# "House, M.D.": I ain't impressed! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932 "2005-09-03T21:19:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/41 "2005-09-05T09:57:38Z")
**Zoe** , not only _goofy_ but also _thick as a whale omlette_. Blackadder [Episode 2 : Ink & Incapability](http://www.blackadderhall.com/series/three.shtml) I suspected the medical stuff (in House, not Blackadder\*\*\*\*\*) would be full of holes, but it’s entertainment not education. I guess the OP doesn’t like Monk either, or CSI. \*\*\*\*\*I’m sure any medical details in Blackadder are entirely accurate. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/42 "2005-09-05T16:49:52Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > I guess the OP doesn’t like Monk either, or CSI. CSI I don’t know much about. I **love** _Monk!_ Adrian Monk is a truly **original** character! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/43 "2005-09-05T17:04:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > CSI I don’t know much about. I **love** _Monk!_ Adrian Monk is a truly **original** character! What little I’ve seen of the show bore a striking resemblance to [Probe](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094529/). ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/44 "2005-09-05T17:33:35Z")
Further to the discussion of House as “anticliché”: I spent time with **Mama** and **Papa Doug** over the long weekend. Both are new and zealous _House_ fans, to the point that my comments about the character actually made them _lose it._ “It’s only a stupid TV show!” they snapped. (Yes, we get into nasty arguments over pop culture.) “All right then, why do _you_ like it?” I retorted. No answer. I think a lot of people need to feel tough love, and they want it to be _perfect_ tough love. Never a hint that someone really cares, always the façade, as if anything else is weak and common. Pisses me off. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/45 "2005-09-05T17:40:21Z")
I haven’t actually seen Hugh Laurie in anything else, and did not realize he was a british actor until after I had seen several episodes, so his accent works for me. The problem I have with the show is the format of it; you can guarantee that there’ll be a sudden turn for the worse at the first two commercial breaks, then a miraculous, “this will kill him if it’s not the right thing to do” cure for the last one. I wasn’t watching the clock one night when somebody started coughing up his kidneys, they cut to commercial, and I said, “Must be 8:30.” It was. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/46 "2005-09-05T19:10:23Z")
Sure, I mean at my house we make fun of the show almost nonstop. First, the wife and I both take guesses at what dramatic symptom will present in the opening scene. I like “blood shooting from the eyes” myself, though I’ve yet to win with it. The first couple of things they try will nearly kill the patient (“Oddly enough, he has a very rare allergy to saline IV fluid”), and the convulsions will generally occur when one of the diagnostic staff is nearby. Then it comes down to this: if House is a fucking genius, then the last thing will cure the patient. Otherwise it’ll kill him. Ta da! House is a fucking genius. My wife was under the weather the other day, so I asked her, “Have you ever eaten any pork in your lifetime?” The show is often preposterous, but I still find it very entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/47 "2005-09-05T21:46:51Z")
Ethilrist writes: \> I wasn’t watching the clock one night when somebody started coughing up his \> kidneys, they cut to commercial, and I said, “Must be 8:30.” While watching a _Monk_ marathon once, I conjectured that Monk always says, “I think I solved the case” at 43 minutes into the show. ---
**Author:** ![simply\_cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@simply\_cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simply_cats)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/48 "2005-09-05T23:51:44Z")
I’ve seen House a few times, and have always generally enjoyed it. I simply wanted to add that is had one of my favorite exchanges in a long time between House, and the woman administrator (Cuddy?) (paraphrased): Cuddy: There is no “I” in “team” House: Yeah, but there is a “me”… you just have to switch the letters around. Maybe just a throwback to my high school volleyball days, but that line cracked me up for days, and I am sure I annoyed friends and students alike by repeating it. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/49 "2005-09-06T00:08:56Z")
I’ve been able to catch bits and pieces of it thanks to my insane travel schedule. I decided to watch “Three Stories” in its entirety. I was hooked. Yes, the plot was contrived and predictable, and yes, a real life doctor would have gotten fired and his ass sued a million times over, but it still made for compelling television. It helped that Hugh Laurie is an awesome actor. (As a slight hijack, I wonder how much of the Wilson/House dynamic is intentionally heading towards slash. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/50 "2005-09-06T00:53:07Z")
It’s been one of the few shows I’ve really gotten into over the years. Because… \*Hugh Laurie can act his ass off. Excellent accent to this here Texan. \*House is an _atheist_! Not like we ever get to see that much, certainly not in a positive light. \*Not only is he flawed, but to the extent that it hurts him (and others) deeply. Plus, there’s no repenting. \*People haven’t been able to win him over to the kinder-gentler side, no. matter. what. Both are true to life. \*And I’d definitely hit it. Happily. Lots. 😉 😃 [You could also throw in Chase as an extra treat. I’d be okay with that.] Though I must confess, I wouldn’t want to have jack to do with someone like that in real life (I already do with my mother, but she’s not brilliant in any regard) and working with them would cause me to have a coronary that would be misdiagnosed at least 3 times with near-fatal consequences, only to be cleared up before my final break of the day. 😛 But that’s about my only complaint with it is it’s formulaic formatting. Other than that, I want to grow up and be just like Cuddy. She freakin’ rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/51 "2005-09-06T14:22:03Z")
