House, M.D. ongoing thread (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Finally, in the midst of tons of choices (Scrubs, The Amazing Race 6, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Rebel Billionaire, Veronica Mars (except tonight due to the Vibe Awards), NCIS, and NYPD Blue), Fox launches House, M.D. tonight in the 9 p.m. EST timeslot.

I may need a 4th ReplayTV if this log jam of Tuesday doesn't clear up soon...

 

[Brad Porter]

One TiVo is catching The Amazing Race. The other TiVo is catching Scrubs. That leaves me with no choice but to skip House, which is probably the same response that most of the viewing public will have - and Fox will cancel this show after six or eight episodes.

Unless of course the baseball viewing public was so enamored of hearing "You're risking a patient's life!" 8 million times that they will tune in due to some Pavlovian response.

Too bad, because I like Hugh Laurie.

Brad

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, The Amazing Race is being repeated Saturday; don't know whether that will be a regular thing.

Fortunately, I've got two VCRs and a Replay, so I'm set for the Amazing Race/House/Veronica Mars logjam.

 

[Brenda M]

Thought the first episode was OK. Shocked to hear Hugh Laurie with an American accent. I mean, I always associate him first with "Jeeves and Wooster", this was like a total reverse of that charactor.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

If you were smart you'd nix 'The Amazing Race' and do this instead. Wow! About 50 minutes into it I realized that this was on Fox, and it sure does show, But Dr. House is a classic. We need more of him.

Patrick - Got change for a dollar?

I think that line is going to crack me up for months now.

Glenn

 

[David Williams]

I really enjoyed the almost complete misanthropic nature of the character and LOL several times. Definitely will be back next week.

 

[Jason Walstrom]

I was very impressed with the first episode. certainly something fresh in the time of CSIormulaic.

 

[MikeFR]

I liked it, it was interesting and funny at the same time. Definately a nice change.

 

[Quentin]

I didn't see the premiere, but I watched the second episode about night terrors.

Interesting take on medical drama. He's an ass...with a heart. And, a funny, sarcastic sense of humor. What an annoying, smart alec he is.

But, I'll be anxious to see what kind of rare medical stuff they come up with week in/week out. It seems like it will be hard to keep up.

 

[Evan M]

I caught this episode (No One Tree Hill this week), and really enjoyed it. I had not really considered trying to watch another show in the same time slot, but I think this one is worth catching. I set my spare VCR to record it and will be watching it for a while... I hope they can keep the same feel and mystery to it.

 

[Doug Schiller]

After seeing commercial after commercial during the NFL games, someone would have to ClockWork Orange me in a chair with a gun in my head before I would watch this show.
They need to look for another way to market it.

 

[Jason Seaver]

What about the promotion do you not like? The only thing that really bugged me was the volume (though Hugh Laurie is likely not the instant sell he is for me for the rest of America) and the emphasis on Hugh's dialogue with the least convincing American accent ("You're risking your patients' life!").

So far it's entertaining, but it seems to be falling into a pattern very quickly, which makes Hugh Laurie's performance the big draw. And it is a big draw; based on what we've seen so far, I'd be surprised if he wasn't getting an Emmy nomination next fall. Well, not surprised, but disappointed.

 

[Keith I]

Have you read the message boards on the House web site at Fox? Whooo, there are some heated debates (to put it mildly) in there about the nature of House's personality and how it is portrayed in the show. Even the poll on the home page seems to reflect that nature (Which kind of doctor would you want to treat you?). I enjoy the show; a different pace than ER or Medical Investigations.

http://www.fox.com/house/

 

[Bryan Toth]

I did a quick search and was surprised to see that nobody's started a thread about "House." I've been watching this the past few weeks and just love it. (other than "Lost", my favorite new show of the year.) Hugh Laurie does such an amazing job of being a total pain in the ass to everyone but somehow still maintaining likability. I've seen that it hasn't been doing all that hreat in the ratings, but hopefully FOX will stick with it for a while .... seeing House's interactions with the patients alone is worth it ....

Bryan

 

[MikeFR]

Actually there is a thread already.

And yes its a great show. I stopped watching Lost because it was so good and I was missing episodes(waiting for dvd now), but House and Boston Legal are my two favorite new shows.

 

[Bryan Toth]

oops .... my bad ... sorry about that ... I searched through the past 2 days of theads (figured there'd be a comment from this week's episode ...) guess I didn't go back far enough...

 

[Patrick Sun]

No harm done, I've merged the threads. Carry on!

BTW, I've seen 2 of the episodes (but not this week's episode yet), and House is a riot sometimes (but most of the laughs come from the inside). House and the Lisa Edelstein character have good antagonistic chemistry. Now his treatment of his female intern goes outside of bound of harrassment/belittlement, but I think she puts up with it because she knows she'll learn a lot from him, and his ribbing doesn't appear to be solely malicious, but rather just self-centered.

 

[MikeFR]

I think they need to break away from the single 'case' formula. It takes some of the suspense away when the patient is recovering, but there is still half an hour left

 

[Bryan Toth]

This week's episode seemed to take up most of the hour ... (don't think they solved it until the last act). But either way, I just hope they leave time for House's interactions with the clinic patients. I know the show's not really a comedy, but I've laughed harder at some of his comments there than I have during any "sitcom" in recent memory ... ("and have the RIAA check for any illegal downloads!")

Bryan

 

[JustinCleveland]

The forumla has gotten old, at least for me, in the first three episodes. Patient comes in sick, they try a treatment, patient gets better, patient gets suddenly worst, a radical treatment is attempted, House has an epiphany, cure. In the interim, we've got a bunch of doctors philosophising on the nature of their profession.

That having been said, there are some incredible positives to this program. The most notable is the wonderful character of House, who makes me crack up. I don't know that I've seen such a great character on television in a while. His work in the clinic and against the administrator is nothing short of staggering. The third episode really cast him into a brilliant mold, rather than being fortunate, because he researched to come up with his diagnosis.

The supporting cast is good, for what they are. The dynamic between each and House and eachother is appropriate and lacking in excessive drama that could be a perilous trap where they take the focus from the mystery or House himself. Keep them in the background, let them shine a little, but don't over do it.