Law & Order: SVU - Tuesday April 27, 10 pm, CTV/NBC

NBC must have heard I was complaining about the 'Law & Order' franchise and decided they had to surprise me with a wicked little treat. So they hired Sharon Stone for a guest role as Stabler's ex-partner, now an ADA named Jo Malone. Sharon sticks around for four episodes and I do sincerely hope the writers make full use of her ability to play smart snarky women you don't necessarily like, but respect.

'True Blood' has officially reached new heights, earning an astounding 4.3 million viewers for Sunday night's episode. This marks the show's best ratings performance to date.

Also in the news today: Paula quits 'American Idol,' while Lauren Conrad and Kim Kardashian book 'America's Next Top Model.'

See more of today's top TV headlines after the jump.

(S02E03) "Thanks for your help, Sheriff." - Goetz

The prodigal weirdo returns! I know that, like me, many of you were hoping that Dale wouldn't return this season. However, it's clear that the actor and the character have grown quite a bit, so maybe he won't be so annoying this season. Quite frankly as long as his irritating girlfriend doesn't show up, I'm happy.

I don't know about you but I'm getting a little tired of seeing Dale get kicked around. he seems to be the only merchant in town and yet every time he makes a bold decision he ends up getting slapped down by someone. I don't think that he or the rest of Jericho are going to accept that Jennings & Rall get to make the rules but don't have to play by them.

(S02E02) "I'm not a conspiracy nut." - Jake Green

Condor? Really? The most creative code name they could come up with is Condor? How about something meaningful like Savior or something cryptic like Shadow or even something funny like That One Guy Who We All Recognize But Can't Remember What From.

It's nice to see some things never change. Mayor Douchebag is still more concerned with how he looks than with the evil corporation that is clearly infiltrating his town. You just know that meeting the President has always been a dream of his. I guess any old President will do.

(S02E23) What's curious about shows that are super-formulaic in nature, is that when they're good, you don't care about how things are constructed, it's all about what is constructed and how the characters interact with each other. And yes, I know, this has been harped on to know end by me and some commenters on this site for a long time now, but that's a good thing. This week's episode, "Who's Your Daddy?" was pretty much spot on when it comes to that concept, with a young girl named Leona coming to the hospital after experiencing a horrible vision of flooding and her dead mother on the plane she is flying on. Leona, we have been told, is a survivor of the devastation that Hurricane Katrina put on the New Orleans area, and is now, for some reason, re-experiencing things that terrorized her.

At the same time, House is experiencing horrible leg pain, which has got to be pretty bad considering what his pain threshold on a regular basis is. He's storming around his apartment, even climbing up a step stool to get a box, hidden on top of a bookshelf, that contains needles and other pain medication that looks like his "last stop" when it comes to fixing what ails him. Once again, Cuddy rings him up on the telephone, and we get to hear his funny answering machine message, but also see that she knows how to push his buttons by saying exactly what curiousness would bring him in to treat a patient.