electricland

He is! But the character is so loathsome...

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rolypolypony.livejournal.com

But loathsome in a loveable sort of way!

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eniran.livejournal.com

I can't really help any either as I've missed it too, but did you know that House played the dad on Stuart Little? I found this out courtesy of the little one that I babysit. He thought I was crazy when I exclaimed "That's House!"

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I was mostly aware of him before as one of Emma Thompson's Cambridge buddies/Jeeves and Wooster/Peter's Friends. It's taken me this long to adjust to his American accent!

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rolypolypony.livejournal.com

It took DH like 5 episodes before _finally_ catching on that it was Bertie Wooster. Heheheh!

I so need to see Peter's Friends, but I can't seem to find a video store w/ a copy!

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stilldeepwater.livejournal.com

Don't watch House, watch Doctor Who instead. It is a lot more fun. Last night's episode was about horrible green aliens who are hiding in the bodies of UK politicians, and are plotting to sell off the planet.

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I know, I forgot to set the VCR. *sigh* But I can do both -- House is on at 9.

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I keep watching, but the problem-solving aspect hasn't been as compelling as it was at the beginning, and the subplots have been dumb. There's absolutely no chemistry with what's-her-name. House's friendship with the oncologist is great.

The main reason I watch the show is so I can watch the Prince Regent yell at people. Hugh Laurie is great. (I still haven't seen his Bertie Wooster!)

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I haven't watched nearly as much Blackadder as I should. (Or Jeeves and Wooster either.) Must fix this...

I find House frustrating for many reasons, but yeah, the problem-solving is no longer compelling because they are ALWAYS right. Eventually. And the disease is always bizarre and tricksy and they're always horrible to the patient and, and, and... I thought Vogler was onto something. Why the hell is the hospital spending so much for so damn little? I'd fire their asses.

Actually I think Cuddy may be my favourite character.

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Yeah, Cuddy seems like the only one with much grounding in reality.

Although the oncologist guy -- I've been in friendships like that. People who are so amazingly smart and entertaining to be around that you find yourself absorbing a monstrous quantity of bullshit for the sake of the friendship. (And now he's sleeping in Cook County Jail.) It really isn't fun to watch from close range while somebody fucks their life up. For all of House's abrasiveness, though, there's not enough of an edge to his anger. It's too clearly a defensive mechanism, and they won't put that much meanness in the main character of a network show. (House needs a little more Swearengen in him.)

What is still compelling about the show, though, is that its offered, by TV standards certainly, a smart take on complicated issues of disability and addiction. I thought the way abortion was handled in last night's episode was pretty decent, too. I don't watch that much TV, but as far as I know it's still rare to see any direct take on the subject on TV drama.

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Oof. I hated the way the abortion thing was handled last night. The show has me screaming (in my head, usually) "Bring this person a goddamn nurse or social worker or SOMETHING!" on a pretty regular basis, and this was no exception. I mean, yeah, she needed an abortion, obviously, but this is a TWELVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL who's knocked up -- which I'm pretty sure is statutory rape, even in New Jersey -- and House made no attempt to counsel her or comfort her or explain anything or advise that she talk to her parents or talk to her seriously about the situation. Why would he? The whole point of the character is to be cranky and rude and dismissive and contemptuous of every patient that comes his way. (Why he's not a pathologist is beyond me.) OK, I know this isn't E.R., but there's actually a lot more to medicine than making a diagnosis and figuring out how to treat the condition. But you won't learn that from this show. It's like C.S.I. but with all the passion for justice and advocacy for the victim leached out of it, and only the puzzle remaining.

I have a whole rant on the topic that I will spare you most of. For now.

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scapersuse.livejournal.com

Someone on my flist had a very similar rant going on about the ep - she feels like way too many of the "female" diseases/emergencies seem to be brought on by the female herself and that the attitude projected seems to be "stupid woman!" (or in last night's case, stupid girl). I've only seen a couple of the episodes but I thought yeah, she has a point.

