House, MD

[libertarianjim]

Anyone else catch this show's premiere? I usually don't care for medical dramas, but this one appealed to me:

1) Hugh Laurie. Once I got over expecting to say something stupid to Blackadder and Baldrick, I realized he's a pretty good actor.
2) House's character is an INT. He's arrogant. He's harsh with people that he thinks are intellectually inferior. He's acerbic. He dislikes authority. He dislikes personal interaction.
3) It's not your typical medical drama. There's a lot of trial-and-error, and so far, not a lot of the home-life drama that infects other medical dramas.

[crule81]

I didn't see the premier last night but I read a review of the show and came out of it with the same impression as to the House character's INTx-ness. I generally dislike Doctor or Lawyer shows but maybe I'll give this one a try.

[MacGuffin]

I TiVoed this last night. Looks like my kind of doc!

Except I am not that anti-social.

Hope the show is as good as it looks/have read in reviews.

[Spartan26]

I did see it. I like some of the creative people behind it. Bryan Singer who directed the X-Men movies and Usual Suspects and Paul Attanasio who wrote Quiz Show and the pilot movie Homicide: Life on the Streets. Paul had a medical show on a couple of years ago called Gideon's Crossing, with Andre Braugher which I only say once.

I've never gotten into the med shows either. Unless you count Scrubs, which I wouldn't. I've watched that show Medical Investigation on NBC a couple of times. The lead in that show is also an arrogant, know-it-all, who looks down on the intellectual inferiors of his world, though sans the sense of humor. I actually thought they could've racheted up the humor on House. From what I remembered, sometimes he'd say something to make a good point and sometimes he'd say something sarcastic. But I don't remember him saying something sarcastic to make a good point. Hair splitting? Sure, but when Scrubs is at the top of its game, Perry, the INTx, ill-tempered, doc in charge, will do that.

I'm curious to see how this show plays out. Are they going to push for more the moral aspects ala ER or are they going to go more procedural ala CSI. One thing that kinda, I don't want to say that it took me out of the show, but there was a lot of medical jargon. Don't get me wrong, I want the street cred of accurate doctorspeak, but you really can't get a sense of how good/bad a doctor is. You can't really tell how radical or rational one is if you have no knowledge of what they're talking about. It's not like watching a football game and seeing a fake punt, where you know the ramifications and know what decision you would've made and the pros & cons of each move. Here they could say, 'pour egg whites in his ears and give him a shot of 250cc's of amberhexianol,' and I'd be like...duh, sounds fine to me.

I guess the same can be said for legal shows, which I don't often watch. I guess it's more of the straight dectective shows where you can "follow along" with the clues and weigh motives.

I've been enjoying the series Veronica Mars that comes on the UPN at the same time. I may need to invest in TiVo. I'll watch Veronica on one TV and then record Scrubs from another. Three shows would leave one out in the cold.

[MacGuffin]

I watched it last night (thanks TiVo!). It was pretty good, but I will need to see more before I add it to my must see list.

[Spartan26]

I pulled this out of an showbiz e-mail I get:

In series-premiere news, while a distant fourth-place finish for Fox drama House (HH: 4.6/ 7; Viewers: 7.05 million; A18-49: 2.7/ 6 at 9 p.m.) is nothing extraordinary, comparatively it built from lead-in Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best (HH: #5, 3.6/ 6; Viewers: #5: 5.45 million; A18-49: #5, 2.4/ 6) by 28 percent in households, 1.6 million viewers and 12 percent among adults 18-49. Fox will air an encore of the House pilot tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET.

(How do you seperate the quotes in the new forum???)

HH= Households - the other numbers are ratings share
Comparitively, #1 the two-hour season premiere of The Amazing Race 6 (#1: 2: 8.3/12; Viewers: #2, 11.80 million; A18-49: 4.9/12 overall from 9-11 p.m.)
According To Jim (#3: 7.3/10; A18-49: #3, 4.1/10)

Overall, good starting numbers for House