Questions about House MD

[Don_t_Panic]

@Knorf

Indeed.

I find that medical mystery to be no more than scaffolding for the interactions of the actors. I spend little time thinking or caring about the medical stuff, which apparently is ludicrously off-base from reality most of the time anyway. If you don’t find the characters and their interactions interesting or compelling, then you won’t enjoy the show for long. But really, it’s all about the greatness of Hugh Laurie’s acting the role of a sardonic and just-on-the-edge-of unlikeable yet comic character, which I find intriguing.

Totally.

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.

[Andy_L]

@Boyo_Jim

2. Does House and his crack staff ever get a diagnosis right the first time? I’m thinking not, because the gist of the program is that a patient comes in with a set of symptoms and someone on the team knows it’s not the run of the mill condition that would normally explain the symptoms. They provide the wrong diagnosis 2 or 3 or 4 times, and they learn this each time by nearly killing the patient with the wrong meds, and finally get the right treatment with 5 minutes left in the episode.

I think one of the most accurate (perhaps common is a better term) parts of the program is House’s contempt for and dislike of dealing with patients. I worked at a hospital for quite a few years and found this very common, though most doctors don’t seem to be nearly as aware of it, or witty about it, as House does.

You might be amused by lobstermonster’s version of a House episode http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9243524&postcount=252

[Superhal]

You’re watching it wrong. House is a character-driven show and basically House is the head clown and everybody else are straight men. It’s like Seinfeld but George is the star and the patient of the day is Kramer: “Kramer’s brain fell out! laugh track.” The team is Elaine and just like Seinfeld, the team is only relevant when they’re fucking somebody.

[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.

[Tim_R.Mortiss]

@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.

Very true. That was the first episode of House I ever saw, and I was instantly hooked.

A few seasons later, they did an episode called “Two Stories” that was also pretty good and formula-busting.

[Knorf]

I also enjoyed “5 to 9,” which was mainly about Cuddy and kept the medical mystery firmly in the background.

[Superhal]

@Knorf

I also enjoyed “5 to 9,” which was mainly about Cuddy and kept the medical mystery firmly in the background.

Yeah, if I had to choose a moment where House went downhill, losing Cuddy or Chase’s marriage would be neck and neck.

[Tim_R.Mortiss]

Two adjacent episodes (“House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart”) pretty much blew away the formula, too.

[cochrane]

@Frylock

I seem to recall there are a great number of episodes where someone suddenly coughs up gobs of blood seemingly out of nowhere.

“Cool! He actually coughed up a lung.”

@Tim_R.Mortiss

*House *is indeed rigidly formulaic, but if you stick with it, you’ll enjoy watching them poke fun at their own rigid formulas, in a meta sort of way. Like on those rare occasions when someone other than House gets the “light bulb moment” and they invariably try to do an impression of Hugh’s expression. Or when House hides his vicodin in hollowed out book on Lupus (because nobody would ever need to look in that book), or a dozen other ways.

Or the time Cuddy stopped House from jumping a toy race car over a toy shark.

[RandMcnally]

The one with the guy out of a coma was pretty different and good.

[ftg]

Also the Ducklings (IIRC the term) take their own samples, run their own lab tests (often way out of date ones), etc. Just like real non-doctors.

The main thing to keep in mind is that this is Sherlock Holmes in a hospital. And like all parodies, it’s best when it doesn’t take itself seriously. (Which makes the finale craptastic.)

[Superhal]

@RandMcnally

The one with the guy out of a coma was pretty different and good.

Coma guy was played by a supersized John Larroquette for Night Court fans.

[Infovore]

One of my favorite lines from the whole run of the show.

[whitetho]

If you are interested in a physician’s reviews of the individual episodes I recommend House Medical Reviews at the politedissent.com website.

[Saint_Cad]

@Martian Bigfoot

I can’t think of another example of an actor carrying a show so completely on his/her own. It’s a strange thing, though. It’s like he walked in from a much better show, by mistake.

Blacklist.

What did I win?

[Superhal]

@Saint_Cad

Blacklist.

What did I win?

The dude from blacklist was a pretty good actor…75 lbs ago.

The Sentinel, The Mentalist.

I win.

[Bryan_Ekers]

@Superhal

The dude from blacklist was a pretty good actor…75 lbs ago.

Yeah, it’s like he ate the guy from White Palace.

[cochrane]

@Superhal

Coma guy was played by a supersized John Larroquette for Night Court fans.

I liked it when he held up Wilson’s iPod and said, “What’s this thing? It says ‘ip-odd.’”

[Boyo_Jim]

@Andy_L

You might be amused by lobstermonster’s version of a House episode http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9243524&postcount=252

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.

[Superhal]

@Boyo_Jim

I assumed Cuddy dresses like she does because she believes cleavage has therapeutic value.

It doesn’t?!?