- A sampling of articles about the show:
- Star-Telegram: TV critic Robert Philpot on the press tour from the Television Critics Association Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006. The visit to the set:
"...a tour by cast members Robert Sean Leonard, who plays Dr. House's long-suffering best friend, and Jennifer Morrison, who plays an immunologist with a thing for Dr. House.
"'Welcome to my private hell,' Leonard says. 'It's Sunday. We should be home, and we're not.' He was smiling while he said this, so I'm pretty sure he meant it all in a good way....
"...We go into Dr. House's office. 'Certain things have to be put away,' Morrison says. 'Because several things were stolen out of this office and sold on eBay.' Among the things sold: A red ball House bounces when he's thinking. The one he's using now is a green ball painted red. Hollywood _ the land of illusion.
"We walk into another office... over in a corner, on a table where the camera will probably never go, two copies of The New England Journal of Medicine. Now that's attention to detail."— see more of this
- "The Characters of the Year" By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN
December 25, 2005 The following was the first of the list:
GREGORY HOUSE ('HOUSE'). Fox's great diagnostician contends that everybody lies; he was lying when he said that. The writing is witty here, and the English comic Hugh Laurie, as a jerky pill-popping genius, is among few television actors who can sell those scary things called witticisms.
- "The Best TV Shows of the Year" By ALESSANDRA STANLEY December 25, 2005
HOUSE. Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) has his own physician's code of conduct, a Misanthropic oath: first, do some harm. He mercilessly mocks and terrorizes patients, their families and co-workers before solving a medical mystery each week. As addictive as Vicodin.
- PoPMatters: House by Roger Holland October 2005
"Last season, it was the very best show on U.S. network TV and now, just a couple of weeks into this new season, it looks to be repeating the trick."
"The joy of House is in the dialogue.... Hugh Laurie brings such a previously unsuspected wealth of charisma and charm to the role of House.... with.... a seemingly limitless armory of one-liners so sardonically savage that the NRA are campaigning to have them declared illegal."
- "Doctor, Is There a Remedy for These Britishisms?" By NED MARTEL
September 13, 2005
"...Mr. Leonard plays a Watson-like comrade to Mr. Laurie's Sherlock Holmes-esque sleuth physician, and the rehearsals often are interrupted when the British actor utters a wrong diphthong or some such mispronunciation.
"'Expletives come pouring out of his mouth, and he's hitting himself with the cane,' Mr. Leonard said. 'It drives him nuts.'
"...The Socratic method was more a part of Mr. Shore's law-school training than might exist in medical education. 'It's certainly a very effective tool to tear people apart, to rip them down, to build them up,' Mr. Shore said. 'That's what House is all about.'
"House gets personal with his patients and colleagues alike. He's constantly magnifying their weaknesses, belittling their strengths and getting away with it. "He would be unforgivable if he wasn't right so often," Mr. Shore said. "He's nasty and he's cold and he's heartless, and everything he does is to make the patient better."
"...'In coldly cynical terms, the unhealed person is given license to say and do things that the able-bodied are not,' he said. 'If I were playing the character striding around and doing push-ups at all times and cartwheeling around the corridor, I think the audience would find that a great deal harder to take.'"
- NewsDay: "GLUED TO THE TUBE
'House' riding high..." by Diane Werts September 12, 2005
"House" is clearly hot. Ratings climbed throughout the first season of the Fox medical mystery hour in which Hugh Laurie's brilliant but abrasive physician made amazing diagnoses while making those around him miserable. Critics were bowled over, too: Laurie won the Television Critics Association's annual award for drama achievement even before his Emmy nomination. — see more of this (mostly on the first two episodes of Season Two including some spoilers)
- Time.com: Doctor Is in ... a Bad Mood By REBECCA WINTERS/LOS ANGELOS
Posted Sunday, Sep. 04, 2005 - "on Fox's... House, the No. 9 prime-time show among women this year.... says Laurie,... "Audiences were ready for a character who didn't obey the usual pieties of modern life."
...A favorite to win Best Dramatic Actor at the Emmys on Sept. 18, Laurie, 46....
"Another actor would have posed as the mumbly, moody, acceptable antiauthority figure," says Robert Sean Leonard, whose character, oncologist Dr. James Wilson, is House's only real friend on the show. "Hugh plays House as a human being you're surprised to find you want to be around."
- zap2it.com: 'House' Prescribes More Medical Misanthropy
(Saturday, September 03 12:02 AM) By John Crook "Starting out the new season, House is thinking, 'I can deal with this, I can deal with this,' meaning that a person that he probably is still in love with is right there in his life," explains series creator and executive producer David Shore. "We want to explore that over the first half of the season, because it's a very intriguing situation. Here you have a character who firmly believes in rationality over emotion at all times, and he's being confronted with his own emotional hang-ups.
"House will be going from 'I'm fine' to 'Wait. Why am I fine? I shouldn't be fine. And why is she fine, for that matter?' We'll be drawing the two of them closer and closer together. I'm not speaking out of school to say that Stacy and House together would be fantastic and horrible at the same time. Does the fantastic outweigh the horrible? Once they commit to it, a huge price will be paid."
