Season 1, Episode 13, "Cursed": Hugh Laurie's Audition video

A Ouija board tells a young boy he will die, and he soon comes down with a serious illness. As his father is a major donor to the hospital, he insists on the best they have and Cuddy presses House to take the case. As they work through the possible solutions, House wonders why the father is so familiar with certain rare diseases. Meanwhile, a visitor to the hospital allows House to put Chase under the microscope.It's a very mobile nose. <"made a phone call" is in the pilot. I think Foreman says it. Speaking of obsessed, there is a community of people who--wait for it--TRANSCRIBE every episode! Do NOT get into an argument with one of these people.

what i like is how, for at least one ep, is has (d)evolved into General Hospital! kindly dr. greg actually takes an interest in the world around him! there is no mention here of the "phone call" that Chase Sr. did to get Chase Jr on the team, that you mentioned earlier. but it IS weird how Chase Sr. is drawn in by House to, apparently, rub Chase Jr's nose in it...(which you say is already up house's butt, so then approximately where is his nose in this ep???)  well, yes, transparent and obvious that the whole bonding thing Chase does with the kid is supposed to be a reflection of the two dads as well...and, well, like i said up top: General Hospital.

big yock: Wilson: "even I don't like you" [exit] House: [shouting after] "hey! words can hurt!"

So, now Wilson is supposed to be a skirt-chaser? you did say something about him seeking to "ship" with moist earth. though. i dunno, tho'. thing about rakes are that they are incredibly self-centered, right? the whole ego + conqueror thang? i mean, sure, there are guys who are just seeking to get their rocks off, granted. but to become a head of oncology? don't you have to have more of an alpha male aspect than Wilson has exhibited? of course, i can gather that is forthcoming.

P.S. Took me a while to figure out how to get to the page but found Polite Dissent extremely fine. so far i think i have seen at least two anaphylactic seizures and missed the cues!

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I don't much care for this episode, except for House tormenting Chase about his dad and the father/son rivalry. As for where Chase's nose is...it's a very mobile nose.

"made a phone call" is in the pilot. I think Foreman says it. Speaking of obsessed, there is a community of people who--wait for it--TRANSCRIBE every episode! Do NOT get into an argument with one of these people.

"Shipping" is not horniness...it is True Love and Real Romance.

Wilson is SO not alpha! I was baffled for a long time by Wilson being the head of oncology. Honestly, I don't know how to answer these questions. It's outside my area of expertise.

BTW, when Hugh Laurie got the script, he thought the part of House was the sidekick; he couldn't imagine a show built around this character. He figured the "boyishly handsome oncologist" would be the lead.

The reason his character looks the way he does is because HL was filming "Flight of the Phoenix" in Africa. He did his audition in a hotel bathroom in Namibia. For the film his hair [s uncut and he is scruffy since his character was marooned in the desert. So the powers that be went for that look. They had been casting for ages for an actor. Apparently one of the creators of the show said, when he saw the tape, "At last! An American actor!"



Hugh Laurie apologizes for his appearance at the beginning, then you hear the recording beep and off they go.

Season One, Episode 12, "Sports Medicine" Monster Trucks In 3 Parts

(This exchange took place on February 2, 2011)

Part One

this one is pretty shabby--as in threadbare; like all the stitching's showing through. [pretty good metaphor, eh? "tailored to fit" someone for whom such things are meat-&-starch...] 

this stuff about the intimate lives is so contrived. the pharma rep x-ing foreman esp., but no less than the phony curiosity built up about house's big deal. so here, you have faux jealousy in the "Hilson ship" [did i use the shorthand correctly?] over Wilson going out w/someone else instead of to the monster truck show w/House. this is so OOC [MY shorthand for Out-Of-Character] you know the writer just stuck it in to give him blue-collar creds. i don't mind being catered to, and manipulated (as said somewhere else previous in this dizzy chainmail) but i resent it being done badly. 

what bothers me most (and prob. nobody else in the House house) is that, when the pitcher tries to off himself w/coach's digitalis, our boy explains: "next time take the whole bottle. people remember how many they have; date's on the bottle, number of pills. a regular person can do the math. NOW A JUNKIE DOESN'T HAVE TO. HE KNOWS HOW MANY HE HAS LEFT. IT'S ALL HE THINKS ABOUT." the all-caps is my emphasis to point out JUST WHAT I SAID ABOUT "DETOX"! 

