House, M.D. is the Fox TV show I have spent the past 17 hours watching. I think I should say that just so everyone knows that I am extremely biased, although I will attempt to make this review as balanced as possible.

House's antics in the clinic are the number one reason to watch the show. For example, in the pilot, Dr. House walks into the room, and sees an extremely orange-colored man who is complaining of back pain. The man says that he most likely hurt his back playing golf. House offers him a Vicodin pill from his personal stash, and tells the man to get a lawyer because his wife is cheating on him. "What"?" replies the man. "You're orange. It's one thing that you didn't notice, but if your wife didn't notice, she must be cheating on you." House explains that excessive consumption of carrots plus a specific vitamin pill will turn you orange, and walks out. This type of dry, politically incorrect attitude carries the show in some of the more boring plot arcs in episodes.

In House, we have the most well-developed anti-hero ever seen on cable television. He is more than simply a cynical, insulting doctor who hates his job; however, this may be your first impression. After looking at House for a few episodes, a newfound understanding will develop, and you will understand that he does care, not about the rules, but about the patients, and he will stop at nothing to cure someone. He has his own flaws; however, there is more to him, and that is something which causes a strong emotional tie between the faithful viewer and the characters.

"House is witty, interesting, and filled with characters that, even if you don't like, you want to watch."

The overall plot of the first season allowed the viewers to become emotionally attached to House and his staff, understanding and empathizing with them. Classic villain archetypes were created and destroyed over 5 to 6 plot arcs. Each character has expanded from a two-dimensional character to a three-dimensional person. The one thing to understand with these characters, however, is that they were never cookie-cutter characters; each started out as a confused and mangled person. From those people we are carving away the strange habits and revealing what makes each character tick.

There are a few problems with this outstanding show, which will most likely be fixed by the second season of the show, but will lead to its inevitable downfall. The learning curve of the show is somewhat steep, and until two or three hours of your life have been given up to this show, you will not be overly enthusiastic in watching it. The initial difficulty is in viewing Dr. House's problems, and looking past them to see the real him. The final episodes of the first season were an amazingly successful attempt to fix that problem. This problem may go away with the second season; however, the problem of lessening writing may become quite difficult. Repetition may become a problem if the long plot arcs continue to lack substance and intrigue. Only with the addition of some better plot arcs will this show reach its true potential, and be able to rely on drama instead of comedy to keep the audience watching.

Overall, I would recommend this show to anyone and everyone who is not too queasy, as many disturbing images can be found on the show, and anyone who is not easily offended. Although Dr. House is no Larry David, he certainly is the network TV equivalent.

Rating: A- ****

Cast

Hugh Laurie -- Dr. Gregory House
Lisa Edelstein -- Dr. Lisa Cuddy
Omar Epps -- Dr. Eric Foreman
Robert Sean Leonard - Dr. James Wilson
Jennifer Morrison - Dr. Allison Cameron
Jesse Spencer -- Dr. Robert Chase

Episode Guides

(Written by myself, originally published on tv.com)

HS1E01 - Pilot - A young kindergarten teacher, Rebecca Adler, who suffers from seizures, collapses in her classroom after uncontrolled gibberish slips out her mouth while she is about to teach her students. She is taken to Dr. House and his team of experts, who identify it might be a tumor, and she might have only a week to live.

HS1E02 - Paternity - A 16-year old high school student, Dan, starts suffering from nightmares and frequent hallucinations, and he reveals he was hit in the head while playing lacrosse at school. Dan is apparently suffering from MS, and risky brain surgery is needed. Meanwhile, House must deal with a patient looking to set up a lawsuit and a mother who doesn't believe in vaccinations.

HS1E03 - Occam's Razor - A college student collapses after rowdy sex with his girlfriend. While House and his team attempt to determine the cause, the student's condition continues to deteriorate and his symptoms multiply, complicating the diagnosis.

HS1E04 - Maternity - When a virus is spreading among the hospital, infecting six babies, House and his team must make decisions that could compromise the lives of the babies.

HS1E05 - Damned if You Do - A nun whose hands are red, swollen and cracked is sent to House. The nun believes it is stigmata, but House suspects an allergic reaction. He gives her some pills, which cause her to become unable to breathe. As her condition worsens, her fellow sisters pray for her while House and his team work to discover the cause of her illness. House wonders if he misdiagnosed the illness.

HS1E06 - The Socratic Method - Dr. House is intrigued by the symptoms of a schizophrenic woman, who displays mixed symptoms, including a tumor, but soon realizes the source of her problems isn't the obvious. House confronts his birthday and Chase confronts his past when the mother's son tries to keep up with her condition.

