House, M.D. - Season One | Hugh Laurie | CEREBRAL, ENLIGHTENING, AND GOBSMACKINGLY ADDICTIVE --...

House, M.D. - Season One | Hugh Laurie | House!!!

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House, M.D. - Seas...

	House, M.D. - Season One Hugh Laurie Fox Network, 2005 average customer review:based on 454 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

CEREBRAL, ENLIGHTENING, AND GOBSMACKINGLY ADDICTIVE -- DR. HOUSE CAN HAVE MY NUMBER!

If you have not heard of the brusque, straight-talking, rat-tatting part doctor part hotshot "too handsome to do paperwork" Dr. House, well get a hold of this brilliant series as soon as you can. It's a bit like The Practice, only from the medical world. A diagnostic thriller of sorts. It is only ever so often that a show comes along with such dazzling wit, riveting themes, fascinating characters, even a superlative soundtrack.

There is "detective" work involved here for sure. Patients in throes of some unusual disease. Lying out of embarrassment. Unfamiliar with what they did wrong. Indisposed. Or exhibiting conflicting symptoms. Somehow, episode after episode, you can't tear your eyes away from the screen. It's a mystery. What did he do wrong? What really happened? How will our eccentric Dr. House and his band of whitecoats figure this one out? It's real-time sleuthing work as we frantically explore the options along with them to beat the clock. Glued to the end.

Naturally, you'd suspect that a formula of diagnosing a key patient would wear off after a bit. But from prudish nuns, to seance-cursed kids, to 80 year olds with raging libido, the patients are delectably left of center. The production quality is top gun. The team behind this seems to have had its squirrels so well-herded that the byproduct is a taut, addictive show, one of the best to hit television in a long time. If anything, at least in Season 1, it only seems to have gotten sharper as we begin to relate to the interplay between characters, feel their own private tensions and idiosyncrasies.

While it is wittier than Scrubs (which shot off the gates with gusto but soon got jaded) and more thrilling than your ER or Green Hill or Chicago Hope, the best part is that the treatment is made accessible with a marvel of writing. All the medical jazz is propped with stunningly choreographed 3D imagery that shows what might have been going on with the patient, a visual vocabulary that is redolent of the top Discovery or Nat Geo programs.

And if all of that has not convinced you yet, it's a funny, funny script. "Ah, the Socratic Method. The best way we have of teaching everything-apart from juggling chainsaws." There is a sardonic look at the pill-toting, allopathy-reliant society of our times where people show up at their doctor's fearing "chronic fatigue syndrome" because they have been "tired all the time" or because their feet are aching after running six miles. Dr. House's treatment of these fillers is a blast. But his passion for curiosity and diagnosis makes you wish your own doctors were like him.

One of the few shows that will hold up to repeat viewings. Worth owning, not just renting. All the seasons thus far.

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House!!!

All I have to say is House is very addicting and it's awesome. Great characters, storylines, filled with drama and comedy. It's simply amazing.

Truly Brilliant

House, can only be described as brilliant. Not in the way as a teenager would describe it in the way of being cool or just generally entertaining, but brilliant as in genius. I could talk about season one for hours as it's truly the season that defines the character and sets in stone Hugh Laurie's cracking of America. Hugh Laurie, for those who don't know is a famous British comic actor best known for his work with Stephen Fry. Such shows as Jeeves & Wooster, A Bit of Fry & Laurie & Blackadder made this man a true comic god. Upon hearing that Hugh had taken up the role as the American Dr. Gregory House, I'm sure a lot of people took a big sigh and said to themselves "Oh, please god no." How wrong those people were when Laurie stepped onto the screen in the pilot episode, with that incredible accent and the inclusion of his comic wit.

