One of the foundations of the Fox hit show “House” has been the often contentious relationship between brilliant Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) and hospital administrator Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein).

Of course, you increasingly knew that underneath all the disagreements about medical testing and risky diagnosis, they loved each other.

And now that “House” is getting a little old by network TV standards, the writers have decided it’s time for a real romance starting at 8 tonight on WUTV.

I’d like to say I loved tonight’s seventh season premiere, in which House and Cuddy explore their love and spend some time together in the bedroom and the bathtub.

But it didn’t work for me. It is tender. It is touching. And it is boring.

The boredom isn’t elevated by a serious sub-plot involving an ailing member of House’s team, Thirteen (Olivia Wilde), or a comical one involving a neurosurgeon.

 Next week’s episode explores whether the House-Cuddy relationship will impact how they do their jobs and whether it will help or hurt patients. I think you can pretty well guess their conclusions.

 The more pressing issue for TV fans is whether the relationship will help or hurt the show. So far, it isn’t helping, but “House” writers have a way of fixing things.

Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 4

The premiere of “House” should help give a strong lead-in to the season’s best new drama, “Lone Star,” in its opening night battle with the heavily-promoted NBC series, “The Event,” at 9 tonight.

 As far as pilots go, it is no contest. “Lone Star” is an intriguing hour about a Texas con man who attempts to go straight — despite his father’s (David Keith) displeasure — to keep the women he loves happy. Yes, I said women. The lead has two lives and two wives. He is played by James Wolk, who has a George Clooney-like twinkle in his eye. Jon Voight also is aboard as an oil man and the father of one of the wives.

 It is an intriguing concept that is much less complicated than “The Event,” the conspiracy series that stars Jason Ritter as an everyman hero trying to save the world from …

 I’m not exactly sure.

 The pilot received praise Sunday night during NBC’s football game from that noted TV critic Cris Collinsworth. Collinsworth likened it to “24” because the creators of that Fox show also are producing “The Event.”

 He should stick to football. The first 15-20 minutes of tonight’s episode cut through so many different time zones that a viewer’s head may be spinning more than Trent Edwards’ head was Sunday against Green Bay.

 I learned more about the show from all of NBC’s promos this summer than I did watching the confusing pilot. It is going to be a lot of work to get things straight.

 Reportedly, the producers are going to tone down all the time traveling, which is a very good thing. Perhaps that will help make “The Event” worth all the hype and persuade viewers to give it another chance.

 Ratings: “Lone Star”: 3 and a half stars; “The Event”: 2 and a half stars

 At 10 p.m tonight, CBS and NBC go back to the future with shows that could have played in the 1970s and 1980s.

 The “new” CBS show is “Hawaii Five-O,” which is based on the old show from the 1970s. It has a good-looking cast that includes Alex O’Loughlin (“Moonlight”), Scott Caan (“Entourage”) and Daniel Dae Kim (“Lost”) and the Hawaii scenery is breathtaking. But despite all the updates, it is still 1970s TV at its core.

 “Five-O” certainly is more involving than NBC’s “Chase,” which seems like a USA Network reject. It features another beautiful female (Kelli Giddish) with a painful back story. Her job as a tough-talking U.S. Marshall who chases criminals helps her get through her issues. The criminal tonight is the most interesting character. Not a good sign.

At times, the dialogue and the lead’s toughness are so unintentionally laughable that one expects they will chase viewers away.

Rating: “Hawaii Five-0”: 2 and a half stars; “Chase”: 1 and a half star

pergament@msn.com   

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