HS1E07 - Fidelity - Two men are out jogging. One of them returns to his wife, discovers her dead asleep, and brings her to the clinic. The doctors are puzzled by her symptoms. They consider everything from tumors to breast cancer to rabbit fever. When all the treatments fail, House concludes she has African sleeping sickness. However, neither the woman nor her husband could possibly have ever been to Africa. The woman will die without the proper treatment, but neither one will admit to having an affair.

HS1E08 - Poison - When a high school student falls victim to a mysterious but serious poisoning, House and his team jump in to find out what is killing the teen. Discovering a low heart rate and a clean tox screen, House sends Cameron and Chase to the teen's home to find the hot new drug House is sure he's taking. They don't find any drugs, but think they've come up with the answer, until a second unrelated student is admitted with identical symptoms. With the boys' lives hanging in the balance, House and the team have to connect the dots, fast. Meanwhile, an 82-year-old patient has become enamored with House, while he helps her figure out the basis of her renewed fascination with her sexual feelings.

HS1E09 - DNR - Legendary jazz musician John Henry Giles is checked into the clinic and when he's told he's dying from ALS, he signs a DNR to avoid a slow death. House disagrees with the diagnosis and goes against everyone's wishes when he violates the DNR to save Giles' life. The decision lands House in court, drives Foreman to consider taking another job, and results in Giles' paralysis worsening. But when the patient inexplicably starts getting better, the team has to figure out the mystery in reverse and find out why his condition is improving. Meanwhile, Dr. Foreman meets with an old friend who offers him a West Coast partnership.

HS1E10 - Histories - Dr. Foreman believes an uncooperative homeless woman is faking seizures to get a meal ticket at the teaching hospital. But her homelessness strikes a personal chord with Dr. Wilson and he grows determined to keep her from falling between the cracks. Her worsening symptoms prove to be a complex mystery for House and his team, but the mystery of her identity and medical history may hold the answers to saving her life. Just as the team suspects she has contagious meningitis, the woman goes missing, only to be tasered by the police, who bring her back. But House deduces the taser may have proven yet another diagnosis, with dire results. Meanwhile, House has an audience of two medical students who are learning how to do case studies.

HS1E11 - Detox - While trying to figure out why a young patient won't stop bleeding after a car wreck, House takes Cuddy's challenge and goes off Vicodin for a week in exchange for no clinic duty for a month. If House and his team can't determine the source of his patient's blood loss, the 16-year-old accident victim will die in a matter of days. As House's withdrawal symptoms become more and more severe, his directives for his patient are more harsh and risky than usual, and Foreman and Cameron are afraid he may not be thinking clearly enough to save the patient's life.

HS1E12 - Sports Medicine - A severely broken arm reveals a bizarre case of bone loss and ends the comeback plans of major league pitcher Hank Wiggen. House suspects Hank – with a history of drug abuse – is lying about using steroids, as his condition worsens. When Hank's kidneys start to fail, his wife offers to donate one of hers, but she would have to abort her early pregnancy. Forced into an impossible solution, and admitting failure as an addict, Hank tries to take his own life. House and his team must isolate and fix the problem soon if this pitcher's life, as well his career, can be saved. Meanwhile, Foreman dates a pharmaceutical representative and House is stuck with two tickets and ends up going on a "date" with Cameron, to a monster truck rally.

HS1E13 - Cursed - A 12-year-old boy believes he's cursed after a Ouija board tells him he's going to die, and his father makes increasing demands on House as they try to diagnose the boy's pneumonia-like symptoms and incongruous rash. Meanwhile, Chase's estranged father, a renowned doctor from Australia, visits and House invites him to sit in, much to Chase's discomfort. When House diagnoses the boy's illness, the young patient is forced to face the idea that his father may not be everything he believes.

HS1E14 - Control - Billionaire entrepreneur Edward Vogel spends $100 million on the clinic and becomes the new Chairman of the Board. As a businessman, Vogler intends to turn the clinic into a profitable venture for his biotech company, and plans to eliminate the financially draining services of Dr. House. Meanwhile, a businesswoman who has it all – perfect life, perfect body, perfect job – finds herself inexplicably paralyzed. When he diagnoses her secret, House must risk his job and his medical license to get her a necessary transplant.

