Terrence Howard proved on 'Lopez Tonight' (Weeknights, 12AM ET on TBS) that music knows no boundaries. He professed a great love for music in general, saying "That's all I think about!"

But the actor has a special affection for Spanish music, despite the language barrier. He never learned to speak Spanish.

"So I've made up a lot of words ... with a lot of songs," he admitted.

When George Lopez asked him if he wanted to take the stage with the band and perform, Howard was all for it. While we thought he was capable enough on the guitar, his voice wasn't the strongest. We have heard worse among finalists on 'American Idol,' though.

On 'Law & Order: SVU' (Wed., 10PM ET on NBC), DDA Jonah Dekker (Terrence Howard) from 'Law & Order: Los Angeles' appears in the New York offices to peruse a rape suspect. "Your jurisdiction's 3,000 miles heading west," snaps ADA Casey Novak.

"I want the warrant and every last bit of discovery you have by no later than close of business today," he demands. Wait, Dekker is the perp's defense lawyer? Turns out the alleged rapist is his cousin.

"My job here is to ensure that there is no police or prosecutorial misconduct, so we'll be seeing a lot of each other," Dekker threatens.

"Goodie. Just what we need around here: another arrogant prick," says Stabler.

Mark Harmon has been tapped to star in 'Prey,' a two-hour movie on USA Network. The 'NCIS' star will play Lucas Davenport, the deputy police chief of Minneapolis. The movie is based on the successful 'Prey' novels by John Sandford.

According to Deadline, the movie will be based on the 10th novel, 'Certain Prey.' Harmon's character goes up against a hitwoman who is determined to take him down. USA has acquired the rights to all 20 of Sandford's novels, but right now this is the only flick planned.

"Mark Harmon could read the phone book and we'd probably want to put it on the air!" Jeff Wachtel, president of original programming at USA, said.

In other casting news ...

• Angela Bassett will star in ABC's 'Identity.' Bassett will play Martha, the head of the FBI unit that combats identity-theft. The former 'ER' star was previously attached to 'One Police Plaza' at ABC. [Deadline]

• 'Six Feet Under' veteran Lauren Ambrose has booked the lead role in Fox's 'Weekends at Bellevue.' Ambrose will play the psychiatrist in charge of Bellevue's psych ward on the weekends. [TVLine]

• New Wonder Woman Adrianne Palicki will face off against a villain played by Brit actress Elizabeth Hurley. "Thrilled to be doing the NBC pilot 'Wonder Woman,'" Hurley tweeted. "I'll be playing the evil villain. Can't wait." [Elizabeth Hurley Twitter]

L.A. County district attorney Jerry Hardin has a lot of legal action in store on 'Law & Order: Los Angeles' (Wed., 10PM ET on NBC). But is justice being served? Deputy district attorney Joe Dekker doesn't think so.

A woman now on trial was previously wrongly convicted and imprisoned for killing her kids. Now she's being tried for a murder she actually committed. Hardin orders him to "offer Dylan 12 years for manslaughter, declare victory and get out."

Dekker replies, "What, a slap on the wrist for a textbook first-degree murder? Right after we apologize to her for a wrongful conviction?" No apology as far as Hardin is concerned. He cares less about making sure the punishment fits the crime and more about not making the police department look bad. "We need their support," he explains.

Dekker: "That doesn't sound like good law to me."
Hardin: "It's not. It's good politics."

While Terrence Howard was driving and in mid-conversation with a producer from 'The Tonight Show' -- discussing his impending visit -- Howard was thinking about Bruce Lee. For some reason, he thought it was an opportune moment to do a kung-fu move in his car.

"You know how Bruce Lee used to do that little short one-inch punch? ... I'm thinking I can do that in front of the rearview mirror," said Howard. "I broke the mirror, broke the windshield -- I'm strong!" He was forced to abruptly end the phone call and head to the hospital.

Once there, Howard filmed getting stitches in his fingers, and he shared the footage with the 'Tonight' (weeknights, 11:35PM ET on NBC) audience. Just when we thought this was purely a gesture of self-promotion, Howard was shown (and heard) screaming like a little girl. (But also note, he's wearing shades indoors. So Hollywood.)

