Will Stanley Tucci's 3 LBS Surgeon Out-snark Dr. House?

Emmy winner Stanley Tucci (Winchell), also well known for his big-screen stints in such hits as Big Night and this summer's The Devil Wears Prada, makes his debut this Tuesday night at 10 pm/ET as brilliant but brash neurosurgeon Doug Hanson in the new CBS medical drama 3 LBS — a reference to the weight of the average human brain. Tucci allowed us to pick his a bit.

TV Guide: With all the medical shows on TV, what was it about this one appealed to you?
Stanley Tucci: I thought it was intelligently written, and I liked [executive producer] Peter Ocko right off... his sensibility and humor. And I liked the character.

TV Guide: What about Hanson, specifically?
Tucci: His mysteriousness. I like the fact that he doesn't have a very pleasant bedside manner... that he is incredibly passionate about what he does, but is not necessarily a passionate person.

TV Guide: Would you let him treat you?
Tucci: In a second!

TV Guide: He's kind of a harsh character. When you play him, do you try to make him likable to the audience?
Tucci: I don't think you can try tobe likable. You can only be who you are.Having played two of the most unlikablecharacters in history, WalterWinchell and Adolf Eichmann [inthe HBO films Winchell andConspiracy], my concern is not whether my characteris likable.... But I want him to be watchable.

TV Guide: What's so appealing about cantankerous leads? There are obviously shades of House in Hanson.
Tucci: When someoneis just so nice and so accessible,really it's veryboring. Isn't it moreinteresting to want totry to crack the hardestnut? You're justdying to find outwhat's inside it.