HS1E15 - Mob Rules - Just before mobster Joey Arnello is about to spill the beans in federal court and enter witness protection, he collapses. Is he faking? A court order instructs House to find out – and fast. House and his team struggle to diagnose and cure Joey while Joey's brother Bill tries to slow things down and keep Joey from testifying. Meanwhile, Cuddy struggles to convince Vogler that House is an essential part of the hospital.

HS1E16 - Heavy - House must fire one of his doctors and leaves them to think about it while they deal with an overweight 10-year old child who suffered a heart attack as the result of taking diet pills. House is also faced with a woman who won't accept surgery for a 30 lb. tumor because she wants to remain overweight.

HS1E17 - Role Model - At a high-level campaign fundraiser, a senator becomes violently ill. Vogler forces House to take the senator's case and offers to let off the hook on firing a team member if he'll deliver a speech on behalf of Vogler's pharmaceutical company. It looks like the senator has AIDS, but House refuses to settle for the easy answer. And House ends up giving the speech, but it doesn't go quite as Vogler planned.

HS1E18 - Babies and Bathwater - While House and his team scramble to discover what's causing brain and kidney dysfunction in a pregnant woman, Vogler is working to get House fired after House's pharmaceutical speech. House determines the illness, but the woman and her husband must struggle with an emotional and heartbreaking choice: choose between her life, or that of her unborn child. Vogler calls for a vote to remove House, but when Wilson refuses to make the vote unanimous, Vogler threatens to take his money if Wilson isn't voted out. Finally, Cuddy must take a stand against Vogler.

HS1E19 - Kids - During an meningitis outbreak which overwhelms the clinic, House is drawn to a single patient: a 12-year-old whose symptoms don't quite match everyone else's. House, Foreman, and Chase must devise ingenious ways and locations to treat the girl's delicate condition in the middle of the chaos, and make an unexpected discovery. Meanwhile, House asks Cameron to come back to her job but she has one requirement that he might not be able to meet.

HS1E20 - Love Hurts - House apparently triggers a stroke in a clinic patient, but the major topic of discussion is House's imminent date with Cameron. The team must deal with the patient's odd lifestyle, overbearing "friend," and reluctant parents in order to stop the strokes and try to save his life. Meanwhile, Wilson, Cuddy and the team offer House and Cameron advice while laying odds on the outcome.

HS1E21 - Three Stories - House's ex-girlfriend Stacy Warner returns, not for House, but to get help for her ailing husband. While House decides whether or not to take her case, Cuddy forces him to present a lecture to a class of medical students. As he weaves the stories of three patients who all present with a similar symptom, House gives a lecture the students will never forget. (The most revealing episode to date).

HS1E22 - They Honeymoon - When Stacy insists her husband Mark get tests, House insists he can handle things. But despite the fact that Mark's tests prove negative, his steadily growing symptoms indicate he is dying. While House struggles with the mystery and makes increasing demands on his staff, Wilson worries about House's emotional well-being, and Cuddy considers adding a new employee to the clinic.


Quote from www.hollywoodjesus.com/house.htm
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House M.D. is a very interesting show. I say this for good reason, as I don't normally say that about most hospital shows. After trolling eversomany TV Guides and wikipedia articles, I have come up with House trivia worthy for the ages!

House walks with a cane, as most people already know. However, this cane has been through quite a lot on its journey. The first cane was used through most of the 1st season, however in the episode where House is trying to get Cameron to come back to work, he tells her he got a new, more stylish cane. This cane lasts for quite sometime, however, in a season 2 episode, Wilson cuts halfway through House's cane with sandpaper as a joke and the cane shatters. House tapes it back together for the rest of the episode. House returns in the next episode with a silver-topped cane. This is replaced for an unknown reason in the next episode. He currently has a normal, cane-shaped cane. Hugh Laurie, who plays House, has recently been having back problems because of the cane and may possibly be walking normally soon.

Jesse Spencer, who plays Dr. Chase, is one of the only Aussies that actually plays one on American television. He has been in the movie Stranded, which is a film that is mildly like Swiss Family Robinson, in the sense that it is loosly based on that book. Spencer has also been in the 2003 movie, Uptown Girls, and in the 2006 movie, Flourish, with co-star Jennifer Morrison.

Omar Epps plays the cranky, often dumped on, Dr. Foreman. Omar has been in numerous films, such as Alfie, with Jude Law, and in Against the Ropes, with Meg Ryan, in which he plays a boxer with a female promotion manager (this is almost unheard of in the pro boxing world).