[this puts me to mind of discussions i have had with other writers. editors and proofreaders, how skimping on the proof is one of the things that really brings down the quality of communications these days. but this is waay too digressive.] the only thing that gives it verisimilitude, for moi, is the couple of "hate yankees" asides. 

it fits for house to be THAT blue-collar, as i, myself, will participate in the discussion of local team affairs with my co-workers, if only to show that i am not unaware of events outside of my peculiar interests. but the monster truck thing? i want to punch somebody... 

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Wow. You'd better get used to it, House and Wilson love monster trucks. Funny, I've never had a problem with that, but maybe a guy can see the inherent contradiction therein. Yes, the Foreman/drug rep story was lame, lame, lame. I guess you could call the drug rep. story one of those "world-famous doctor" moments that pop up from time to time. Doesn't make it any less lame. The dinner with the lawyer is what is known as "foreshadowing," although I won't say why. Later you'll see why that isn't lame. 


Definitely one of the lesser episodes. Oh, and after "Cursed" (which I can't remember at all except an amazing close-up of Chase looking down out of a window that practically killed me) is the episode that starts the "Vogler" arc, which is amazing in its own way. I look forward to ranting to follow.

Chase in "Cursed"...what were we talking about, again?

What I meant about Chase looking out for Chase is, that by kissing House's ass, Chase thinks that's how he can keep his job. More will be revealed.  Curiosity: why is a game boy less blue collar than monster trucks? 


because monster trucks are an offshoot of NASCAR-type events--those held at raceways and suburban arenas. as well, as you could see from the parking lot/carny/tailgate party atmosphere (remember house wearing a gimme cap and eating cotton candy?), this much more associated with festival arenas/cow palaces. 

a gameboy is something you can play on the subway, making it NOT EXCLUSIVELY an urban/geek thing but approximately one. the urban analog would be an interest in WWF (or whatever wresting soaps are called after the world wildlife fund lawsuit). this is what the boys trade insults and exemplars upon: the knowledge of the trivia (such as the meaning of the dates tattooed on the flesh of stone cold steve austin) is equivalent to baseball stat fiends. (ask your husband about that.)

Part Two


To continue the discussion, Jeff is an urbanite and he likes...NASCAR. It's a recent thing and he knows better than to even broach the subject of attending one of those things. And he has to watch it when I'm not around, or I start shrieking with outrage. I freak out over the trailer trashness of it all. And House does like wrestling, although it's only come up in an episode or two. 

I suspect the writers are trying to make him know everything about pop culture everything, if you know what I mean. And Jeff's a soft-spoken intellectual type therapist. I can understand his obsession with baseball and to a lesser extent, his interest in football (not hockey, thank God), but NASCAR? I don't get it. Maybe that's why the monster trucks thing doesn't bother me. 

it's like I said. male identification with sub-groups of these genres gives us the cachet of participating in the brotherhood of good-ole-boy nation w/o having to suffer the attendant miseries OF being trailer-park trash, or rickets, or working crushingly-dull double-shifts to pay off the loan on our pickup with the Easy-Rider Rifle Rack in the back window, or breeding through two or three divorces, or having an engorged liver, or believing that the South was right and slaves were soldiers in the confederacy, or that heroes are best made from grass-roots and not in board offices... 

yes, I know a predominance of the examples may make it sound exclusively antediluvian, post-colonial but I'm sure you understand that the spread of the Klan to skokie, IL was not a random phenom. it all comes down to this: IF YOU HAVE THE T-SHIRT/GIMME CAP AND TALK THE LINGO you will never be accused of being a member of the communist party OR effete core of impudent snobs OR a fag.  It's a pseudo-macho thang.
 
