# the television show House **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634 "2005-03-28T18:14:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/1 "2005-03-28T18:14:44Z")
I consider myself a pretty open-minded guy who will try anything once. However, last fall, when one of FOX’s new shows House debuted, I ignored it, expecting it to fail right away. Well, it didn’t. Infact, a number of my friends are crazy over it and keep suggesting I watch it. Now, this could be the greatest show since…ER, but I just can not see myself watching a television show called House that isn’t on HGTV. As I understand it, it’s an ER-type show (never could get into ER anyway) about a guy named Dr House. Now, they could have named him anything, so WHY WHY WHY Dr House? It sounds like a character who should have been on Home Improvement. Could someone who has been following the show please explain to me an explanation to the naming of this show and the character, and ANYTHING other than “well the show/character has a stupid name, but look past it and enjoy the show because it’s teh awes0me!!”, because I’ve heard plenty of that from my friends. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/2 "2005-03-28T18:33:05Z")
It’s a takeoff on Sherlock Holmes. He’s supposed to be sort of a medical version of Holmes. Get it? House…Holmes… ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/3 "2005-03-28T18:39:22Z")
Beyond the “House”/“Holmes” thing, House _is_ a real last name. Check out the phone book. Why does any name get picked for a TV show? Why _not_ House? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/4 "2005-03-28T18:39:35Z")
Huh…I was about to post a nitpick correction about the show actually being called _House, M.D._, but that turns out not to be the case. The title screen for the show clearly says _House, M.D._, but everything I’m seeing on Fox’s web site lists the show as just _House_. Meh…either way, it’s a terrific show. Get past the name, **fusoya**. You’re missing out. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/5 "2005-03-28T18:45:33Z")
I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I saw it this past week and it was pretty good. The lead actor who plays Dr. House is excellent. I would love to see that character team up with Dr. Cox from Scrubs, in a summit of the meanest, most misanthropic doctors on television. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/6 "2005-03-28T18:52:38Z")
If only he had a really COOL name, like Doogie. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/7 "2005-03-28T19:36:22Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I saw it this past week and it was pretty good. The lead actor who plays Dr. House is excellent. I would love to see that character team up with Dr. Cox from Scrubs, in a summit of the meanest, most misanthropic doctors on television. Throw in Mark Craig from _St. Elsewhere_ and Dr. Becker, and you’ve really got something there… ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/8 "2005-03-28T20:18:49Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I saw it this past week and it was pretty good. The lead actor who plays Dr. House is excellent. I would love to see that character team up with Dr. Cox from Scrubs, in a summit of the meanest, most misanthropic doctors on television. That’s [Hugh Laurie](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491402/). He also played the Father in the Stuart Little movies. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/9 "2005-03-28T20:44:07Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Beyond the “House”/“Holmes” thing, House _is_ a real last name. Check out the phone book. Why does any name get picked for a TV show? Why _not_ House? Except in this case it was intentional. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/10 "2005-03-29T00:12:11Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > That’s [Hugh Laurie](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0491402/). He also played the Father in the Stuart Little movies. And Bertie Wooster in “Jeeves and Wooster,” with Stephen Fry. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/11 "2005-03-29T00:34:15Z")
To me, he’ll always be the Prince Regent and Lt. George in the third and fourth series of Blackadder. When I saw clips of _House_ for the first time, I had to double check that it was him. I mean, it’s unmistakably the same guy, but with all the rabid Blackadder fans around (including on this board), I was surprised I hadn’t heard about it in advance. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/12 "2005-03-29T01:21:12Z")
Yeah, I thought, “Hugh Laurie, yeah, I know the name from somewhere,” but I didn’t realise that it was the chap who’d played Bertie Wooster until I read it somewhere. He’s older, with more natural hair, & doing a vaguely Yank accent. Of course I watch the show, Lisa Edelstein is in it. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/13 "2005-03-29T03:12:06Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > It’s a takeoff on Sherlock Holmes. He’s supposed to be sort of a medical version of Holmes. Get it? House…Holmes… Uh, no - although that could well be a secondary meaning. It’s a pun on medical jargon. The ‘house doctor’ or ‘house M.D.’ is a doctor available 24 hours in a non-teaching (no residents or interns) hospital. The small hospital I worked at (since closed) provided a small apartment for this doctor to sleep in at night while on call. You paged the house doctor if you needed a doctor RIGHT NOW during the small hours of the night and couldn’t wait for the patient’s attending to make it in. In a small hospital with a low-level emergency room, the house doctor might also cover the ER - or there might be a seperate ER doctor watching things there. When I first saw the ads for this show I thought it was a clever word play. Sadly, no one but medical people seem to get it… I remember Hugh Laurie from the various ‘Blackadder’ series. Hard to believe it’s the same guy. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/14 "2005-03-29T03:17:11Z")
I saw him on Leno last week. Jay asked him about the American accent. He said he has to concentrate quite a bit to keep it up. He checks the scripts before the ep shoots to how many "R"s are in the script. Apparently, he’s quite the motorcycle enthusiast. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/15 "2005-03-29T04:10:39Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > To me, he’ll always be the Prince Regent and Lt. George in the third and fourth series of Blackadder. > > When I saw clips of _House_ for the first time, I had to double check that it was him. I mean, it’s unmistakably the same guy, but with all the rabid Blackadder fans around (including on this board), I was surprised I hadn’t heard about it in advance. Hey, I posted a thread right before it started, so just blame your ignorance on the fact that all threads started by me get ignored. And since the promos all listed it as House, M.D. that’s what I thought it was going to be called, and I got the word play, too. But just calling it House bothers me, too ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/16 "2005-03-29T04:50:53Z")
Fox’s website calls it “House” however. And the promos call it “House”. My cable system’s DV-R calls it “House”. Insisting on “House, M.D.” is high on the nitpicking scale. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/17 "2005-03-29T12:55:12Z")
Every! freaking! time!, I hear an ad for this show, I wounder how it is possible for a demon possesed house to find work as a doctor. Sure, intellectually I know it refers to a fictional doctor by that name, but still, I think of the star of the 1980s horror film, the house from the movie [House](http://www.x-entertainment.com/messages/663.html). ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/18 "2005-03-29T13:07:34Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > Uh, no - although that could well be a secondary meaning. It’s a pun on medical jargon. The Holmes thing was something I heard in some of their promotional blurbs before the show started, though I don’t care enough to try and dig up a cite. FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/19 "2005-03-29T15:19:00Z")
Yeah, that’s why I didn’t, too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634/20 "2005-03-29T17:33:19Z")
It’s a _pretty good_ show; Laurie’s character is refreshingly flawed for North American TV. Fortunately, even a middling script is made watchable by Laurie. Perhaps the title is partly in reference to that old British book/movie/TV series “Doctor in the House?” Now, a modest proposal. Add a new regular character. One which will be an excellent foil for the rough-edged Dr. House, and also be a worthy opponent when trading barbs. The hospital board hires a whiz-bang efficiency expert to re-organize the “client services” offered by the hospital. Played by Stephen Fry, in full supercilious, superior Englishman mode. Think a cross between Sir Humphrey in Yes, Minister," and Anthony Hopkins in “Remains of the Day.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-television-show-house/296634.md?page=2)