# Questions about House MD **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943 "2014-04-12T16:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/41 "2014-04-13T00:27:05Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > This is very good. In the first 10 episodes they’ve already mentioned vasculitis 3 or 4 times. I assumed Cuddy dresses like she does because she believes cleavage has therapeutic value. She started after the Duckling with the bad English accent had a teenage boy look down Cameron’s blouse to distract him from pain. It wasn’t a bad English accent. Chase was Australian, as is Jesse Spencer, the actor who played him. Jennifer Morrison, who played Cameron, and Spencer were once a couple IRL, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/42 "2014-04-13T01:38:13Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Every so often they take a break from the formula, and when they do, it can get pretty good. The episode “Three Stories” is one of the best hours of series television EVER. That’s the first episode I saw. On an airplane…I think I was on the way to Palau at the time. (ahh…) I was hooked. Until I got fed up with it. I came back for the final episode. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/43 "2014-04-13T19:19:45Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Coma guy was played by a supersized John Larroquette for Night Court fans. 😃 Technically speaking, he’s Persistent Vegetative State Guy (I skipped ahead), 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/44 "2014-04-13T19:59:01Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I seem to recall there are a great number of episodes where someone suddenly coughs up gobs of blood seemingly out of nowhere. Yes. Every week it was “cough up blood” “poop out blood” or on one memorable occasion, “cough up poop”. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/45 "2014-04-13T20:07:25Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > It wasn’t a bad English accent. Chase was Australian Of course it was. The original settlers of Australia were bad English people. ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/46 "2014-04-13T23:14:09Z")
Surprised there hasn’t been any love for the end of the 5th/beginning of the 6th series. IMO, (SPOILER) his psychotic break/time in a mental hospital made for the high point of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/47 "2014-04-14T11:29:13Z")
I’ve always seen it as a police procedural, only the “whodunnit” is a “wotcausedit”. The breaks from reality / general plot are basically what you’d see in a CSI or a Morse: [ul] [li]Something bad happens[/li][li]Bit of investigation where we learn some stuff about the victim[/li][li]A theory is posited[/li][li]The theory is tested by people who normally wouldn’t do the testing[/li][li]The theory turns out to be wrong with something bad happening just before the ad break[/li][li]Cast is stumped[/li][li]A seemingly random event in the B plot turns out to reveal the key to the whole mystery[/li][li]Happily ever after with maybe some long-term implications for the main cast[/ul][/li] Add the genius problem solver with a troubled past and attitude / addiction problem, some newish colleagues to explain stuff to, a bureaucratic obstacle, and the grounded friend with a knack for saying the right thing at the right time. That’s not to say that the show is _bad_ because of these things, it just means that watching more than four or five at a time becomes an exercise in waiting for the story beats rather than watching for what you are going to get more value out of, which is the characters. The same thing happened to me when my fiancée was mainlining Morse episodes after recovering from surgery; every episode seemed to hinge on somebody having stolen somebody else’s identity twenty years ago. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2014, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/48 "2014-04-14T12:22:28Z")
Again, _House_ is a deliberate parallel to the Sherlock Holmes stories: > **[Gregory House and Sherlock Holmes connections](https://house.fandom.com/wiki/Gregory_House_and_Sherlock_Holmes_connections)** > > 'How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?' - Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of the Four (1890) on the basic concept behind the differential diagnosis. Series... The Sherlock Holmes stories were wonderful in many respects, but they were never completely plausible mysteries and the plotting was obviously stereotyped in many ways. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/49 "2014-05-01T18:15:38Z")
I was happy to find this thread because I just started watching the whole series a little over a week ago. I can cram a lot of episodes into a day. A short while ago I was a few minutes into Season 5 Episode 10. I had to pause, and when I went to restart it there was a popup that said “Sorry, this title is not available for streaming” Phooey. I’m pretty invested. I can’t remember the last time I looked at my queue online. If it had a notice, “Available unitl 5/1” I never saw it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/50 "2014-05-01T19:12:36Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Again, _House_ is a deliberate parallel to the Sherlock Holmes stories: > > [Gregory House and Sherlock Holmes connections | House Wiki | Fandom](http://house.wikia.com/wiki/Gregory_House_and_Sherlock_Holmes_connections) > > The Sherlock Holmes stories were wonderful in many respects, but they were never completely plausible mysteries and the plotting was obviously stereotyped in many ways. I know, but I always got the feeling I could have figured things out in the Holmes stories, even when I probably couldn’t have. I feel like in most episodes of House, you had no chance at all to solve the mystery. It really is more a drama or soap opera than a mystery show. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/51 "2014-05-01T19:35:55Z")
One of the things that really jumps out at me (we’re a few eps into season 2, now) is the utter lack of cost and insurance considerations except when they’re a very minor plot point to be brushed aside. The girl with cancer who had $1M+ in treatment… just to buy a declining year of health before inevitable death… who’s supposed to have paid for that? Who pays for the third or fourth MRI or spinal tap or exploratory brain surgery? I realize this strikes right at the heart of the whole insurance crisis of the last ten years… but, y’know, these shows ARE ten years old. How much did TV of this kind set people’s expectations for treatment? How many people went in with something utterly ordinary and were diagnosed with a look and a few basic vitals, and threw a fit because they didn’t get run through every “machine that goes PING!” to make sure? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/52 "2014-05-01T19:41:54Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > If you are interested in a physician’s reviews of the individual episodes I recommend [House Medical Reviews](http://www.politedissent.com/house_pd.html) at the [politedissent.com](http://politedissent.com) website. I love reading those reviews. It’s fascinating how much the writer enjoys the show, despite knowing that a significant amount of the content is hogwash. It’s easy for the rest of us to ignore all the medical talk (and inaccuracies) because it’s _all_ hogwash to us. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/53 "2014-05-01T22:04:07Z")