- "TV: What will happen to 'House' in the fall?" DOUGLAS DURDEN POINT OF VIEW (August 21, 2005)
"Laurie dropped his accent -- but not all of his skills at comedy -- to play Dr. House. What makes "House" worth watching even if you're not interested in obscure diseases is the good doctor's abrasive sense of humor....
"David Shore, executive producer of "House," explained that Laurie often supplies the funny lines himself...."
- Scotsman: TV REVIEW
by LOUISA PEARSON "Extras, BBC2
House, Five"
"House isn't like other hospital dramas. It belongs to the mystery genre rather than the medical, replacing whodunit with 'whatdunit and how many hours do we have to fix it and save the patient's life?'
"...when you have one-liners like House, no-one can stand in your way.... you can almost hear House's brain ticking. He's one of those characters who would be unbearable in real life but for the purposes of television, he's all you could ask for. Arrogant, tenacious and destined to rub people up the wrong way."
- "Irascibility reaps ratings" BY MIKE DUFFY (August 2, 2005)
"'House' ...grabbed a big audience on the merits of its quirky style, high-quality storytelling and the strong ensemble cast headed by Laurie...."
"Even real physicians get a kick out of the outspoken medical contrarian, says Robert Sean Leonard, who plays House's longtime colleague, Dr. James Wilson.
"'I've heard from doctors that it's sort of a nice outlet,' says Leonard. 'They watch it and laugh and feel that Hugh's character tends to say all the things they wish they could say.'"
- In Focus: "An interview with Joss Whedon,
the renowned script doctor and 'Toy Story' scribe who created 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' — and makes his feature directorial debut with the sci-fi actioner 'Serenity'"
by Jim Kozak (August/September)
Joss Whedon: "I adore 'House.' I've loved Hugh Laurie forever, but I love that character. I actually choke up at the thought of how powerfully noble and beautiful his total misanthropy is. He touches something very special in me because he's just so mean."
- Orlando Sentinel: "There is a doctor in the 'House'"
By Hal Boedeker
Sentinel Television Critic
(August 1, 2005) - His character in the Fox series is hardly warm and charming. But somehow British actor Hugh Laurie makes viewers embrace a prickly antihero.
"Laurie says. 'This is a guy
in search of truth. Incidentally, that truth one day could save your
life or the life of someone you love. That's a heroic thing.'
"Although [Laurie] has
written TV scripts in Britain, he has contributed just 'a tiny
smattering of lines' to House....
"House has a champion in the man who plays him. Laurie marvels that, to seek truth, House has surrendered his chance at happiness and contact
with others."
— see more of this
- "Magical Medicine on TV" By SANDEEP JAUHAR, M.D. (July 19, 2005) "Dr. House and his team solve medical mysteries with the flair and resourcefulness of private investigators..... Young doctors I work with today seem disengaged and mentally fatigued.... Mysteries are, by and large, abhorred.... Today, everyone in medicine wants a number, a lab test, a simple objective measurement to make a diagnosis. Unlike Dr. House, few have the time or patience to cope with uncertainty. We want to make medicine easier than it deserves to be, easier than it actually is...."
- TV Guide July 17-23, page 18 by Matt Roush.
"On TV, it's often all about character. Give us someone we want to spend time with each week—think phobic sleuth Adrian Monk or acerbic Dr. Gregory House—and a show's flaws (Monk's flimsy stories, House's often predictable forumla) don't matter quite so much...."
- The Free Lance-Star: "Does ill-tempered doctor really deserve adoration?"
by DR. PATRICK NEUSTATTER
(June 26, 2005) "...Each episode is centered around some desperately sick patient that no one can diagnose--until Dr. House reluctantly gives his dyspeptic attention, that is.
Like Sherlock Holmes--who, apparently, the character is modeled after--he does not tolerate fools gladly and is usually much too preoccupied with his higher cerebrations to be bothered. That is, until some fascinoma catches his interest.
....
- "Germs, jerks infiltrate primetime" y DAVID MERMELSTEIN, Jun. 15, 2005
- Sunday Times of London (June 12, 2005): "...he seems a more suitable case for treatment than his patients. But his moody, graceless doctor, dragging his gammy leg and gulping down painkillers, calls to mind someone else. The giveaway clue is his name: Dr Gregory House. Substitute Holmes for House and a medical Sherlock Holmes is revealed. — see more of this (mostly on Hugh Laurie)
- The Guardian: Doctored evidence by Mark Lawson
(June 6, 2005) "...Something about that surname House had been nagging at you and now the pipe-smoke clears: house = homes. Dr Gregory House is a medical Sherlock Holmes....
- : Summer Reruns by Alessandra Stanley (June 5, 05) "...focusing on the maimed foot of the hero.... House is bitter, wickedly irreverent and lame - a damaged romantic hero in the tradition of... Cyrano de Bergerac.... Dr. House is television's limping beau ideal: his corrosive wit masks a deep inner wound, a disappointed heart unrelieved by the crippling power of addiction.... His pill-popping doesn't ease his pain or cloud his facility for Sherlock Holmes-style deductions...."
