BUZZ.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

BUILDING ON `HOUSE': ``Fox is weird - there's smart Fox, and dumb Fox,'' ``House'' executive producer Paul Attanasio marveled on Monday evening. ``The writing staff on `The Simpsons' has a cumulative IQ of 4,000, and then Fox will do, like, `My Fat Mom.''' Well, they haven't yet, but Attanasio no doubt has inadvertently launched the network's next reality show.

Another day, another chance to fete ``House,'' Fox's hit medical drama starring Hugh Laurie as a brilliantly cranky and crankily brilliant doctor. Two weeks after receiving a Peabody Award and six weeks after a similar event hosted by the Museum of Television and Radio, the cast and creators of the series discussed their work at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood.

Laurie, who won a Golden Globe in January for his work as the pill-popping medic, offered some insights into his character. ``If he had been an arms dealer, he would've done that very well, too,'' Laurie said. ``He enjoys his own drama. He enjoys the effect of it.'' The series was initially pitched to the network as a medical procedural drama, but creator David Shore eventually transformed it into the critically acclaimed, character-driven dramedy it is today. ``Procedurals are important to the show, but in a way, they kind of bore me,'' Shore admitted. ``The audience is not watching, saying, `I hope it's a vasculitis episode tonight.'''

EARLY OSCARS: The Oscars are moving back to February.

The 79th annual Academy Awards will be held Feb. 25, 2007 - the last Sunday of the month - at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. It will be televised by ABC.

This year's show was moved to the first Sunday in March to avoid going head-to-head against NBC's broadcast of the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, announced the key Oscar dates on Monday, noting that the February show means nominations and the balloting process will take place earlier than they did this year.

Oscar nominees will be announced Jan. 23 at 5:30 a.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Final ballots will be mailed Jan. 31, and will be due by 5 p.m. Feb. 20. The nominees lunch will be held Feb. 5, and the academy's Scientific and Technical Awards Dinner will take place Feb.

ELVIS SLEPT HERE: The first home Elvis Presley owned, a ranch-style house he bought as his career was taking off, is for sale online.

The modest, four-bedroom building at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis was posted on eBay Friday.

As of Tuesday, the lone bid was $100,000 by Elvis Unlimited, an organization that operates an Elvis museum and shop in Randers, Denmark.

Presley, then 21, bought the home March 8, 1956, with his royalties. The singer, his parents and grandmother lived in the house for a year. A month after moving in, ``Heartbreak Hotel'' hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, ultimately ending any privacy he had in the neighborhood. Fans lined the suburban street, and police frequently had to be called in.

A Life magazine article from August 1956 had pictures of teenage girls sitting with their ears pressed to his bedroom wall and picking through the grass in his yard for souvenirs. The commotion became so intense that Elvis moved his bedroom to the back of the house.

In the short time the family was there, Elvis had a 50-foot-long granite pool installed in the backyard and a den added to the house. The pool was the largest residential pool in Memphis when he built it.

In March 1957, Presley gave up the house on Audubon Drive for a 14-acre estate with a two-story colonial house already known as Graceland, a home that Elvis would make famous.

Last year, the Audubon Drive house was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, a distinction Graceland has held since 1991.

According to the eBay posting, the house was built in 1953, and has about 3,000 square feet of living space. The walls and gates surrounding the property remain, still showing the strands of barbed wire placed by the singer's father, Vernon Presley, to prevent would-be intruders. The bidding is scheduled to end May 14.

FOLK-SINGIN' BOSS: Bruce Springsteen will tour with his new Seeger Sessions Band in support of his upcoming album, ``We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.''

The new album, set for release April 25, is a collection of songs popularized by folk singer Pete Seeger, including ``Old Dan Tucker,'' ``John Henry'' and ``Erie Canal.''

Following the band's initial date at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 30, and a series of 10 concerts in Europe, the U.S. tour will resume May 27 in Boston and end June 25 in Holmdel, N.J.

``Each night, an all-new evening of gospel, folk and blues will be presented by Springsteen with the 17-member Seeger Sessions Band,'' it was announced on his Web site.

Stops on the 18-city U.S. tour also include Washington, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland and New York.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) no caption (house)

Greg Campbell/Associated Press

(2 -- color) LISA EDELSTEIN, HUGH LAURIE and JENNIFER MORRISON: Making ``House'' calls.

(3 -- color) SPRINGSTEEN

(4 -- color) no caption (CD cover)