I’m not really sure what to say about “House.” I have loved the show since it started (losing the love now because of the idiotic House/Cuddy arcs), and I can’t really tell you why. I loved it at first because House was so far outside what you expected a doctor to be doing. I loved the characters and the way they interacted, and also the medical mysteries. Hugh Laurie, I suspect, was also a big part of that, because he’s very good at what he does (as is the rest of the cast). It was something different than the usual lawyer/hospital/office evening soap operas.
If having basically the same formula every week is a dealbreaker, then no, it doesn’t get any better. If you’re looking for an hour of entertainment, I’d say give it a few episodes to grow on you, and if it doesn’t, it isn’t for you.
I checked a while back (and again just now). Only 17 episodes are online, not that one. Just checking IMDB, it looks like one of the stations that has it in syndication just ran the pilot, so if they’re going in order, it’ll be in in the next few weeks. I’ll keep an eye out for it and catch it on TiVo.
I prefer to watch Three’s Company. Did you ever see the episode where Jack is in another room discussing something totally innocent and Janet overhears and thinks it’s about sex?
Or Gilligan’s Island, I loved the episode where they’re going to get off that island and Gilligan mess up the chance for rescue? Did anyone see that episode
That was my fault, when I said “Ever since “Two Stories” was on a few weeks ago I’ve heard about this episode quite a few times” I was referring to “Three Stories” from Season 1. That is, ever since Two Stories aired, it seems like everyone has been talking about how great Three Stories was. That’s the one I want to watch.
This. We really need to have a “definitive thread answer button”. House definitely has some interesting out of the ordinary episodes, and does have some story arcs that span more than one episode, and finds ways to change things up from time to time. But, at it’s heart, it’s still a formula show. That’s not a bad thing. Some of the most popular dramas are procedurals, which are formula show. Instead of a police or law procedural, this is a medical procedural. If the repetitiveness is bothering you, either formula shows aren’t your thing, or else you are watching them at too fast a pace.
Okay. Gotcha. Ironically, the reason I knew the “Two Stories” episode was on Hulu was because I was checking to see if they had the “Three Stories” episode. Like you, I’ve been hearing about it but haven’t seen it.
It gets arcs that don’t have to do with people’s love life. Arcs based on how screwed up House is. The last time I watched the show, there was a big arc about House going crazy that culminated with him being committed (End of season 4, I think.)
But, yeah, it’s a formula show. Part of the fun is seeing if you can figure out what is causing the problem. Another part is seeing if you can figure out what parts are junk science, checking this blog to see if you are right. Another is getting lost in a world where even the worst diseases are never fatal because you have a super-doctor. And I guess there’s fun in watching the sexual tension between House and Cuddy, or even House and Wilson.
If you think about it, the book series it is based on is quite repetitive, too. When does Doyle stray from his mystery formula?
“Three Stories” happened to be the first episode of House I ever saw, the night it was premiered, so that is how I got hooked on the show. Then I just got hooked on Hugh Laurie’s awesomeness. Now I mostly watch for the some episodes that have a good case but mostly the doctor-focused scenes.
I seem to be less annoyed than most about the repetitiveness. It makes me laugh a lot of the time. Because it’s just a damn TV show. I mean you’d think they could stop doing the EXACT same thing with the patients every show but apparently, pretty much not…but if you’ve been watching for years you know these things usually happen and you’ll know when:
patient will get really sick at the beginning of the show
show up in the hospital, often appear OK, tests being ran
one of the docs is talking to patient and at that exact moment, something freaky happens (seizure, massive BP drop, odd bleeding, sudden paralyzation, etc)
all the docs will sit at the table in the office and discuss, they still don’t know what’s wrong, then more tests, decide to treat to figure it out
patient gets really sick, about to die
House is talking to Wilson about something totally unrelated and House gets an “AHA!” moment and runs off, having figured out the diagnosis
patient cured!
I’ve missed some of course, but the patient will be cured at around 7:52 CST or so, giving enough time to wrap up everyone’s personal issues before the episode ends. But there are some episodes that break the formula, and they’re usually fantastic. Even some of the formulaic episodes are fantastic because the case is just REALLY good. And IMO the last couple seasons with all the major House-drama, the formula stuff felt less noticeable because the doctor-drama was more important.
I still watch every week, faithfully, because I still want to know what the writers are going to do with House. Lately they have been pretty mean to him, so there is no way I can give up, I still care to know.
The episodes I’ve watched that have broken the mold laid out so well by myskepticsight have been my faves - the one where Omar Epps character caught the disease of the week; the one where Omar Epps character (again) accidently kills a patient by mistakenly destroying her immune system; the ones with House’s old flame (played by Sela Ward); the one with Chase & his father. I guess I liked the original cast so much, I haven’t warmed up to the last few seasons, though I don’t hate ‘13’ as some do. Oh - I forgot some other favorite eps - when Wilson’s girlfriend dies, and the aftermath episodes. so, yes, plenty of House is worth watching.
It is what it is. I will happily sit on my butt watching the twice-three times weekly House-a-Thon for 8 hours at a stretch. I don’t care that it’s a formula. There’s other stuff, dealing with their personal lives outside the hospital (Wilson trying to buy furniture, lol), the occasional special show (the two-parter with the bus crash, the girl trapped under a collapsed building, the all-too-brief storyline of House’s stay in the mental hospital, the musical episode!).