—read more of the article
- Elites TV: House Rules? by Antony A Jones "Fox's new medical Sherlock Holmes.... The positive aspects of the show are Hugh Laurie's portrayal of an invalided, outwardly impassive and misanthropic, haughty genius. Using methodical and intuitive logic he manages to solve the most heinous of hidden diseases which become resident in our sad victims.... Like other crime and medical thrillers, CSI, Columbo, Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, Murder She Wrote, Marcus Welby MD, Quincy, and so on, the show is predictable.... —read more of the article
- SMRT TV: "Science and Math: Not Just for Nerds Anymore" by Joelle Tjahjadi (May 31, 2005) "the acerbic Dr. House and his team of diagnostic specialists utilize a formidable array of medical tests, scientific deduction and sheer knowledge to diagnose mind-boggling health related mysteries."
- "House" (May 31, 2005) "OK, who tortured more people last season -- Jack Bauer or Dr. Gregory House? Too close to call. Because every single week, House puts patients through medical treatment hell before coming up with the answer to the weekly health crisis mystery. Fortunately, Hugh Laurie's performance as the sour, misanthropic doc remains the show's acerbic saving grace."
- Chicago Tribue: TELEVISION: THE WATCHER -
'House' party - By Maureen Ryan
(May 28, 2005)
Hugh Laurie talks about his cranky-doc character, 'American Idol' and Stephen Fry's two limps
- chattanoogan.com: A Fox In The TV Hen House
by Bart Whiteman
- May 29, 2005 "House... an embarrassment of riches. It features the actor Hugh Laurie in the role of a curmudgeonly, irascible, cynical, and extremely talented doctor in a New Jersey Hospital who solves one difficult medical case after another with the help of three residents. They are the targets of his constant scorn, derision, general mistreatment, and encyclopedic knowledge of the wide range and variety of human malady. In other words, he is the kind of guy you would hate to love, but that we need more of in key places. In other words, it borders on pure fantasy."
- Lowell Sun (Massachusetts): Dr. Sidebottom, meet Dr. House By ANDREW RAVENS - May 23, 2005 "Local expert and TV's medical supersleuth have a lot in common, minus the melodrama...." "many of the baffling cases House, medicine's equivalent to Sherlock Holmes, conveniently ties up in an hour
share some commonalties to Sidebottom's work."
Business Week Online: "A Real Tonic for Fox" By Ronald Grover — At "the annual advertising scrum.... the show that may cause the biggest ripple isn't heavily hyped or star studded: House, the medical drama about a sarcastic, self-indulgent, pill-popping doctor who hates his patients as much as he despises himself....
"Starring British actor Hugh Laurie, House is the biggest surprise hit not only of this season but also of the last several. The show, which airs on Fox (NWS ) on Tuesdays at 9 p.m., represents a rarity for network TV. It's smart, with a one-of-a-kind character who isn't all that likeable or sympathetic. House's clout with over-40 viewers has even surprised the folks at Fox....
"Who knew that a pill-popping antihero was just what the doctor ordered?"
- Lansing State Journal: TV tonight: Sela Ward visits surreal 'House' By Mike Hughes
(May 17, 2005) — "Smart and acerbic, 'House' has shown flashes of becoming TV's best drama. This stunning episode proves it. At the core is Dr. Greg House (Hugh Laurie), brilliant and bitter. He limps, munches pain pills and refers vaguely to a lost love."
- New Zealand Herald: "An insult a day keeps patients away" (May 13, 2005)
- Associated Press: "Viewers feel Dr. House's pain" (May 12, 2005)
- LA Times (reprinted by the Sun Sentinel): House on fire
By Robert Abele
(May 8 2005)
- Pharmaceutical Executive:
"Risk: The Series"
By: Patrick Clinton
(May 1 2005) (we only learned about this from a link on Television Without Pity's House Forum by "aquarian1") "...The point is to watch House being brilliant, but the message is that disease can be bewildering. Good message."
"...The best, to me, is the way the show's writers have made risk/benefit part of the drama.... This is the kind of material that patients often have a hard time understanding. Here, in the setting of a TV melodrama, it's emotionally compelling and remarkably easy to comprehend...."
- Washington Post: This Doctor Is In
'House' Calls To TV Viewers, And the Quirky Minds Behind It By Ceci Connolly
(April 17, 2005)
- USA Today: 'House' goes under the medical microscope By Ann Oldenburg (April 17, 2005)
- USA Today: For medical whodunits, good thing House is on the case By Ann Oldenburg (April 17, 2005)
- MSNBC Commentary
By Wendell Wittler
(April 15, 2005)
- Slate: Is There a Doctor in the House? By Sherwin B. Nuland
(Nov. 30, 2004)
- SFGate: Tim Goodman
Network meddling by Fox execs starts the deathwatch for 'House' (November 15, 2004)
- USA TODAY: Hugh Laurie gets into 'House'
By Bill Keveney (Nov. 15, 2004)
- USA TODAY: There's a doctor worth watching in 'House'
By Robert Bianco (Nov. 15, 2004)
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: TV Review: Hugh Laurie makes 'House' worth a visit (November 14, 2004)
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