Part Three (for which this is a section missing, sorry)


<our boy explains: "next time take the whole bottle. people remember how many they have; date's on the bottle, number of pills. a regular person can do the math. NOW A JUNKIE DOESN'T HAVE TO. HE KNOWS HOW MANY HE HAS LEFT. IT'S ALL HE THINKS ABOUT." the all-caps is my emphasis to point out JUST WHAT I SAID ABOUT "DETOX"!  >

I'm not sure I get your meaning. House is talking about himself; he always knows how many pills he has and how many bottles. Explain. 

no. he doesn't. read my remarks on the detox ep. 

Put the question to a fellow (sane) fan, and her response was this: House is a mass of contradictions. It depends on who wrote the episode in question and which season it is and how much crack the producers had been smoking at the time. 

It almost goes without saying that this person, like me, is a long-time fan who's having a hard time with the show as it stands. The crack pipe is going 24/7 these days. Also, if you can avoid framing things through the prism of the House/Wilson relationship, the show as a whole makes more sense. I might have written you this before, but House/Wilson was originally Holmes/Watson, HOWEVER it became evident early on that the "Watson" in question was really the team, not Wilson. 

Robert Sean Leonard, who plays Wilson, has said repeatedly that he enjoys being a background character who says things like, "There's no egg salad" and then splits. 

"There's no egg salad. Can I leave now?"

Season One, Episode 11, "Detox" - Added Monkey With A Dildo

While trying to figure out why a young patient (Nicholas D'Agosto) will not stop bleeding after a car wreck, House accepts Cuddy's challenge and goes off Vicodin for a week in exchange for no clinic duty for a month. As House's withdrawal symptoms become severe, his methodology for his patient are more harsh and risky, and Foreman and Cameron are afraid he may not be thinking clearly enough in order to save the patient's life. 

& about time too! is this the 1st time addiction gets mentioned? why now? because the Vicodin is late? how is it he doesn't keep a stash in his office for emergencies? or would that be too much of an admission of an addict personality trait? YEAH? LIKE HE ISN'T ADDICTED TO TV AND MEDICINE? well, ok--the latter is harmless and (as discussed previously) more of a substitute for passion, while the latter is..
. 
"pills don't make me high. they make me neutral." 

 this is a hard argument to fight. the rest of the ep is devoted to him going cold turkey and trying to save another life/solve another puzzle. You are forced to wonder that, IF he had his meds, he would have gotten to the solution earlier. but that is unlikely: the patient history missed the pet, and as foreman said at the outset: "can't be environmental factors. the father had a team come in and test. replaced everything with hypoallergenic bedding too." 

(actually having a mold case here at the law office wherein the plaintiff is accusing the first "remediators" of doing such a poor job that they missed a major part of the infestation and made them sick all over again. so i can see a major lawsuit vs. the ones who did the job on the show.) 

as usual, it is the last bit of casually tossed-off info that breaks the case. but that doesn't negate his argument. when cuddy ("that's double what you were taking when i hired you") and then wilson ("remember? i was there! i know!") allude to watershed moments--she to the actual risk she decided was worth it; he to some precipitous event, either the thrombosis(?) or something equally catastrophic that made him the bitter cynic he is--neither, at either end of this "intervention" (of sorts) really address this issue: neutrality. 

the pills ARE NOT destroying his life. they may be part and parcel of damaging his view of the human race, but that's something we all struggle with--"let he who is without sin," etc. there were mentions of other treatments, palliative care is the term i believe, and he dismissed these outright. and why? 

probably because they would have meant an interruption to the one thing that drives his existence. and PURPOSE is also a drug. give a man a dose and he can move mountains, topple regimes. if palliative care DID NOT interfere with his work, he'd probably opt for it. 

you know, it just struck me the other day, the reason why "House" is so great for you, may have to do with all the time you've spent under physician's care. i listen to the terminology and realize that i am going to have to spend more time at that polite dissent site. i lack basic vocabulary. but i digress... i remember that one pharmoneuro(cologist?) you had who was reading your mood swings like flowcharts. Must've felt like housarbeit. 

