Dr. Gregory House Rules!

Are you a big time House fan? Can't get enough of Hugh Laurie? I've avoided getting the House contagion for all these years, but I've started to display symptoms of being smitten with the show. Back in the day, I loved watching St. Elsewhere and of course, ER. They weren't a "disease of the week" type of show that I just hated. They had engaging characters and a huge amount of humour mixed in with the pathos. I even was a major fan of MASH when Alan Alda took over the show and it became all preachy.

As far as House goes, I'm starting to watch it out of the corner of my eye as I'm reading (I'm a voracious reader as well as a bigtime TV watcher. Gotta get a life, right?) and I'm finding it better than I thought it would be. House and his team solve medical cases that baffle lesser doctors. The students (it's a teaching hospital) are always challenged by House and his tough love approach, but the student doctors are also interesting and able to hold their own. I especially like Omar Epps' portrayal as Dr. Eric Foreman, House's protege.

Hugh Laurie has always been hilarious in my eyes because he was on the various incarnations of Blackadder with Rowan Atkinson. What? You've never seen any of the Blackadder shows? And I thought I led a sheltered life. Any way, Hugh Laurie is english and he plays the heavily medicated Dr. Gregory House (with a flawless american accent) who is brilliant at diagnosing illnesses and diseases of various patients who cross his path on a weekly basis. Not usually my cup of tea, but then again, the House character is so layered and subtle that my usual qualms are easily dismissed. Well acted and shot, the series is always one step ahead. You don't really know what's going to happen next. I'm considering buying the series to watch it from the beginning.

Here's the series available from Amazon if you're interested: House: Seasons 1 - 4 Collection.

The series is now in it's fifth season and still going strong. Sometimes I feel like I need to kick myself for missing a great series like this. It took until the 3rd season of The X-Files before I finally succumbed to the charms of Mulder and Scully.