I was out all afternoon, so I just now got around to watching the MadTV and Kickin' It clips. Fantastic! Thank you again, marykir. You are so dependable with this stuff, and you are wonderful to spend so much of your free time transferring this stuff for your fellow Hugh fans. I hope you realize how much we appreciate you. I love seeing Hugh's natural laugh and smile. I want to chime in to let you all know that amazon emailed me today to let me know that "Fortysomething" has shipped out to me!

Its a shame he couldnt get time off for the premier or this. I'd guess something else came up in this case. The premiere was on an afternoon he was working, but today? He must have had his own reasons for not being there. It sucks, but I'd guess (AND I'M ONLY GUESSING) something came up. I wonder if he'll be at the benefit tonight. Maybe he will be and this afternoon was just out of his control. Selfishly, I'd rather he had been there this afternoon than there because, you know, I'd like to *see* him, but somehow I think I can make do with Jesse, Greg and Jamie. That's a nice way to dull the pain of a Hugh-free performance. {g} eta: sorry to have edited after you posted, iamdaffodils...it was one of those cases where my computer was dragging while i was just trying to finish a thought properly.

True...maybe we'll see him in some capacity. Who knows. Certainly there are plenty of people who are doing little bits and pieces that weren't taped today, so there's hope. It's not like I wouldn't have watched even if Hugh had never been listed as being a part of it, but whenever his name gets added to something it instantly becomes an even bigger priority. As if the rest of this board can't relate to that...

I'm really disappointed that Hugh wasn't there. :( I was looking foward to seeing Hugh and Jesse playing together.

Hmmm, Ellen pulled out as co-host. I wonder if they are putting the pressure on Hugh to co-host....nah! can't think he'd want to do that. More likely he needed some downtime: maybe he'll be at the show tonight, I guess. eta: The Fox boards person said JS was smokin' hot and Teri was good too, so worth watching even with no HL :sob!:

Bummer for no Hugh. No show at the premier and now this. You know he has good reason. Maybe he was spending the day preparing and reading scripts for his real job and plans to play tonight. He is the ultimate professional so you know there's a good reason he wasn't at either event. Didn't they report on one of those celebrity shows that filmed the BfTV the other day that Hugh and Greg would be there? I wonder if Greg was there? Damn, I was really hoping to see Hugh play with BfTV on Idol. I know the rest of the band is more than worthy but I'm a little bias. I am curious to see Jesse play though.

So disappointed that Hugh wasn't there. I wonder who took his place on keyboards? I feel sorry for whoever it was. No matter how talented, there will be so many viewers saying, "He's no Hugh Laurie!" hee...

Hmmm, Ellen pulled out as co-host. I wonder if they are putting the pressure on Hugh to co-host....nah! can't think he'd want to do that. The day they announced that Ellen had dropped out they announced that Ryan would be hosting solo. I'm not really sure why they would ask Hugh to cohost the show whether he wanted to or not, but even if they did I don't see the connection between that and him not being there. Didn't they report on one of those celebrity shows that filmed the BfTV the other day that Hugh and Greg would be there? I wonder if Greg was there? Yeah, it seems like they were both mentioned with the "they're not here now, but will be there for the show" clarification. Maybe something really did come up at the very last minute. I guess we'll find out tomorrow (or later tonight) if he really did write off Sunday all together. I read the most recent post on the Fox board (I tried to read the thread, but quickly remembered why I never go there) and just from the way she's posted, I think that if Greg were absent too she would have mentioned it. It seems like he was there. At least I hope he was. I'm glad that, at least from her perspective they did well.

Completely Bizarre Segue
Okay, this is coming out of nowhere except I was browsing through Stephen's autobiography and his description of life at public schools - hazing and such. It just started me thinking about Hugh being house captain at Eton and started wondering about how their experiences matched up and how they may have differed. Hugh was a jock, Stephen decidedly not....

I would be surprised if Hugh didn't show up at the charity event tonight. I can see why he may have bowed out for the Idol gig. If they were only singing one song and it was a country western one, he may have graciously bowed out because that doesn't seem to be his cup of tea. I imagine he will play some role in the Idol event so he figures he will have contributed.

houserocket7, Old School Tie by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy is a good book about British public schools. Although it was written thirty years ago it will give you a snap shot of what life was like for British public school boys over the last 100 years or so. It's out of print but I'm sure you can find it on Amazon or BN.