AND NOW FOR THE MAJOR REVELATION! 

surrender. you ever heard "sweet surrender" by tim buckley? one of his best, and & that's saying something. 

my quibbles with character flaws must cease; they profiteth me not and naught. in a real world, the way house works miracles would not be seen so much as reason to repel lawsuits as a drawing card for alumni donors. he'd have new yorker profiles and local headlines as "the doctor who saves lives...or people he can barely stand" and even have loveable curmudgeonly portraits painted by his patients on Live at Five. yup. 

[Foreman:] the formula! streetsmart kid who bootstrapped himself up & out and is now probably one step from clarence thomas in his view of that past. 
[Cameron:] Ms. straight-A, goody-two-shoes who was all-varsity field hockey captain while volunteering for meal-on-wheel for AIDS victims, has her mayfly romance/tragedy to give her preternatural wisdom beyond her tender years. 
[Chase:] Aussie dreamboat transfers his desire to aid the afflicted from god to darwin but still can't get over his (probable) jesuit training to accept an authority figure as the Last Word. that's yr. ducklings. 

as for Wilson and Cuddy? jury's still out. PS. comic relief with the masseuse--i may have actually laughed.

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As long as we're talking Darwin, have a stuffed monkey with a dildo

& about time too! is this the 1st time addiction gets mentioned? why now? because the Vicodin is late? how is it he doesn't keep a stash in his office for emergencies? 

In later episodes he does, can't remember which. A season or two later. It was played more as a joke than anything else. I'm not sure if this is the first time "addiction" is mentioned. House's habit is front and center but I can't remember if there's been any sort of conversation about it, other than his liking to pop pills in front of people whenever he can.

You also see, in this episode, that even though House is incredibly manipulative, Wilson is just as manipulative in his own way. After all, Cuddy presented the detox idea as hers, but it was Wilson's. Wilson believes House is an addict, so he has House put through this to "prove" Wilson's point. But it doesn't really "prove" anything except, as we talked about, that it makes it possible for House to function normally. 

i listen to the terminology and realize that i am going to have to spend more time at that polite dissent site. i lack basic vocabulary

Most viewers who aren't obsessed as I am--the majority, actually--have no idea what the doctors are talking about. That's one of the reasons for the Magic School Bus Cam. Have they had anyone go into anaphylactic shock yet? That's one of my favorites. The throat closing together like fast elevator doors. 

that's also the one caused by peanuts? maybe. i mean, I've seen a couple that they may have said it, but it goes by so fast when they get into those "trauma ward chase scenes", to coin a phrase. (Or not. for all i know that may be another of your clan's tropes.) 

i remember that one pharmoneuro(cologist?) you had who was reading your mood swings like flowcharts.  

That was when my psycho-pharmacologist had me in that study of bipolar women and their reproductive cycles. So truly a flow chart, hah. Since my lady parts came out of the factory broken, apparently my moods were never affected by my cycle. Life events, yes, menstruation, no.

Aussie dreamboat transfers his desire to aid the afflicted from god to darwin but still can't get over his (probable) jesuit training to accept an authority figure as the Last Word. 

Actually, Chase is a weaselly rich kid whose father made a phone call to get him on the team. Yes, his seminary training gets in the way, but Chase looks out for Chase, first and foremost. And his lips are super-glued to House's butt.

am i missing something or is that not a contradiction? "me first" but "House first"? 

Season 1, Episode 10, "Histories" - Another Quickie

Dr. Foreman believes an uncooperative homeless woman (Leslie Hope) is faking seizures to get a meal ticket at the hospital. But her situation strikes a chord with Dr. Wilson and he resolves to keep her from falling between the cracks. Meanwhile, House gets an audience of two medical students who are learning how to conduct medical histories.

omar gets to humanize hisself here and that's nice. this is about as commando as they can go, though. omar giving up his jacket to a bum for a look at her digs--AND HE DOESN'T EVEN WEAR PROTECTIVE GEAR? NOT EVEN RUBBER GLOVES? that's a BIIIG stretch. and house bribing the cop for the taser info? just shows to go you that the above assessment was right on the money. so this was also the watershed of the first death of the primary patient. kinda like L&O's 1st defendant win, i suspect.

