Shoring Up Lucas

House has been a hit for six years now, and it's nowhere near out of steam in the ratings. The basic formula is still the same--patient of the week with a mysterious illness--but the producers have tried to mix things up by hiring a lot of new regulars along the way.

I generally find the "arc" stuff less interesting than the weekly mystery, but I guess they gotta do something. And sometimes the new characters are pretty good. The three new members of House's team--now broken up--weren't bad. Even better was Amber, the "cutthroat bitch" who didn't make the team but came back as Wilson's love interest (before being dispatched).

But one character who didn't work was Lucas, the private investigator House hired in season five. He was supposed to be a new sounding board for House, but I don't think the audience wanted someone who gave as good as he got--that's House's job.

So I was surprised to see him return this season, cuddling with Cuddy. I find the whole House/Cuddy thing boring enough, so making it a triangle with a character I didn't care to see again makes it twice as bad.

Lucas is played by Michael Weston. According to his Wikipedia profile, House "creator David Shore is planning a spin-off show with Weston's character as the lead." That would explain why they're featuring him. I hope they spin him off soon.