[QUOTE=RealityChuck]
Because that would be dull. Would you prefer a boring show if it was “more real”?
If so, watch test patterns. If not, pay attention to the story, not the trivia.
[/QUOTE]
I wouldn’t prefer “more real,” I’d just prefer a universe with internally consistent rules.
I have no problem with fictional worlds where the rules differ from my own. I watched BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL for their entire respective runs, and generally enjoyed the stories in spite of the fact that vampires don’t, technically, exist.
But to enjoy the story, I have to have some idea what the rules of the fictional world ARE, and feel confident that those rules will either remain constant, or if they are changed, that there will be an explanation for those changes within the context of the world that’s being depicted.
In the particular case of HOUSE, it was established from the beginning of the series that: (1) in this particular fictional version of the world, House can get away with antisocial and ethically questionable behavior that in real life wouldn’t be acceptable, as long as his overall contribution to society in the form of saved lives remains consistent; (2) that House was a drug addict, but able to perform his job functions perfectly well in spite of that; and (3) that in this particular world, House is someone for whom I should root. So I accept those rules, and I enjoy the stories that utilize those rules (and others that the creators have devised since) to further the plot. I even have no problem with the recent decision by the writers to change #2 - that House’s drug problem is now impeding his ability to work effectively (although they’ve done a poor job of demonstrating that, IMO) - because the world’s rules can change, as long as there’s a reason why.
But here’s the thing: if you don’t explicitly show us that the rules in a certain area differ from the ones we have in the real world, we will assume that (for the most part), they don’t. When you then suddenly expect us to swallow something like the Tritter arc, a problem develops.
Because, OK, say I accept the new rules that the Tritter arc has suggested. So in the reality of HOUSE, there are no significant medical privacy laws. People live in what is essentially a police state, in which law enforcement has incredibly wide-ranging and arbitrary powers to seize assets, intimidate, threaten - and openly, not under-the-table. Hospital administrators have no political power, and an entire department of a major hospital can be closed with no one ever even noticing. Fine. I (hypothetically) accept that.
But where has that been for the last two years? If you’re going to put your characters in a police state that restrictive and authoritarian, it’s going to affect their lives every single day, not just in one instance. If you want that to be a part of your canon, fine, but now it’s a fundamentally different show. And I obviously don’t think they’re going there - that they’re going to set HOUSE in an alternate reality where the power of the police is far beyond anything in reality - and treat with how that would affect people moving forward. I think, instead, that they’re lazily ignoring the rules of their own universe, and will go back to them when they’ve finished this storyline.
To put it another way, if HOUSE resolved the Tritter arc by having memory-eating alien shrimp descend to Earth and feed on the brains of House, Wilson, Cuddy, Tritter, and the rest, thus eliminating any memory of the situation, it would most assuredly not be a boring show. But even if I was only “paying attention to the story,” I’d still find it inconsistent and jarring - as I do the present storyline.