!