House MD

For now I have decided against renewing our Tata Sky subscription. We as a family came to the realisation that we abhor watching news, get bored watching movies on television and have absolutely no appetite for the extensive variety of soaps which dominate programming these days. VSO seems content watching youtube videos. I find solace in watching downloaded movies and English shows while our daughter prefers K-Pop, a few Korean dramas and other stuff. We got hooked on to Netflix and Amazon Prime which supplies us with endless (?) entertainment. Now saturation has set in as we cannot decide which movie to watch or which show to follow.

I now find myself going back to my old loves. House MD was one classic show I devoured a few years ago, all 8 seasons of it! I am now revisiting this classic on Prime watching random episodes at a time. It would be inconceivable to have such a show in India. The script, direction, sets, actors, all are top class. Hugh Laurie is exemplary as the limping diagnostician. He is ably supported by actors playing Wilson (House's only friend), Cuddy (his boss) and Cameron, Chase and Foreman (his team). His team composition changes in latter seasons but Wilson and Cuddy remain till the end (Cuddy features till season 7).

It is not just the plot or the taut script which make this show irresistible. House's character seems to be loosely based on Serlock Holmes, in a medical setting if you may! Wilson is the Watson here. We find House and his team tackling seemingly unsolvable cases in every episode with patients reporting a variety of symptoms. House's belief that 'everybody lies' keeps him pushing boundaries when curing patients. He has absolutely no interest in meeting patients or forming bonds with them. What interests him is their malady and whether he is up to the challenge to cure it. All this seems like a game to him. House keeps popping astonishingly large doses of pain relieving pills (Vicodyn) much to the chagrin of Cuddy and Wilson. Any kind of admonishment seems to fail with him. Cuddy's attempts at reigning House always seem to fail. House keeps finding ways of escaping clinic duty as he detests 'checking people's crotches' and 'treating children for colds'. House gets bored easily and is narcissistic and also a misanthrope.

House would probably be one of the most unusual characters on television.

I find myself a bit critical at my second viewing but find very few negatives. Such is the quality of the show. Some situations appear contrived and unnatural. Some diseases somehow appear made up (I am sure they aren't). Also it seems improbable for any qualified doctor to double up as a pathologist, CT-Scan operator, MRI/X-ray operator, surgeon... the many roles played by House's team. But the niggles are minor.

The show has a queer philosophy as House is interested in only what matters and not what is. He chooses not to get emotionally entangled with his patients to remain objective. 

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