In the earlier days of television, the American viewing public came to know what medical dramas or "doctor" shows were all about. Those of us old enough to remember Dr. Kildare, (yes that was a gorgeous, young Richard Chamberlain starring) and Ben Casey (played by the dark and brooding Vince Edwards) came to feel perfectly comfortable with doctors entering our living rooms via TV episodes. Hugh Laurie, the iconic star of the Fox series, House, is perhaps the most realistic doctor we've ever seen on TV. And House just may be the best doctor show ever on television.
House is a Flawed Genius
Gregory House is the diagnostic genius at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital in New Jersey, a teaching hospital that is home to the best and the brightest. He has an uncanny ability to hone in on the rarest diseases known to man, even if he tends to do so near the end of the show. He is hooked on Vicodin, a narcotic medication to relieve the relentless, excruciating pain in his leg.
He is terrible at handling relationships and except for Wilson, a friend, colleague and sometime roommate, no one can tolerate him. He is ascerbic, sarcastic and just plain mean, at times, which causes the doctors he mentors to dislike him rather intensely, while admiring his acumen.
House's Limp Explained
House subliminally blames that pain on his ex-wife and hospital lawyer, Stacy (charmingly played by Sela Ward) who refused to consent to an operation on House's leg. He suffered an aneurysm in his thigh which clotted, causing his quadriceps to atrophy. House had the dead muscle bypassed to restore circulation to the remainder of his leg, risking organ failure and cardiac arrest. He was willing to endure excruciating post operative pain to retain the use of his leg.
After he was put into a chemically-induced coma to sleep through the worst of the pain, Stacy decided to choose a safer surgical procedure between amputation and a bypass by removing only the dead muscle. This resulted in the partial use of his leg, and left House with a lesser, but serious level of pain for the rest of his life. Dr. Lisa Cuddy, House's boss, okayed the surgery and she has felt guilty ever since. House is unforgiving and makes both Cuddy and Stacy's lives' miserable, a constant reminder to them that they are the reason he is an addict in unbearable pain.
The Other Cast Members
What makes House so delicious as an ongoing series is the friction between the characters, all of them in one way or another, filled with personal drama. Dr. Lisa Cuddy, played by Lisa Edelstein, is perfect as House's boss and the object of his affections, despite how he acts toward her. Dr. Foreman, (Omar Epps) a fairly rigid taskmaster, has both been House's boss and his subordinate. His approach toward medicine is fairly conservative which immediately sets House's teeth on edge. Dr. Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) slept with and eventually married Chase, another cast member (Jesse Spencer) but their relationship has been damaged by what Cameron feels is House's terrible influence on Chase.
Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) is truly the only friend House has in the world. As Wilson continually finds out, it is trying and difficult to be House's friend but House has a grudging respect for Wilson, as a man with morals that he himself cannot begin to approach. At various times, certain of the team's members have left and come back, making the drama more palpable as they can merely pick up where they left off in terms of their own interpersonal squabbles.
The interactions between the various cast members remind one of a truly dysfunctional family, made all the more interesting because House hand-picked each of them to work for him. He berates them, shames them and treats them with not an iota of respect, and yet, each in their own way manage to stifle their personal feelings toward him because they know they can learn much from him.
House Is an Award Winning Drama
Apart from many lesser known awards, House has won a couple of Golden Globe awards, an Emmy (among numerous nominations)s and some prestigious awards from the Writer's Guild and TV Critics Association, as well as a Peabody award.
New Season of House Begins Soon
The new season of House, (its seventh) begins on Monday, September 20th at 8:00 pm. If watching a doctor who is a quasi-sociopath as well as devoid of any and all bedside manner sounds like fun to you, tune in. You won't be disappointed. And for returning fans, don't forget that Cuddy announced her love for House as the season ended. Now, let's all wait for the other shoe to drop.
Luci Blasi - Luci Blasi Luci has dabbled in writing since she was a teenager, writing poetry about teenage love and angst. She is in the process of ...
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