House, M.D.: Season One Studio: Universal Studios Home Video Year: 2004-2005 (2005 Release) Rated: Not Rated Aspect Ratio: 1.78x1 (NOT enhanced for 16x9 televisions) Audio: English DD 5.1 Captions/Subtitles: English SDH; Spanish Subtitles Time: 972 minutes Case Style: DigiPak Disc Format: Dual Sided / Dual Layered (DVD-18, 3 disc set) ”Everybody lies.” – Dr. Gregory House The Feature: Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) is a brilliant diagnostician who specializes in infectious diseases and nephrology. But like a good punch to the kidneys, he is also a pain to deal with—a big one. House has the bedside manners of a rabid dog—he really does not seem to care much for patients, or people in general. He is in constant pain due to a leg problem, and as a result he is addicted to prescription pain pills. Yet, as the head of diagnostic medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey, he leads a team of three young doctors with their own specialties, into a field of investigative medicine that borders on the miraculous: the treatment of unusual medical cases, with as many twists and turns as your typical CSI show—only the patients are still alive, and mostly end up living. This rabid dog saves lives. House, M.D. arrived on the Fox network last season and found enough ratings and a fan base to return for a second season (which starts on September 13th). In the typical episode, the patient of the week arrives to be the focus of House’s team, and there is a race against time to cure the patient. House is at odds with hospital administrator Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), who reminds him often that he owes the hospital’s clinic some time, even though House feels his talents are being wasted—or, he’d rather be watching General Hospital. (For those of us who wonder if there is more to the Cuddy/House story, some of our questions are answered near the end of the first season—early on, we see that she cuts him a lot of slack considering his unorthodox methods, and recognizes his talents despite the fact that he’s a major liability—later, there are some hints as to why she cuts him that slack.) There is occasional banter between House and his best friend and oncologist Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), and there is constant interaction with the young doctors in servitude (Foreman, Cameron and Chase, played respectively by Omar Epps, Jennifer Morrison, and Jesse Spencer). Throw in some often funny case-load in the clinic, particularly with how the abrasive doctor handles his patients, and that is the typical day in the life of Dr. Gregory House. The Season One DVD set of House, M.D. comes on three double-sided, dual-layered discs. I’ve watched over half of the set, but feel it’s enough to comment on the show and DVD. The episodes, most of which are around 44 minutes, are as follows: Disc 1 – Side A Pilot Paternity Occam's Razor Maternity Disc 1 – Side B Damned If You Do The Socratic Method Fidelity Poison Disc 2 – Side A DNR Histories Detox Sports Medicine Disc 2 – Side B Cursed Control Mob Rules Heavy Disc 3 – Side A Role Model Babies & Bathwater Kids Love Hurts Disc 3 – Side B Three Stories The Honeymoon DVD Extras My favorite episode (so far) is “Three Stories,” which was so good, I watched it a second time. I find myself as addicted to this show as House is to Vicoden, with its finely drawn characters and interesting storylines. I’ll be watching this in high-definition when it premieres next week. The Feature: 5 / 5 
Video: Unfortunately, the praise ends here. According to reports which you may have seen on this forum, in their rush to get this DVD to street before the second season started, Universal chose to release House, M.D. in widescreen form but without enhancement for 16x9 televisions. There is no reason a show that was filmed and broadcast in high definition mere month ago can’t be mastered in anamorphic widescreen for DVD release. None. Based on the similarly-timed Firefly, it should have even fit in the same disc space. Still, the video quality is watchable. On the scaling Panasonic RP91 and the RPTV, there was a definite lack of detail due to the reduced resolution of the non-anamorphic transfer, but color accuracy and black levels were strong, and I did not detect any jarring edge enhancement or artifacts. Downgrading to the interlaced DVD player and vintage 4x3 display, I did detect some jaggies on the edges, especially on that overhead helicopter shot of the hospital complex—but the rest of the picture looked fine. If you’ve currently got a 4x3 display, you probably won’t care that the DVD’s are not 16x9 enhanced—but as I’ve been saying for the last eight years, you should. That HDTV you’ve always wanted will be 16x9, and when you play non-anamorphic material on it, I promise you will see the difference. I am docking the video quality aspect of this review because it was not enhanced for 16x9 displays. Had it been enhanced for 16x9 displays, I probably would have given it a 3.5-4. Video: 2.5 / 5 
Sound: The English 5.1 soundtrack is a nice touch, and occasionally active, mostly clear, centered dialogue, and ambient sounds in the other speakers. The music does spread to the rears, as do the cellular-level interior-body zooms. In the episode that involved the leg saw, I felt like it was in the room with me. This was a good 5.1 mix. While we are on the subject of music, there has been discussion of music substitution. So far, I’ve heard The Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker, and the main title by Massive Attack. On the surface, this is the original music aired in the United States—if you have any additional information about music substitution, please post it in this thread. Sound: 4 / 5 Extras: A variety of short videos accompany the two episodes on disc 3, side B: The Concept (4:49) is a talking-head piece the creators and producers. Of course, when David Shore is your creator and Bryan Singer is your producer (and occasional director) it gets to be very interesting. Casting Session with Hugh Laurie (1:25) is a brief reading from the pilot episode Medical Cases (4:25) talks about the ideas for all those medical problems (and assures us that more medical mysteries are to come) Set Tour (5:38) is a behind-the-scenes tour of the set and filming of the show House-isms (4:03) is a collection of those great, sarcastic House remarks—complete with a little side-commentary by Hugh Laurie and his fellow cast members. Dr. House (6:37) is a summary look at the House character and Hugh Laurie with cast and creator interviews. Extras: 4 / 5 The Differential Diagnosis: The House, M.D.: Season One DVD is a missed opportunity as far as the video presentation is concerned, but I don’t see that being fixed anytime soon. So, it serves as a way to get caught-up on the show before the next season starts, if you get into a marathon viewing session. Otherwise, TiVo the first few episodes of season 2 and check out season 1 when you can. I really liked the series, and that is the primary basis of this rating. Overall Rating: 4 / 5 Release Date: August 30, 2005 Display calibrated by Steve Martin at http://www.lionav.com/
I finished the final shows this evening. What a great series.