The thumping disco music that opens the first episode of 'Law & Order: Los Angeles' (10PM ET Wednesday, NBC) is meant to remind you that this is not your father's crime procedural.

Well, actually, it is your father's crime procedural. But this is a 'Law & Order' that has heard of Facebook and TMZ.

In fairness, other editions of the cop-lawyer warhorse have dabbled in topical events and trendy ideas (or ideas that were trendy a while ago). But, as was the case with the mothership of the franchise, this West Coast 'Law & Order' works best when it gives its able cast knotty dilemmas to play.

The 2009 Soul Train Awards were full of surprises -- of the smooching variety, that is.

The show began with Trey Songz and Toni Braxton puckering up during their performance of 'Yesterday.' Co-hosts Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson then celebrated their 'Hustle & Flow' reunion with some major (faux?) spit-swapping.

Not that it was necessary for Taraji to wow the audience. She did a dead-on impression of Diana Ross in a Motown tribute and she and Terrence impressed with their singing abilities.

No doubt aware of industry buzz that Mo'Nique is sure to score an Oscar nomination for her role in 'Precious' as the title character's abusive mother, Terrence Howard offers a bit of helpful advice to the actress and talk show host during an interview on 'The Mo'Nique Show.'

Howard, who was nominated for his role in 'Hustle and Flow,' had this to say on receiving the nomination itself: "You'll be sitting there in front of that television pretending to sleep, and at 5:15 when they mention your name, tears will roll out of your eyes ... and you'll sit there and you'll pray that you are not dreaming."

Watch the video after the jump.

I told you not long ago that Wordplay, the documentary about New York Times Crossword editor Will Shortz and his annual crossword competition would air as part of the PBS series Independent Lens on October 16. It turns out it's also the very first documentary of the series' sixth season.

Other documentaries will include An Unreasonable Man, the popular 2006 documentary about presidential candidate and consumer advocate Ralph Nader; Banished, which tells the story of how some small towns expelled their black communities; King Corn, about two college students who grow their own food to challenge big agri-business; Miss Navajo, which centers on a unique Native American beauty pageant; Iron Ladies of Liberia focuses on the first head of state in Africa; Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita, about a neurologist trying to find a cure for his paralyzed daughter; and Please Vote for Me, a documentary from China about three eight year old students running for "class monitor."

Today's Oprah – actually, I think it was a repeat - featured the entire cast of Paul Haggis' Crash (which Oprah, as she reminded us ad nauseum, "looooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvved") talking about racism. I tuned in late (all the better to misinterpret out of context, my pretties), but I caught an ... um ... interesting segment about  linguistics.

When I turned the TV on, Oprah and Don Cheadle were talking over, and almost yelling at, each other. Apparently they were right in the middle of an intense debate over the proper use of the "N Word". Then Terrence Howard (who, the cynics amongst us will point out, is campaigning for Oscar nods on at least 2 performances and, as such, probably wants to be seen as Nice Guy) tells Oprah that he's decided to stop using it; Cheadle vehemently explains why he's opposed to pressuring people into limiting their linguistic choices. As if to bully him into breaking the tie for her side, Oprah turns to Ludacris. "Cris, would you consider not using The Word?" Visibly uncomfortable., Luda smiles. "Uh, I feel the same way Don does about it." Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Sandra Bullock pipes up:

"As long as we're going to stop using words," she says (and I'm totally paraphrasing), "Can we stop with the bitch and the ho, for women?"

The crowd goes wild. Completely silent during the previous portion of the conversation, all of a sudden there are 200 mild-mannered housewives gone wild, hooting and cheering and stomping their feet. And then ...

Ludacris: We can stop when women stop calling themselves bitches.

Sandra Bullock: I don't call any woman a bitch. (pause, then, totally straight-facedly) Unless she is one.

Cut to some kind of language expert, sitting in the crowd. "80 years ago, you could call a woman a broad. We don't do that anymore."

Oh. Really? Whoops.