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Usually they put on rubber gloves whenever they're inspecting somebody's place. Good catch! Was this the one with the comics? I really liked how they managed to put everything together (and also the party at the opening). I have to wrack my brains a bit to remember these episodes. I started watching in S4, but after that I got all of the DVD sets and watched them in order. That's why I've been looking at recaps to recall what I can, with a little help. As I recall, Foreman has a huge chip on his shoulder from escaping the streets and never believes anyone who might be on drugs, homeless, or generally down on their luck. 

House doesn't believe in the "right kind of people" deserving care; their lifestyles don't matter to him unless it has an impact on the case in some way. To be honest, I'm always happy when the patient dies. It's usually a surprise, unlike the patient surviving. Also, I liked the end, with House and Wilson sitting outside, silent. 

Cool! Now you get to see "Detox"! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on that one.

Season One, Episode Nine: "DNR" - A Quickie

A legendary jazz musician named John Henry Giles (Harry J. Lennix) collapses during a recording session. House and his team are told to only treat him for his pneumonia, and not his partial paralysis. John Henry files a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order, and chokes during a routine exam. House ignores the DNR order and ends up in court. All the doctors, including John Henry's own doctor, except for House believe that he has ALS. Cameron notices a blood clot, which is removed with surgery. John Henry recovers, and an MRI shows that he had suffered from Arteriovenous malformation, and a subsequent corrective surgery restores his ability to walk. Meanwhile, Foreman receives a lucrative job offer from John Henry's doctor.


this is your first reveal of house caring about something other than medicine: he has a TURNTABLE IN HIS OFFICE! i take exception to this: vinyl-o-philiacs are very specific disease group, and one not in keeping with his pill-centered priorities. the accumulation and cataloging and filing and cleaning and hunting down of items takes too much time, and, i think you may agree that, in general, we advanced cases don't like to mix our addictions. 

HOWEVER, i will grant that IT CAN BE a holdover from his previous life where he had more rounded interests. (may have been into lacrosse or skiing for all i know now.) 

what knocks it out of the ball park for me--or, rather, gives the series as a whole a badly-needed application of verisimilitude glue--is the courtroom scene: 2 great NBC taste treats in one! can't crossover into Law & Order, but at least gives a whiff of the complexities of having house around the shop. which makes his ruse about "facing his accuser" even groovier; this reveals that he knows his precedent well enough to be able to skirt most issues on a daily basis that might arise out of his cavalier attitude towards patients and treatment regimens. in this one snippet, i can extrapolate a lot of scenarios in which Princeton Plainboro attorneys get him out on technicalities; and that adds much to my previous qualms about cred. 

the miles davis stand-in even nails him with his own observational skill: "how do i know this is all you got? that cane, the empty ring finger and you being here right now... people like us, we have one thing that drives us on. the house, the kids, the woman at home with dinner waiting--that's not for us." house: "that's why god invented microwave ovens." [I USE THIS LINE ALL THE TIME!]

So this is where omar and the two ducks get to say, out loud!, what they think about their master. 2 for, omar against, and why?--lack of HUMILITY! he objects to arrogance? yes. "you were wrong every time." right. wrong is when you kill the patient, i thought, or cause grievous, irreversible injury. that hasn't happened in ANY case so far. pretty fucking late now to be worrying about "humility", ain't it? 

fave line: "this is how medicine evolved. sometimes patients get better all on their own. then, if you don't give them an explanation, they don't pay you. has anybody noticed there's a full moon? i think we can rule out the lunar god and go on from there." ARF-ARF-ARF! 

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House is a music buff/expert, and he loves vinyl. "Vinyl-o-philiacs" hee hee. That's great. BTW, the apartment you see in Season 1 changes completely in S2; I guess they thought the first layout was too bright and shiny. They've kept the S2 layout since then. Does House have a guitar collection by now? He does later. 

