House Foundation

This season of House has been a bit better than the last two.  It shouldn't be. Not only is the series old and tired, but the new cast--with Odette Annable and Charlene Yi--don't compare to previous diagnosticians played by Jennifer Morrison, Olivia Wilde, Anne Dudek or Amber Tamblyn.  For that matter, Foreman as the hospital administrator and House's nemesis just doesn't work as well as Cuddy.

But the last few years they took the whole House/Cuddy thing in the wrong direction and dragged down the show.  Now they can concentrate better on the patients, and are freer to deal with other issues as well, without House worrying about or mooning over his girlfriend.

This week had an off-series episode, "Nobody's Fault," where they brought in a big name (Jeffrey Wright) to investigate a case that went awry.  So the story was told in flashback. The stakes were high--will Foreman lose his job, will Chase die or become paralyzed, will House go back to jail--but all that couldn't disguise the plot's basic mistake.

Wright looked into how House runs his team, and wondered how he could get away with all those insults, pranks and other outrages.  At this late date, we're still dealing with his technique?  You have to go with it or there's no show.  In real life, a House, no matter how brilliant, could not get away with what he does.  He'd be fired almost immediately for his abusive, not to mention sexist and racist, manner.  He's also be sued on a regular basis, and brought up on ethics charges about as often.  We allow this exaggeration to make for greater drama, so when some character comes in and tries to point this out, he's breaking the compact we've made with the series.

It reminds me of the Seinfeld finale (which was a bigger mistake). The characters got nastier, coarser and more outrageous through the years, but the audience went along with it.  The point was they were reflections on how we deal with the little things in life, but overdone for comic effect.  To have Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer taken to task--in a court, no less--for their lifestyles broke the deal we'd all made with the series.

Perhaps the producers are having trouble coming up with new ideas on House.  But they shouldn't be questioning the very premise of the show.

PS  House won't be around next season.  Not a complete surprise.  Perhaps Hugh Laurie will finally get the Emmy he's deserved all these years.