I caught the premiere of this show on U.S.A. lasty night., It looked pretty good. Notquite up to par with say, the best of Law and Order, but solid all around.
The show is about a rather cranky doctor named House. He’s got a major limp and walks with a cane, and attempts to see patients as little as possible (in fact, this gets him into considerable trouble). Despite his predeliction for making diagnoses without actually talking to the patient (he is of the opinion that they all lie, and he seems to be right).
Good show, though. Even the first episode has solid production values and a cast that seems to know what they are doing. Since I know much less about medicine than say, Criminal Justice, I’m less likely to find annmoying mistakes. Moreover, they don’t need to fake high technology. They actually have MRI machines and so on.
One other good thing about this show: cheap sets. With Law and Order, they have to jazz up all these super-ritzy New York apartments or shoot scenes out in public. House takes place within the hospital grounds, so it’s probably cheaper.
Personally, I find it way too formulaic and the characters, save House himself, tedious. Good for occasional watching, but nothing I’d go out of my way to catch.
Main character: Holmes = House (pun)
Sidekick: Watson = Wilson
Sidekick affectionate, friendly of House/Holmes despite mistreatment
Watson has wound in leg = House has bad leg
Watson has “experience with women” and is married = ditto Wilson
Holmes/House makes amazing deductions based on observations of minute detail. And, the kicker, House’s street address is 221 (shown on at least one episdoe.)
I read recently in TV Guide that two other titles considered for the show were: Chasing Zebras (as in the old saying, “When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras”) and Circling The Drain. I’m glad they went with House, because neither of those other two was very good.
Note also that Wilson’s first name is James, which is what John Watson’s wife once called him, to the long delight of keen players of the Game. Jimmy Wilson is also an appreciator of ladies, like his Victorian counterpart, as you noted, and likewise has had more than one wife.
The resemblances between Greggory House and Sherlock Holmes of course are many, including the drug addiction.
