Show Summary
House came out during a time when you were getting a lot of hospital-themed soap operas. Doctor Greggory House is the hospital's best doctor, though he only takes on patients with the most bizarre ailments that no one else can figure out. Lacking any kind of social graces and an addiction to vicodin stemming from his bad leg, he solves cases with a handpicked team.
Hugh Laurie Carries The Show Even At Its Worst
Make no mistake, this show is as good as it is largely because of Hugh Laurie as House. He is incredibly charming, the character has a quick wit, and he is constantly making me laugh. Not every episode is good, and that holds the longer the show goes on, but even at its worst I get at least a couple of laughs out of House every episode.
I'm not saying the rest of the cast isn't good, some great characters bounce well off of House. But after watching five seasons, I can honestly say that only a couple of them are going to leave a lasting impression on me.
There are a lot of great episodes dealing with House's addiction to painkillers, his struggles with dealing with normal people, and many other things that help keep him from feeling above it all despite being the smartest guy in the room. I also like that you never get the impression he could handle all this on his own, having a team to back him is essential to his functioning.
Hit and Miss with the Side Cast
Some characters are really good, Foreman being a prime example. He is there to act as a counterbalance to House's eccentricities. Foreman helps keep House grounded, as well as being antagonistic enough to regularly stop House from crossing the line (Not always, but he helps). This role is handled in later seasons by Taub, a former Plastic Surgeon who joins the Houses team.
But then you have characters like Cuddy, who are fairly boring, and Thirteen (I honestly don't remember what her actual name was, House just calls her Thirteen). Throw in any character in which House seems to have some kind of romantic interest, honestly, the only thing engaging there is House himself, the interest herself is largely interchangeable.
Apparently everything is possibly Lupus
Every medical problem his team tries to diagnose comes with someone suggesting Lupus. Apparently, the symptoms of Lupus are so far-reaching these guys would throw it out as a diagnosis for a head cold. And it's never Lupus. At first, I got a kick out of it when, in Season 4, a random Janitor House was bouncing questions off of suggested Lupus, and House replied 'It's never Lupus'. That said, all they did was switch out Lupus for another bad-sounding disease. They realized something stupid they were doing, acknowledged it, and just opted to do nothing about it.
After A Couple Seasons, it's extremely Repetitive
There is a reason viewership started dropping after the third season. The formula for the show was stale, every case is handled and resolved in pretty much the same pattern, with few exceptions. You did get some things to keep it fresher, like the new team under House, and I think it was a good idea executed well. I liked that you had someone like Taub who filled in for Foremens role without ever feeling like a copy.
But you can redress something all you like, once you've become accustomed to the flow of the show the tension dies out. Seasons four onward just didn't change things up enough to keep me as invested in the medical portion of the show. And the side cast, with a couple of exceptions, just didn't offer enough to make up for that.
A Handful of Episodes with some unique spins
Even the fourth and fifth seasons managed to invest in me when they did some of the more interesting things. One episode, for example, is told largely through the eyes of a man who can't speak. He can't move much and can only blink, but he can hear. The formula of the show remains the same, but the change here was enough to keep things interesting. Even in later seasons, episodes like this are worthwhile to watch.
A Good Show that overstayed it's welcome
Sometimes a show is dragged out because it's popular, and House is a key example of this. They ran out of ideas for interesting cases, something they couldn't drop from the show because it was such a core component of it. It's not even that the show got bad, it's just that there wasn't enough to warrant the length.
I recommend the first three seasons, and only continue watching if you are devoted at that point.