What did you think of the music studio scenes? I thought they were cool, esp. when the miles davis stand-in screwed up. The only thing I was unclear on was whether or not he'd be able to play again. I assume so, or they would have made a big deal about it.

Season 1, Episode 8 "Poison" It's Getting Personal...

House and his team investigate the mysterious poisoning of high-school student Matt Davis (guest star John Patrick Amedori), until another teen is brought in with all of the same symptoms but almost nothing else in common with Matt.

---

Final diagnosis: Phosmet poisoning


i've had a minor revelation with regard to the soap opera watching. i think it was wilson who explained "he needs to think", to one of the duckling's astonishment, "is he going to watch tv?" Holmes would play the violin: house becomes absorbed in petty dramas...because it frees his mind to consider the larger ones. i've had this ongoing disc. w/ Ed [the guy i do media funhouse with] with regard to movies seen on tv are not movies. purist that he is, there is a point there; the wide-screen can never be matched by the small one.

but the fact that house watches on a hand-held portable when the maternity lounge is out or he's not in his office. i am of the opinion that any way you take in the information is ok, provided you know what you are missing. house, this is all about entertaining the imagination, for me. on the other hand, house would seem to be using General Hospital as a screen, something to filter away the soap opera of his desmense and concentrate on the problem without any other considerations, including the patient's life.

in his view, then, the survival of the patient is incidental to the solution to the problem. [or maybe i heard wilson say it, don't remember] BUT, again, this is a new way of looking at short attention span vs attention deficit disorder: the former could be nothing more than a refusal to give consideration to things not of one's interest; the latter is more like the choice in not optional--you can't remain focused no matter how interested you are...unless the object of your attention is itself a constantly changing one, like a videogame, but without any positive resolution.

OK. TO THE EP.

house watches the portable in from of the mother of the dying boy. this is really what i was getting at above. to show his interest in saving the kid's life, sure, but also to demonstrate the contempt he has for the mother's desire to control everything--all while filtering out the human noise of a life/death decision. omar epps (who's show name i can't remember right now--the black guy) doesn't seem to be living in the same universe as us. DOESN'T ANYBODY IN THIS HOSPITAL HAVE A MEMORY?

it gets irritating to find him always insulting house; i mean, OK? at first he seemed almost flattered to have been 'picked for the team', right? if he's so dissatisfied, why doesn't he transfer out. then? at the end, he gets called one of the "two egomaniacs who saved your life" by moms, and then they cut to the shoes. OK. you've said it already. the shoes are significant. right. i don't buy enough shoes to understand this, i guess, but i accept it. what bothers me is the way this becomes more ridiculous when they are asked to do these off-site searches for clues. the way the ducklings stick their necks out just on his say-so. they are still paying off their first-year loans! NOBODY WOULD SCREW WITH PAYING BACK THAT WEIGHT!

Dr. Foreman in a leisure moment

the comic relief with the old lady w/the hots for house--this is a really funny bit, esp. when wilson reads the love poem. so MAYBE that's their foreplay? making outrageous gesture in public? Naaaah! can't be, can it? i can't see house ever breaking his cool demeanor to camp.

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Tell Ed he can blow me.  Movies seen on tv are still movies, but they are MOVIES SEEN ON TV.  Of course you lose something in translation.  I'm old enough to remember revival theaters.  Ask Ed this: if movies seen on tv are not movies, then what are movies made for tv?  Are they still movies?

House doesn't have a short attention span when he's involved in a case or something else that obsesses him.  That's one of his problems; all or nothing at all, in which case soap operas, etc. provide relief from the constant thinking.  (Ala Sherlock Holmes)

since this show is an alternate universe, breaking into people's homes is one of the things they do on a regular basis. House rarely does it himself. It's entertaining and it saves a lot of talky exposition. Yes, it is a definite suspension of belief. And the whole "Foreman is House Lite" is idiotic. I've never understood why the show keeps on insisting they're alike when they are nothing alike.

