TVSquad

Remember what a jerk Eriq LaSalle was as Dr. Peter Benton on ER? You know, a real hard-ass. Well, it turns out his dynamic performance as that character may be because he wasn't acting. At the Hallmark Channel press tour, LaSalle got ticked off when asked about ER.

He was meeting the press to answer questions about his TV movie, Relative Stranger, which will air next January. When LaSalle noticed that there were a plethora of questions about ER -- for him and co-stars Michael Michele and Michael Beach, both of whom had also been on NBC's long-running medical drama -- Eriq flared.

"Okay, I mean look, it was a defining moment, you know, for a lot of us as artists. You know, it was a show that was a little bit ahead of its time. We had a great time doing it. I don't know what else to say. I talked about the show so much. I prefer to talk about Relative Stranger."

(S04E06) "My malpractice insurance doesn't cover alien autopsies." --House
"That's fine. X-files are the next wing over."-- Dr. Samira Terzi

Tonight was apparently the "stand-up" episode of House. It had more one-liners than an episode of Seinfeld. And everybody got into the game-- not just House. I guess "Whatever it takes" referred not only to medicine but to extorting laughs. It's a good thing it had so many zingers in it, because that was one of the only likable things about the episode.

"15 minutes for the lap dance, half hour to scrub the guilt off my soul... See you in 45!"-- House

(S08E11) Boy howdy, things sure are tense between Dets. Benson and Stabler. I thought their issues were in the past, but they never really can be, can they? Stabler immediately pushed Benson's buttons in this episode when he suggested that a man who is addicted to drugs and alcohol isn't technically abusive. Of course, Benson grew up with an alcoholic mother and she knows that abuse comes in many forms. Stabler knows that too, dammit, but he feels an obligation to side with the man in a nasty divorce case because his own divorce isn't going too well.

Now to the story: A woman, Valerie (Michael Michele), accuses her soon-to-be ex-husband of raping her. But it all seems fishy because she and her husband, Miles (Blair Underwood), are going through a nasty, nasty divorce. Their daughter, Tessa (Tiffany Evans), is in the middle of it.

Eriq LaSalle, who played Doctor Peter Benton on ER from 1994 to 2001, returns to NBC's prime-time schedule in January. This time, though, he won't be acting. Rather, he will be behind the cameras as he directs an episode of Law & Order: SVU.

LaSalle will be reunited with SVU cast member Mariska Hargitay, who portrayed Cynthia Hooper during the fourth season of ER, and Michael Michele, who played Doctor Cleo Finch (and Benton's girlfriend) for two seasons on the medical drama. In the episode itself, which will air January 9th, a messy marital estrangement and subsequent custody battle (are there any others on SVU) will pit Valerie Sennet (Michele) against her estranged husband Miles Sennett (Blair Underwood) and result in some secrets being discovered by detectives Benson (Hargitay) and Stabler.