It's all connected

The way I figure it, “House” is the perfect TV show for me. It’s practically the love child of two of my favorites, “ER” and “CSI.” From “ER” it gets the medicine (far-fetched, I know) and our friend Omar Epps, who played the doomed Dr. Dennis Gant in season three. From “CSI” it gets the detective aspect – including a main character with flashes of Sherlock Holmes – and those cool inner-body CG shots. It also gets that show’s A & B story format, which basically translates into the main case and whatever oddball shows up at the clinic.

There are three things you can pretty much always count on with the clinic patients. 1) They’ll be funny. 2) They’ll be fixable. 3) They’ll be functional. The patients are usually connected to the main case, either thematically or by giving House a clue to solving said case. But sometimes they also give us a clue to House’s character based on how he interacts with them. This blog is dedicated not only to figuring out what purpose the clinic patients serve in each episode, but also to whether the connection works.

And because I’m starting this at the tail end of the season (and to maintain some semblance of organization), I think I’m going to forgo the last two episodes for now. But in an effort to keep things relevant during the summer, I’ll post with the reruns. I’ll also do my best to fill out season one.

And throughout it all, if you think I’m way off base on my interpretations, spot on, or just full of it in a general sense, please leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail. I thrive on feedback. I hope you enjoy!

(P.S. Speaking of connections: Kevin Bacon was in “Where the Truth Lies” with Colin Firth, who was in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” with Renee Zellweger, who was in “Jerry Maguire” with Jonathan Lipnicki, who played Hugh Laurie’s son in “Stuart Little.” Hoowa!)