Jennifer Morrison has only had one starring role, and that would be in the aformentioned movie, Flourish. She has had many minor roles, such as Jade, the assistant, in Mr. and Mrs. Smith; and also has played Denice, in the 1994 film, Miracle on 34th Street. Jennifer plays the beautiful Dr. Cameron, on House. Cameron's past has been riddled with many problems, such as her husband's death at the hands of cancer. Her only child also died, causing Cameron much grief.

Gregory House is the most interesting character in a drama that I have ever seen. He diagnoses most cases with ease, and at the end of each hour-long episode leaves you wondering where you can find a doctor in real-life that can match his brilliance. House often snarks at his co-workers and patients, some of these encounters have turned physically violent, such as the episode where he treats a gay patient. House has done some pretty bizarre things in his tenure at the hospital, such as shooting a dead cancer patient to test the thermomagnetism of a bullet; and infecting a patient with Legionnares' Disease to slow down a parasite. Gregory House is played by the British brilliant, Hugh Laurie. Laurie has been in films, such as Flight of the Phoenix, and has provided voices for all of the Stuart Little animations and movies. Laurie is a huge hit in the U.K. with the Blackadder shows and with the older skit show, A little bit of Fry and Laurie.

There are many similarities to the Sherlock Holmes novels in House M.D. These include House=Holmes, Wilson=Watson, Cocaine=Vicodin, Rebecca Adler=Irene Adler, and the method of making deductions based on seeing a person, which are normally right.

House is a one hour drama on Fox as of this writing in its second season and airs Tuesday at 9 PM (at least here in the U.S., as always I have no clue about the rest of the world's television). The full name of the show is House M.D. but seriously, I only know that from imdb. All advertisement is for House, with the H done in a circle to look like a hospital sign/symbol.

House stars Hugh Laurie in the title role of Gregory House. You might remember (but possibly not recognize) Mr Laurie from his work on Blackadder as various Georges, constantly having station above Blackadder. He done lots of other work as well, but I managed to miss most of it.

Dr. House is a crippled, very cynical cranky and sarcastic bastard of a doctor. A diagnostics specialist to be exact. When nobody else can figure out whats wrong with you, he's the guy you want trying. He'll lie to you, and assumes you're lieing to him. He's also addicted to pain killers for the leg, and doesn't really see this as a problem.

Each episode presents House with some impossible to solve medical mystery, like CSI: E.R. or something. House has found that he usually needs to get more information than the patients want to share. Like they're wearing pants bought from some guys trunk, or that their father is in the scrap industry, not construction, and these clues are vital. Don't lie to your doctor people

Working for him are three interns who put up with his crap because he really is the best in the field, and hey, if you can put up with the world renowned ass then you can put up with anyone.

Intern #1 is Chase (ok, Dr. someone Chase, but you never really hear that on the show). He's australian, son of a doctor, talks like kind of a slimeball, but is really a softy. You can imagine the type. He's also isn't hard to look at, at least if you ask my girlfriend. He, like everyone on the show, has issues. In his case he hates dear old dad, and his mother was a drunk.

Intern #2 is Cameron who as the only female naturally has the hots for House(sigh). House is too messed up for anyone normal to be into him, so what's her deal? She's like addicted to sad cases. Her deceased husband she married knowing he only had six months to live. That's fucked up. Cameron once asked House why she was even hired, she wasn't quite the best (but near enough she shouldn't be asking these kind of questions). He said for her body, if she tried so hard to be a good doctor, when she could just as easily be a model, then she must be a good doctor.

Intern #3, the black guy. Ok, bad joke. Seriously though, this seems to be the only issue Dr. Eric Foreman Has. The name is an inside joke refering to That 70s Show I suspect, because like the others you never/rarely hear his first name. Being black can certainly give the character another perspective, and House likes to use Foreman to break into patients homes. Not because he's black, but because he's got a juvie record, this got him hired in fact. Yes, House knows no limits, and pokes around homes looking for possible causes. Foreman is played by Omar Epps, who you might recall from E.R. where he played an intern. He's had practice, but don't think this makes him better than the other actors. They're all good at their roles.

There are many more characters of course, like Cuddy (his very yummy yummy boss, she's gorgeous), Wilson (his best, no only, friend), and Stacy (his ex-girlfriend who now works at the hospital). But far and away the show is House. He's just great to watch as he does things that nobody of his position ought to be doing, but he does them with style. Devious, kind of socially cruel, but almost always he's just trying to get to the trust, and finds it.

House, M.D., a.k.a. just House is a television show that airs on the Fox Network on Tuesday nights with a timeslot varying at either 9:00 PM ET/8:00 CST or 8:00 ET/7:00 CST. It premiered on November 16, 2004. It is a medical drama that was created by David Shore and has received a 2005 Peabody Award, a 2005 American Film Institute Program of the Year, and was nominated for the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series but didn't win.