*Foreman - black guy 
Chase - Australian pretty boy 
Cameron - young female assistant 
Cuddy - sexy boss 

Dr. Cuddy in a leisure moment

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I DIDN'T SAY HOUSE HAD SAS OR ADD. i said this was a distinction BETWEEN SAS and ADD. or perhaps it isn't. i have no idea what the reference guide says about the two. it just appears to me to be interesting that there are two term so close together, that if they are NOT describing the same syndrome, they should be. as far as his use of the tools of technology, so far i have seen house watching GH in various settings, and there was one show in which he was playing a hand-held video game. the fact that he keeps these devices around (or more) is sufficient for my theory as stated above.

 ME? i used, and still use, stuff like that so that i will not be considering the wreckage of my past and the gloom of my future. so far, all i can say with certainty is that house has more than a bad leg to make him a misanthrope. what else, i cannot speculate on at this point. (it surely isn't homosexual panic.) the only reason not to be polite or pay court or play games is THAT IT WASTES TIME.

now, remember what i said about you? how your being late was not a chronic disability to tell time as much as a chronic disrespect for other's time. house's TV time is more important than any consult? this is doubtful. but he can use it to demonstrate contempt for the other dr.'s time. that's also part of the anti-intellectual charm of his TV watching. its like when i talk about going to McDonald’s in every country i visit. you wouldn't believe how hostile some people get when i talk about them. nonetheless, the key word is FILTER, and it's salient point is distraction. some people put on a tie, sit at the desk and rearrange papers. some go running. some drink. these are all ways to get to think by removing the blocks to thinking--just different strokes. i would more likely diagnose house as a monomaniac--someone with the need to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else.

 Bemis is judging you. Harshly

By the way, in terms of memory, the folks at "House" brag that they don't have a "bible," which is what it sounds like for every show.  Characters, timeline, storylines, etc.  Unfortunately, this makes for whopping continuity errors (esp. the past two seasons) the longer the show goes on.  We crazed fans scream a lot when the show chooses to ignore an important back-story, which has been happening a lot.

Season One, Episode 7: "Fidelity" (The First H/W Convo)

Description:

31-year-old Elyce Snow (Myndy Crist) sleeps eighteen hours a day, and is impossible to get along with the other six hours. House (Hugh Laurie) thinks it might be depression, but it isn't, nor is it rabbit fever (his second choice). Finally, House diagnoses African Sleeping Sickness--and since neither Elyce nor her husband Ed (Dominic Purcell) has ever been to Africa, the only other possibility is that one of them has been unfaithful. But neither husband nor wife will fess up...not even if their silence results in her quick demise!

finally he gets called a misanthrope! been waiting for a Moliere reference too, but maybe that's coming later? the xmas ep, though, did not have a scrooge ref which i thought might have come up. but then we find House doesn't hate xmas as much as one might think. having him play the piano of "have yourself a merry little xmas" was perfectly in keeping, then, with what you told me. only mel torme could offer us alienated urbans a token to the lonely-but-sweet innocence it is possible to discover when you use memories of childhood as this occasion's spiritual center, to realize that the happy family was, of course, a lie.

fave line: "check for poison apples too. when there's this much sleeping i'd check for a wicked stepmother." 

OK. the title tells us that it is going to be about intra-familial relations exclusivity. right. which then opens the door for a bit of discussion about the outside thang going on. but it is confined to the case, primarily, far as i remember. now we begin to see a house/wilson relationship at all with his 1st consult--and not just on the gal with the implants. so you're going to tell me that homosexual males would enjoy the prospect of a gaze at enormous knockers? personally, i can't think of any in my acquaintance who would. and the fact that wilson is married doesn't help. 

BUT, MAYBE the subtext of the kidding around wilson gets for wearing a new tie and taking a nurse to lunch? i don't get a jealous vibe here. the idea that comes to me is if these guys were on some kind of down-low, the banter would be much more two-sided rather than house being the pitcher and wilson the catcher. i'm not saying "oh mary" or such, but like the African American bi-cultural thang of the down-low: sex as recreation, not anything emotional. 

(at least, that's according to the Village Voice description of the phenomena...)

