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I've probably only watched in total less than a couple hours of this show spread out over about maybe 5 or 6 episodes, so I don't even have a feel for what the show is really about. Is this just another one of those who's doing who doctor shows?
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More like Columbo, M.D., except that Columbo is hooked on oxy and really muffs up his first half dozen or so diagnoses every episode.
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There's just a dab of doing, but it's only infrequently the focus, until the final season or two when one main doing takes a bigger role.
The basic conceit is an irascible version of Sherlock Holmes as an MD. House is a diagnostician who takes only the thorniest, hard to diagnose cases, thus the false starts as he and his small team of doctors work to crack the medical puzzle at hand.
Hugh Laurie as House is the star, but the show has a very strong ensemble feel to it.
I enjoyed it quite a bit, though the quality of the final couple of seasons is a bit uneven, with some very high highs and some marked lows as well.
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There was an episode that I watched years ago filmed entirely from the perspective of the female hospital director. It showed the crazy stressful world that she lived in from morning alarm until head hitting the pillow at night. It was very unique.
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Not Columbo. The Sherlock comparison is apt.
BB's synopsis is spot on, except that "irascible" might be a bit generous. The Sherlock comparison is apt. The series was quite good and I enjoyed it a lot. It was my first exposure to Laurie and I had no idea he was a Brit.
There was one plot device present in every episode (or nearly every) that got a little old for me. But it wasn't enough to put me off of the show.
I picked the show up in the third or fourth season and haven't got 'round to starting it. Yet.
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no, disease mystery of the week....show has 'unlikeable' lead character, grumpy old man who bullies with quips.....entertaining for first few seasons.....Hugh Laurie is great but he is the center of the show and it does get old after a few seasons with nothing really but him and Lisa Edelstein to hold it together and I believe she left/got let go....for the last season.....
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RAMd®d wrote:
Not Columbo. The Sherlock comparison is apt.
BB's synopsis is spot on, except that "irascible" might be a bit generous. The Sherlock comparison is apt. The series was quite good and I enjoyed it a lot. It was my first exposure to Laurie and I had no idea he was a Brit.
I started watching the series because I was already a huge fan of Hugh Laurie. When I saw the previews before Season 1, I remember thinking, "Wow, that guy looks just like Hugh Laurie." So I paid a bit more attention and realized that it was indeed HL. You can see him in some of the Blackadder episodes, as well as "Jeeves and Wooster". He's very funny in these.
Definitely Holmes, right down to the addiction and inability to tolerate idiocy. Note that his street address crops up in the background of a couple of episodes, and it's 221B.
Rather along the lines of shows like "Mystery Diagnosis" on the Discovery Health channel, except that the time frame is condensed, and the patient has already gone through the days, weeks or years of misdiagnosis before ending up in House's hands.
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I watched quite a few of the shows, but in spite of the central character's cynicism, not because of it. I do remember getting one diagnosis ahead of the plot line. The incessant subplots where one of the staff automatically suggests an autoimmune disease get old pretty fast. House's misogyny and bullying of the staff become irritating.
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I remember hearing (on some behind-the-scenes show about the show) that it was originally going to be a relatively dry medical mysteries show. But they decided it needed more drama and characters to hold viewers' interest so they created the House (super jerk) character.
I liked the show, but I'm in agreement with others that House being such a jerk got pretty old.