11 March 2010, Singapore – Thursday nights have never been more dazzling. Come March 18, two power leads, Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) and Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) will light up TV screens across Asia with their charismatic presence. Adding on to their star power are veteran actress Lily Tomlin and funnyman Martin Short, who will complete the entourage of talented cast!

After suffering sexual hallucinations of Cuddy last season, Dr House is finally taking charge of his own life by seeking psychiatric treatment. Meanwhile, the mighty Patty Hewes might be in deeper danger than she knows, when a car rams into hers possibly with the intention to… kill. Tune in for more high-brow drama with the double premiere of House Season 6 and Damages Season 3 on AXN this March 18th!

House Season 6 premieres 18 March @ 10PM (SG, MY, PH) 11PM (HK) 9PM (JKT) From Princeton-Plainsboro to Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital, House just cannot quit his meddling ways. Despite checking himself in for treatment so he can get his medical license reinstated, House brews a revolt among the mental patients and rebels against the management’s method of administering treatment. Only after a devastating incident did House finally find himself on the right track to recovery and redemption, while developing a true bond with the patients... and even an unforgettable romance with a frequent visitor to the hospital.

House Season 6 ranked at the top of its timeslot during its US premiere, clocking an impressive 17.13 million viewers, proving indeed “that a redeemed House can be just as compelling as a rude House”, as so succinctly put across by Entertainment Weekly.

In House’s absence, things at Princeton-Plainsboro have changed. Taub (Peter Jacobson) has left to set up his own plastic surgery business while Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) has been fired by Foreman (Omar Epps), deeply straining their relationship. House comes back to set things right by using all ways and means to entice Taub and Thirteen to return to his team again, even as old-timer Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) decides to leave the hospital for good.

House might also be too late to revive ‘Huddy’ as he stumbles upon Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein)’s budding romance with Lucas (Michael Weston), House’s private investigator pal. This blooms into an awkward ménage à trois with House’s persistence in butting in between them, trying stunts like barging into Lucas’ place and confessing his feelings for Cuddy in a drunken stupor. In the meantime, his bromance with Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) ups another notch as he moves in with his good ol’ buddy and then House being House, begins to compete with Wilson for the affection of a new neighbour.

While House is busy salvaging his interpersonal affairs, lives continue to be at stake in the hospital. This season, the team attempts to save a beautiful female patient who is unable to feel emotions and as an indirect symptom of her affliction, becomes psychopathic in nature; as well as a blogger who would rather take medical advice from her online followers than from the team. An ethical dilemma also comes into play when President Diabla (James Earl Jones, internationally known as the voice of Darth Vader), an African dictator accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, arrives at the hospital. Chase (Jesse Spencer) is particularly conflicted over this tricky case of medical ethics – should he choose to save a country, or save a patient who is a threat to humanity?

Damages Season 3 premieres 18 March @ 11PM (SG, MY, PH) 12 midnight (HK) 10PM (JKT) While House and his team are busy saving lives, there are also major shake-ups for Patty Hewes in the legal world, and more high-stakes games for the unscrupulous lawyer to conquer. Glenn Close has outdone herself in her powerful portrayal of the ambitious Patty Hewes, and there is no better testimony for that than her two consecutive Emmy wins for ‘Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series’ in 2008 and 2009.

As Season 3 begins, a court has appointed Patty to recover assets worth billions of dollars lost in a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Louis Tobin (Len Cariou, Law & Order). While Tobin has admitted his guilt, his wife Marilyn (veteran actress Lily Tomlin) and son Joe (Campbell Scott, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) claim to know nothing of the fraud. Patty’s protégé, Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) has since left Hewes and Associates and is now working at the District Attorney’s office, but still keeps an eye on Patty through the eyes and ears of Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan).

Stunning revelations at the beginning of the season unveil key events that will happen in six months’ time – Tom’s impending death where he is killed and left in a dumpster, and mysteriously found along with a blood-stained bag that Patty has sent to Ellen’s new office as a gift for her. Patty also gets into a car accident and investigations implying that someone might be after her life, leaves Patty deeply shaken. Could it be Tom who has a personal stake in the Tobin case? Or could it be Ellen who seems to be more than just ex-colleagues with Tom? Not forgetting Joe Tobin, who is driven to protect his family at all costs, especially as each member of the secretive Tobin family seem to have something to hide.

The Tobins’ trusted attorney, Leonard Winstone (Martin Short, Saturday Night Live), comes head to head with Patty in defending the Tobins, yet at the same time, seem to have an agenda of his own. Short’s performance as Winstone has been raved by critics like USA Today, who praises Short’s use of “his comic timing and knack for insincerity to keep us intrigued and off balance”. In particular, TV Guide which rated Damages a 10 out of 10, credits the “blue-chip cast (including Lily Tomlin and Martin Short, excelling in serious roles)" for making the show “seriously great TV”, proving indeed that viewers have so much more to look forward to this season from the stellar cast of established actors.

With deaths and departures rife in the latest seasons of House and Damages, it will definitely be a riveting watch to see how both power leads House and Patty Hewes, one a compulsive meddler and the other a master manipulator, plan for things to go their way in the grand scheme. Tune in to AXN for a solid two-hour of exciting drama back-to-back on Thursday nights, all set to perch you on the edge of your seats from March 18th!

House Season 6 premieres @ 10PM (SG, MY, PH) 11PM (HK) 9PM (JKT) Damages Season 3 premieres @ 11PM (SG, MY, PH) 12 midnight (HK) 10PM (JKT) Every Thursday on AXN from 18 March 2010

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