Dr. House - Medical Division

"House" is one of the best new shows of the season that no one is watching.

Yes, it is another medical drama (and haven't we seen enough of those?) but what this show lacks in originality it makes up in character. Namely - Dr. Greg House.

House is a cranky, cynical highly intelligent doctor with a limp that specializes in weird medical cases. Each week he, and his team of fresh faced young doctors, tackle some new medical mystery. With the use of CSI camera views and mouth-numbing medical jargon, the show tries not to bore you to tears with the specific case.

Still, though the cases are entertaining and puzzling, that's not why you should watch this show.

Unlike most stale TV cop/medical/lawyer shows out there, "House" doesn't focus on the cases alone. Week by week we actually get a chance to...GASP!...learn about the characters! But the character that everyone will be obsessed with his Hugh Laurie's Dr. House.

House, even though cranky and unlovable, is a sweet guy at heart. He's the type of guy you want curing you. Though he rarely visits his patients, at least he doesn't sugar coat things for you. He will call you an idiot to your face and you'll love him for it. Each time you watch you'll want to know what else he likes besides "General Hospital" and Vicadin pills.

Dr. House is hiding out Tuesday nights at 8pm amid all the other bored-with-their-jobs characters. Whenever you're sick of case obsessed Gil Grissom or any Law and Order detective, tune into "House".

I promise you'll at least leave with a fresh feeling in your brain.

Let me put it simply. I am a physician, and as an inviolable rule, I HATE medical shows. Granted, TV series tend to be one dimensional, due to inherent difficulties in the genre, but "doctor shows" are something I avoid like the proverbial plague.

And then one evening I caught "House, MD" and was completely drawn into the show. In House I find the anti-hero that I've been waiting for in a medical show. The guy who knows everything, but is wrong often enough to keep us all guessing. I enjoy the contrast of House and his cadre of young fresh faced colleagues, complete with starched white lab coats, who struggle as much with their professionally imposed constraints, and sense of decorum, as they do with his personality. And, wonder of wonders, the use of ironic and tragic comedy is without peer in what I've seen in the TV world in recent memory. In a nutshell, I really never know what any given character will say or do and it's that freshness that will keep me coming back for more. Somewhere there is a team of writers who actually know their craft, and an acting ensemble that knows how to pull it off. Now I can watch my TV one hour a week........

I love this show. Fell in love with the pilot, which I got on DVD. I tried watching NBC's Medical Investigation, but it just felt and looked too corny. House is a definite improvement of Medical Investigation. It's smart and daring. I love the sarcasm and snide comments coming from Dr. House. Supporting actors are great. It's CSI-ish but quirky like Arrested Development. I hope it stays on the air. Cancel Medical Investigation but keep House. It's a good sign that FOX is pushing plenty of promos for the show, such as free DVD previews of the pilot. I look forward to watching the show every week. I'd like to see the show develop more of the characters and why Dr. House limps.

So I like medicine and mysteries and watched CSI the first couple of times but got bored quickly with the repetitive format and self-important characters. Nowadays there's usually not that much in the way of mystery shows on (US) TV anymore--cop shows, sure, but mysteries? And while ER is certainly a quality show, I never really cared that much for it either--too much like a daytime soap but with blood. "House," however, seems a nice combo of medicine, mystery, and character. Hugh Laurie's Dr. House is someone you feel guilty loving because he's so arrogant and callous, but he keeps you entertained because you can't wait to hear what he'll say next. House loves to tell the truth as he sees it, cutting through the nice happy lies that your average urban US adult tells and believes, never mind the hurt feelings he might leave lying bleeding by the roadside. But of course, his character *may* hide a heart of gold, so in the end he's trying to do the right thing. Sure, it's a formula, and House is even a stock character maybe, but it works.

If the creators/writers are smart, they'll allow a little character development, especially amongst the excellent supporting cast, but not ruin it by changing House or allowing him a romance with either of his female costars. Keep that sexual tension going!

For fun, catch Hugh Laurie--who is British by the way--sometime on one of the seasons of Black Adder (usually rebroadcast on PBS, but also available at better video rental shops). He plays a complete idiot and is as convincing in that role as he is as the brilliant and misanthropic Dr. House. . .

House is a brilliant show medically speaking but so much more than that at the same time. The show is a kind of "24" meets medicine extravaganza. The main character, Dr. Gregory House, is played beautifully by Hugh Laurie. Dr. House is a bitter but brilliant doctor who is crippled in one leg due to the inability of doctors to properly diagnose his problem in time. This makes him a decidedly bitter person when dealing with others yet he is one of the best doctors in his field of diagnostic medicine. He is being forced to serve his clinic hours that he had avoided for a number of years, and this is where the show takes place; in a walk in clinic. Each show is a mysterious new case that puts the patient's life on the line as time runs out. I am disheartened by all of the bad comments people are making about this show, but everyone I have seen this show with and everyone I have shown the show to love it and find it enormously entertaining, funny, and brilliant.