> [@simply\_cats](#): > > Cuddy: There is no “I” in “team” For _years_ now, my response to this has been "Yeah, but there is an “eat” and a “me”… Oh, and Cuddy is totally hot. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/52 "2005-09-06T16:15:27Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Further to the discussion of House as “anticliché”: I spent time with **Mama** and **Papa Doug** over the long weekend. Both are new and zealous _House_ fans, to the point that my comments about the character actually made them _lose it._ Well, if you insisted on making these comments _during the show_ instead of waiting for the commercials, I’d seriously consider going to town on you myself. I don’t even like _House_, but snide remarks during the broadcast of any show I’m trying to watch are just plain rude. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/53 "2005-09-06T16:38:23Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > He’s an anticliché. But still a cliché. I do think there’s a similar (though not so well-developed) character: Prof. Kingsfield from the early 80s show _Paper Chase_. Both he and House have one foot in the ivory tower of Socratic formalism and the other foot on the ground, kicking ass. They both suggest that sometimes, the people who care the most are those least likely to show it. But you want them on that wall, you need them on that wall (to paraphrase _A Few Good Men_), because it’s a tough world, and a tough world needs tough people, and _someone_ in this debased world where we’re all either cold-blooded mercenaries or touchy-feely wimps has to Stand For Something. You keep saying the word “cliche.” I do not think it means what you think it means. Look, for House to be a cliche, there would have to be a multitude of other characters of his type behaving in ways very similar or identically to him. You’ve named exactly one. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/54 "2005-09-06T17:07:38Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Well, if you insisted on making these comments _during the show_ instead of waiting for the commercials, I’d seriously consider going to town on you myself. What gave you _that_ idea? Do I remind you of someone who talks over the TV? (I don’t, BTW.) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/55 "2005-09-06T18:01:58Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > What gave you _that_ idea? Do I remind you of someone who talks over the TV? (I don’t, BTW.) Well, okay, then. Your post didn’t specify and its easy to imagine someone wondering why their relatives would emotionally defend an unremarkable show yet fail to realize the relatives _might_ have been miffed because of the unappreciated MST3K commentary during the broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/56 "2005-09-06T18:40:44Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > You keep saying the word “cliche.” I do not think it means what you think it means. Look, for House to be a cliche, there would have to be a multitude of other characters of his type behaving in ways very similar or identically to him. You’ve named exactly one. Oh poop. There are lots of this _kind_ of character. Not _exactly_ like him. What do we call that? Demi-cliché, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![The\_New\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@The\_New\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_New_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/57 "2005-09-06T18:48:40Z")
> [@Johnny Angel](#): > > One of them is the tendency to add an ‘r’ at the end words ending with a vowel. Apparently they think we do this a lot, whereas I think we do it not at all. Actually, it’s probably more that they just forget to _not_ do that. English people seem extremely fond of adding ‘r’ to the end of words, and also seem to enjoy leaving off the ‘r’ when there _is_ one. For example, although I loved Patrick Stewart in the Star Trek series, but when he said “Data”, it became “Dater”, and when he said “Crusher”, it became “Crusha”. And I don’t think he was trying to sound American. I’m gonna have to watch House again just to see if I can hear any accent. I had no idea he was faking it. ‘House’ isn’t the greatest show on TV, but it’s certainly a lot better than most of what’s on. The character reminds me of a more serious version of “Becker”. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/58 "2005-09-06T19:13:06Z")
> [@Amazingrace](#): > > I love this show! I can’t be the only doper on board… > > ::crickets:: > > can I? We hated him for all the same reasons as our OP for the first two shows. He got less obnoxious as the series went on. I adore him in a “man-I’d-totally-do-him” kind of way. Plus, I think he’s funny and does drama well. We just love this show now. ---
**Author:** ![The\_New\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@The\_New\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_New_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/59 "2005-09-06T23:17:05Z")
Oh, I forgot - I was also going to ask: Is it really necessary for the characters to be likeable in order for it to be a good show? Personally, I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932/60 "2005-09-06T23:25:43Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > You keep saying the word “cliche.” I do not think it means what you think it means. Look, for House to be a cliche, there would have to be a multitude of other characters of his type behaving in ways very similar or identically to him. You’ve named exactly one. Dr Cox on Scrubs. A better written version of the same basic kind of character. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-m-d-i-aint-impressed/319932.md?page=4)