British actor Hugh Laurie - who also played the "Dad" in the Stewart Little movies if you can believe that - is the star of the series, playing Gregory House, M.D., a "maverick medical genius" who seems to be a amalgam of several former ER characters; he has the ubiquitous cane and limp of Carrie Weaver, the bedside manner and charm - or lack thereof - of Robert Romano, and the addiction to pain killers that John Carter had suffered from for a few seasons. Add to that an acerbic and sometimes hilarious wit and you get Dr. House.

But what separates House from its NBC predecessor, besides the show having a central character, is its format. It seems to have found a niche of sorts in that most or all of the episodes deal with a medical mystery of some sort, which stretches suspension of disbelief a tad (how many hospitals find a particularly vexing disease every week) but adds a unique and compelling drama to it. And besides the name of the main character, the show's title also refers to the fact that to solve these mysterious maladies often characters have to go to the patient's house - with or without permission - to examine his or her environment.

David Shore said that Dr. House's character plays a "subtle homage" to Sherlock Holmes: he often relies on psychology to solve a case, has a drug addiction, his home address is the same, his relationship with Dr. James Wilson (Dr. John Watson), and his encounter with a crazy gunman credited with the name "Moriarty." But you would not know that without some research. What you will see is a very flawed man with an amazing gift and career that he's always on the verge of pissing away with his addiction, lack of respect for authority (especially concerning hospital administrator Dr. Lisa Cuddy, the yin to his yang), his refusal to see patients and his outrageous bluntness that he has with them when he does see them, and his knack for chuckle-inducing but often insulting one-liners, which makes for a compelling character to watch, but not a doctor you'd like to work with in real life. But you would certainly want him on your case if you've got a disease nobody else can diagnose.

It is a medical drama for the 21st Century where the "hero" of the show is more of an anti-hero who is certainly not well-loved but still respected somewhat by his peers and coworkers and is deeply, deeply flawed. His addiction to Vicodin - that he originally took for an infarction in his quadriceps muscle years before - is persistent and is not resolved in one episode or a series of "special episodes" like many programs back in the 20th Century. This is what makes it so interesting, besides the medical mysteries. The pre-opening-credits teaser for the show almost always depicts somebody suddenly being struck down by mysterious symptoms and the patient goes to the hospital whereupon House and his team will discuss, debate, and sometimes outright argue about what they have (usually there are several misdiagnoses along the way) and by the end of the episode they usually figure it out and save the patient. Sometimes House is actually wrong and the credit goes to a doctor on his team.

There are subtle story arcs on the show, sometimes romances between characters, but 90% of it is about the medical mystery which makes it a show you can pick up anytime and doesn't demand a commitment, which is what I like most about it. So don't be worried about taking my suggestion to go catch an episode if you can, you won't feel lost if you'd never seen it before. You learn everything you need to know about House usually in the first ten minutes. I wouldn't suggest, however, watching it while eating dinner if you have a weak stomach, as it can get quite graphic and there are scenes that teeter on the edge of gimmickry; almost every episode depicts a CGI journey into the patient's body to see what is lurking, and happening, inside.

Hugh Laurie, who portrays Dr. House magnificently, sporting an excellent American accent, was nominated, for the role, in 2005 and 2007 for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Drama in 2006 and again in 2007. He also won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series in 2007 and was nominated for Best Actor in a Television Drama again for the 65th Golden Globe Awards but didn't win.

The show also stars Lisa Edelstein as Dr. Cuddy, Robert Sean Leonard as James Wilson, Omar Epps - an ER alum - as Eric Foreman (no, not That Eric Foreman), and Jennifer Morison as Allison Cameron. It also featured Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar fame as Dr. Lawrence Kutner from October of 2007 to April of 2009 when his character committed suicide (written out of the show when Mr. Penn decided he had wanted to work for President Obama and the White House instead). The program is executive produced by Shore and film director Bryan Singer. The opening theme, an ingenious pick, is "Teardrop" by Massive Attack. House is aired by the Fox Broadcasting Company and is a co-production of Heel and Toe Films (Paul Attanasio and Katie Jacobs), Shore Z Productions (David Shore), and Bad Hat Harry Productions (Bryan Singer) in association with the NBC Universal Television Group.

rootbeer277 says: "re House, MD: No mention of the "it's not lupus" cliche?"
Orange Julius says: "re House, MD: It's never lupus."

Source: wikipedia

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