I love Hugh Laurie and his crotchey-ness, though.

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I hadn't thought of that either. Interesting.

House is so contemptuous of ALL the patients. That Sherlock-Holmes-of-medicine thing bugs me too, because you can't always tell what's wrong with a patient just by looking at them, no matter how brilliant you are.

Sigh.

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Your take on the show -- being pissed off at the inhuman(e) approach to medicine -- was my initial response. The GF and the sister both got hooked on the show, and I set aside that response so I could continue to enjoy Hugh Laurie. Sherwin Nuland wrote a nice piece for Slate complaining about the show on these grounds.

You're right that House abortion handled the abortion coldly last night, but I kind of appreciated the way House (the show) handled it, in that (a) they took on the subject at all, which, as I said, seems pretty rare, and (b) that they made the subject kind of incidental. They felt like they could mention the subject of abortion without having it be the entire focus of the episode. That seems kind of a bold choice.

(Also -- while House did mention to the girl that a felony had been committed, I immediately had the three-year rule pop into my head (not statutory rape if the couple are within three years of each other). Ten years since I lived in Jersey, and a lot longer since I was a teenager there, but I still remember the age of consent laws.)

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Oooh, good article! Thanks!

My crackpot theory about the show is as follows: None of it is real, and it is all taking place in the demented megalomaniac brain of a comatose and/or lunatic House. Sometimes this comforts me.

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None of it is real, and it is all taking place in the demented megalomaniac brain of a comatose and/or lunatic House. Sometimes this comforts me.

ok, your idea of why a television show is worth watching clearly diverges from mine. But this is not really a surprise to either of us, methinks.

Also, my job? sucks.

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The "Normal Again" theory. I like it.

I think maybe the series finale of Seventh Heaven will reveal that the entire show has been a fantasy spun by the dad in the instants before he dies in a fiery car wreck.

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you're right about the abortion thing though. It hadn't really crossed my mind that that was kind of a bold choice for an American show. Hm. (Although it was a life-of-the-mother issue, so not as bold as if she just, say, felt 12 was too young to become a parent.)

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Things are so benighted in our banana republic south of the border that any scrap of rationality is something to be treasured.

I've liked House's irreligiosity, too. Of course, this is probably just supposed to be another example of his atrocious behavior.

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well, House DID bring up the stat rape factor pretty bluntly with her. And, in his own inimitable way he DID encourage her to talk to her parents about it. And honestly, having watched for the last few weeks, I have to say there were some subtle hints that he IS growing in his connections with patients and his desire/ability to communicate with and/or empathize with them. There WERE hints of connection, that he IS feeling more than the search for the root cause, that he is into it for more than just the desire to solve the mystery -- the thrill of the chase, if you will.

Last nights ep showed layers that weren't there at the beginning of the season, when the problem solving aspect was foregrounded. Now the problem solving is much more contextualized, it is part of the nuance of the characters. The show has, in my opinion, moved from simply being a device driven, formulaic show -- sick person, really wonky symptoms, oops darn, first diagnosis wrong, person even MORE sick, damn shit what can it be -- EUREKA -- to something where the formula becomes a way to explore the nuances of the lead anti-heroic character. Perfect? no. And ya, there are certainly things the show does for dramatic effect, that wouldn't work in real medicine or in a real hospital.

But it is covering interesting character developments -- though I think maybe you need to see all the eps (I've seen most of them) to truly see that, because the changes and the hints are ever so subtle.