Kindly disregard my earlier post. It’s back. Phew! I would have assumed it was just a “technical difficulty” but when I went to look at the website there were a number of reviews posted by people more freaked out than I was demanding! it be restored. I will say that my experience of the series likely suffers from watching the episodes so close together. It seems like every other episode Guillain Barre explains a different list of symptoms. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/54 "2014-05-02T02:05:42Z")
You’re right in a way, Amateur Barbarian, but you should realize that the same thing is true of the influence of modern crime shows on juries: > **[CSI effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSI_effect)** > > The CSI effect describes the various ways in which the exaggerated portrayal of forensic science on crime television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation influences public perception. The term was first reported in a 2004 USA Today article describing the effect being made on trial jurors by television programs featuring forensic science. > It most often refers to the belief that jurors have come to demand more forensic evidence in criminal trials, thereby raising the effective standard of ... Prosecutors now have to explain to juries that the amount of forensic evidence that is shown being used in typical crime shows would cost wildly more than they could ever spend for a single case. They have to explain that the tests they can afford can never prove their case as definitively as on TV. They have to explain that eyewitness and circumstantial evidence has to be considered in the jury’s decisions as much as the scientific tests that are so overemphasized on TV series. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/55 "2014-05-02T03:51:36Z")
Ah. Well, the last police or law procedural I watched was probably “LA Law,” and this is the first doctor show since… maybe Marcus Welby or Emergency. So I’m a little behind the curve on things. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/56 "2014-05-02T13:50:35Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Damn I should have thought of that [the aha moment]! It’s in at least three quarters of the episodes I’ve seen. I think that’s an underestimate. > [@Claverhouse](#): > > It has Jennifer Morrison and Olivia Wilde so it’s never wasted time. No kidding. I’m Wilde about Olivia. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Okay, the evolved rules (so far): > > [ul] > [li]If anyone on the the diagnostic team says, “differential diagnosis,” take a sip.[/li][li]When they make a diagnosis, take a sip.[/li][li]When the diagnosis proves wrong, take a sip.[/li][li]If the patient has a seizure, take another sip.[/li][li]If the treatment almost kills the patient, take a shot instead.[/li][li]If a patient dies from wrong treatment, take two shots instead.[/li][li]If House gets the final diagnosis from a random clue unrelated to the case, take a shot.[/li][li]If House wins a bet, take a sip.[/li][li]If House loses a bet, take two shots.[/li][/ul] What, no sip for lambasting a team member for their diagnosis? No shot for the lambasted diagnosis turning out to have been illuminating, even if wrong? (and the other additions mentioned above, of course.) > [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Basically, \*House \*is a lot like porn: You don’t watch it for the plot, and if you do, you’re kind of missing the point. Thread winner. You just won this thread. Use it wisely. > [@BigT](#): > > I know, but I always got the feeling I could have figured things out in the Holmes stories, even when I probably couldn’t have. I feel like in most episodes of House, you had no chance at all to solve the mystery. > > It really is more a drama or soap opera than a mystery show. Good point, though there are a number of episodes where even though we don’t know or understand the diagnosis, we pick up on what ends up being the crucial clue, even though it was brushed over at the time. (I attribute that more to picking up on production cues than figuring out the plot, though.) One of the best episode series I remember involved a bus accident. I had been watching the show for a few episodes but my wife wasn’t interested. She doesn’t abide assholes, which makes me wonder what we’re doing together. But she happened to watch this series (not sure whether it was two or three) and got hooked. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/57 "2014-05-02T16:01:28Z")
I wanted to point out that House does diagnose people quickly, in fact that is what got him into trouble with the cop who started investigating him for drug abuse. Almost all of the clinic patients are diagnosed with barely a glance. We don’t remember those because they aren’t as interesting to us or to him as the puzzles. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/58 "2014-05-02T16:10:56Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > It wasn’t a bad English accent. Chase was Australian, as is Jesse Spencer, the actor who played him. Jennifer Morrison, who played Cameron, and Spencer were once a couple IRL, by the way. They put the Queen on their money. He’s British. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/59 "2014-05-02T17:20:14Z")
This reminds me of a question I posed to my wife while watching the show once: Would you want House as your doctor? Odds are you would be cured of whatever dangerous, random, obscure ailment other doctors couldn’t find and put you in the hospital in the first place. However you will first have to suffer House’s personality and at least four of the following: [ul] [li]vomiting blood[/li][li]cardiac arrest[/li][li]seizure[/li][li]coma[/li][li]paralysis[/li][li]being told you are going to die[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943/60 "2014-05-02T17:22:30Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > I also enjoyed “5 to 9,” which was mainly about Cuddy and kept the medical mystery firmly in the background. > [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > “Wilson’s Heart” pretty much blew away the formula, too. Or, as I like to call those episodes, “For Your Consideration: Lisa Edelstein” and “For Your Consideration: Robert Sean Leonard.” (Neither one worked; besides Laurie, the only other acting Emmy nomination the show got was for David Morse as the detective who tries to get House sent to jail in the third season.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-house-md/685943.md?page=4)