The Story? Well the show is based around Dr. Gregory House, a medical genius is the head of a team of diagnosticians who specialise in solving those medical cases other doctors just can't figure out. House isn't the conventional Dr, however, because he's rude, selfish and doesn't like to follow the rules. He sets himself the task of curing his patient and makes sure he does just that. Whether that means sending his team to break into the patients home to see if the condition was taken in by the environment or not. Also House doesn't see the harm in interrupting a surgery to save his patient by spitting on the surgeon himself. If I were to have some criticism about the first season of the show it would be the character Vogler. Vogler becomes the hospitals chairman of the board after donating $100 million to the hospital. Vogler begins to throw his weight around as he wants to run it like a busines with clinical trials, rather than a hospital. This becomes a problem for House as his department eats a lot of the hospitals funds and saves only one person per week. The two characters immediately clash and Vogler sets on his own mission to get rid of House. The criticism I have is that from the very start of Season one every character has a certain chemistry with each other which helps the show blend together much better. I didn't see that chemistry with the Vogler character and for the episodes he was a part of it, it really dragged the show down. Don't let this put you off though as he's only in the show for a few episodes.

This is just the first season but the drama and the characters aren't the only things that make this show unique. The dialogue is spectacular and I have no doubt in my mind that Laurie has some input about some of the classic one liners. Below are a few of my favourites.

From Episode 3: Occam's Razor:

House: "Hello, sick people and their loved ones! In the interest of saving time and avoiding a lot of boring chitchat later, I'm Doctor Gregory House; you can call me "Greg". I'm one of three doctors staffing this clinic this morning."
Cuddy: "Short, sweet, grab a file."
House: "This ray of sunshine is Doctor Lisa Cuddy. Doctor Cuddy runs this whole hospital, so unfortunately she's much too busy to deal with you. I am a board ... certified diagnostician with a double specialty of infectious disease and nephrology. I am also the only doctor currently employed at this hospital who is forced to be here against his will.
That is true, isn't it? (to Cuddy)
But not to worry, because for most of you, this job could be done by a monkey with a bottle of Motrin. Speaking of which, if you're particularly annoying, you may see me reach for this: this is Vicodin. It's mine! You can't have any! And no, I do not have a pain management problem, I have a pain problem ... but who knows? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm too stoned to tell. So, who wants me? "

From Episode 5 Damned If You Do:

Nun: "Sister Augustine believes in things that aren't real."
House: "I thought that was a job requirement for you people."

From Episode 9 DNR:

Wilson: "So your philosophy is, 'If they don't want treatment, they get it shoved down their throat, but if it might cure their paralysis, whoa, better slow down'."

House: "Yeah. My old philosophy used to be 'Live and let live', but I'm taking this needlepoint class and they gave us these really big pillows."

This is an amazing show and you're seriously missing out if you're not watching it.

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Best show on the planet.

To start, I love House, M.D. and it's my favorite show on TV these days. I never got to see the whole season or anything. In fact, I've only watched episodes here and there when they're on, and I just love them. So I purchased the whole 1st season on DVD. I love owning it on DVD, since you can watch a full episode any time, and best of all - no commercials. It's like watching a movie, really. The Season 1 comes with all 22 episodes from the first season (duh) and some special features. I haven't watched any of the bonus material yet, so I can't really review that. I guess I'd say the greatest benefit to owning it on DVD is watching episodes anytime, and not having to endure commercials. Oh - and also DVD quality video is better than TV for me, so that's a big bonus too.

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House, Season One

At first viewing on TV several years ago, I didn't care for House, but became interested in it in 2007 and now watch it on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, reruns only cover the previous season, but the early episodes were clearly the most creative. It is obvious in recent episodes that the writers and produces are struggling to top the shock and passion that kept viewers riveted during early episodes.

It has been neat to watch sequential episodes without commercial interruptions; however, I wish the DVD producers would lose the "that is some bad hat Harry" cartoon at the end. It wears thin after a few dozen viewings. I've started zapping it with the fast forward button.

The DVD's are good quality but are not full screen. It is something like watching the episodes through a window.

There are 3 DVD's in the Season One set. After viewing several of the disks, I realized that they are recorded on both sides, giving the equivalent of six disks. Granted, the episode index refers to side A and Side B for those familiar with double sided DVD's.

The price recently increased substantially, but that didn't deter me from purchasing Season Two. There are six single sided disks in the Season two set and documentation is better.

If you like House, you will love the Season Sets on DVD.

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