But back to the issue of "reality" and the fact that they are "bad doctors" etc. I tend to think about medical and lawyer shows a lot like I think of sci-fi/fantasy type shows. John Crichton, in the real world, as we understand it today - at least IMHO, could never have gone through a wormhole and gotten stuck in another universe. But that gimmick, that device, spawned a WHOLE LOT of interesting story telling, as I understand it. Similarly, IRL, Buffy Summers would be far more likely to be written off as the insane girl (a la that ep in season 7) than she would be deemed a hero. And yet playing her as the hero allowed many issues about growing up and womanhood and life to be explored. So, ya, ok, House and his team? probably wouldn't survive in today's medical system. But their gruff bedside manner and questionable ethics reveal a LOT about the foibles of human beings and the struggles that surround illness and healing. And their ability to sort through complicated medical problems is a bit heroic, if not terribly realistic (ie: this team would lose more patients than it saves IRL). Kind of like The West Wing - realistic politics? prolly not. But cool to watch, anyway.

also, my job? is a pain in the ass because NO one communicates, they just make demands and then bitch and complain when they get told THEIR priorities are not the ones I have been given. Horizontal hierarchy my ass.

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Interesting. It could well be that I'm just not able to make the leap and accept the premise -- there's so much about the show that's so unbelievable (unlike Buffy or Farscape, where once you've accepted the initial premise, everything else sort of falls into place).

in his own inimitable way he DID encourage her to talk to her parents about it

sorry, not good enough for me! This only works if all patients speak and understand House-code.

their gruff bedside manner and questionable ethics reveal a LOT about the foibles of human beings and the struggles that surround illness and healing

I tried to make that fly for me for a while, a couple of months ago. Again, I can't agree. I think the show takes too narrow a view of what it means to be a healer to be able to reveal those struggles in any meaningful way.

Still, you could be right about the character developments. I have watched most of the eps, I think (well over half, anyway). It could be that I don't like any of them enough to care about how subtly (or, in Chase's case, somewhat psychotically) their characters are changing. But I keep watching, so clearly I'm getting something out of it, even if I'm not quite sure what it is yet!

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But I keep watching, so clearly I'm getting something out of it, even if I'm not quite sure what it is yet!
ya, I was gonna ask why you were still watching! ;)

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but more importantly, clearly if you have been watching faithfully you can tell me what's been happening over the last month! What happened to Vogler? Spill!

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Ok, right.

So, Vogler wanted House to fire one of his Fellows, citing budget constraints. House was a bastard to staff in re: and told them he had to fire someone, creating a very interesting/toxic little experiment in human nature (this is when the Aussie blond guy started to get all nefarious and ratted out house etc). But in the end with the input of someone - Cameron? the oncologist? I'm not sure who... -- House decide to offer the fellows a cut in salary so they could all stay. Which they agreed to. But Vogler wanted the power play, not the budget and told House to fire someone anyway, so Cameron threw herself on the proverbial sword.

Then Vogler kept trying to get House fired. Called a board meeting, and threatened to withdraw donation if House was not fired. When oncologist guy was only dissenting vote in revoking House's tenure (which required unanimity, -- even Cuddy voted in favor) *HE* was fired. And so it continued, with Vogler threatening to remove any dissenting vote's tenure. Until Cuddy found her hutspa again and told Vogler to take his money and walk. After, while House and Oncologist were celebrating, Cuddy came in and said "ya, because you guys couldn't get along, we lost money that could have done good" -- and they saw that really, was not a celebration. The implication was that Cuddy had no choice -- Vogler was on a terribly destructive power trip -- he didn't give a penny for the hospital or the good it could do, or patient care. He just cared about power. And so, in the end, his money was not worth the cost.... Which Cuddy came to understand. And so she protected her staff and the integrity of the hospital. But she made Damn sure House understood that while he was an asset, that his actions had repercussions that could cost lives because money can save lives.

Um, I think that covers it, and hope it makes sense. The telling is probably a bit biased, because I found the Vogler subplot TERRIBLY annoying and I was Really Glad to see him GONE.

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It was annoying! I'm glad I missed most of it. But I did enjoy some of his questions, like "What exactly is a Department of Diagnostic Medicine, anyway?"

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so ya, not so focused on the work today, me....

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you shock me!

and thanks for filling me in.

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