Um...ever heard of bisexual? Although I don't know if the characters are in fact bisexual, it's a fun fantasy to entertain. My personal opinion is that House is omni sexual and Wilson is a closeted bi. I mean, three failed marriages? But then, is that information not revealed yet? Not that it's a big reveal, by you can see that Wilson prefers hanging with House than hanging with his wife(s). Although I kinda think Wilson would fuck mud in the absence of a suitable orifice. 

Quite a few of my therapist friend's male clients (who are mainly minorities) do the down low, but insist they're straight. You should know that last season they did an episode on House and Wilson called "The Down Low."

And the jealousy thing comes much more into play in later seasons. I keep trying not to give away too much, mingled with utter disbelief that you're doing this.

One hideous side-effect of being a House/Wilson fan (or Hilsons as the portmanteau name freaks would have it) is all of these home-made videos on YouTube about their doomed or not doomed love are made with THE EXACT SAME CLIPS SO THEY BURN INTO YOUR MIND FOREVER! I'd point one or two out, but then again, same problem as above. 

House/Wilson vids--say what?

 Go to Youtube. Type in "House Wilson" or "Hilson" but maybe you don't want to because there are two many reveals from later seasons. Also clips edited to suggest sexual passion when in fact they're not. The shot where Wilson is standing in the doorway is one used over and over and over again.



 Video by clovermedia

Hey, it's all looking for tiny clues for us obsessed House/Wilson fans. It was only in Season 2 that they found what "popped" (in the writers' terms) for the relationship. I glanced at the televisionwithoutpity.com recap to try to remember more about the ep, and the recapper wrote, regarding the woman she calls Boobs: 

Wilson isn't as impressed with the preschool teacher's set as House was. I guess he's not a Tits 'N Ass man. He always struck me as more of a Beard 'N Limp guy anyway. 

seems like this view is pervasive.  

Your backstory is waaay ahead of me. 

so far, we've learned that the black guy had a sealed juvie record, chase was a seminary student, the cute F asst had a fairytale marriage end in a snap, and wilson had a brother who went schizo/homeless.

OK. bisexual. right. they are both bisexual? that's a stretch, but then again so are anal cavities, in these situations. how do you know house isn't A-sexual? i suppose that's in the "more will be revealed" portion? 

Not that it's a big reveal, by you can see that Wilson prefers hanging with House than hanging with his wife(s). Although I kinda think Wilson would fuck mud in the absence of a suitable orifice. 

no. i tried it. or rather, sand. unfortunate decision.

Season 1, Episode 6: "The Socratic Method"

Part One

this sounds pretty cool: ask questions until the thing-itself gives answers. the point that gets misunderstood today is that you have to ask the RIGHT questions. talking heads who think they're reporters think they're being probing when they phrase a question as "some people say" or "informed sources have it" or "it has been said" because a talking point has gotten a headline or some blogosphere nut has been quoted on fox, when they are really deflecting the probe into another area that is non-productive (to the discussion) or entirely self-serving (to them having a trenchant retort to end a segment).

but housearbeit?--he always ask questions; that's his job, what makes him good. because he goes after the edges, inconsistencies, aberrations. that's where science has more "huh?" moments than "aha!" moments, and that's what lead to breakthroughs. he always questions "the disease", as if it were an uninvited guest he has to figure out how to make at home.   

not much else to say about the ep. couldn't quite figure it out. the ending i mean. vague. the woman was FAKING it? pretending to be schizo so her son would be taken away and not have to deal with her death-by-tumor? so how did we get the voice-overs of multiple personality disorder? what did i miss? i could rewatch it, but thought you might remember.

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As I recall, it wasn't that the woman was faking being schizo.  It was the son's attempt to take care of her that was pushing whatever disease it was    into overdrive, plus whatever meds she was on.  (If you remember me ten years ago, you have a walking, talking example of what the wrong meds can do to you.)  

 
Hearing voices is not a sign of multiple personality disorder; it is a symptom of being psychotic.  I've spent enough time hanging around the halls of New York City's mental health system to know the difference.  In fact, I've never actually met anyone with multiple personality disorder, unless they managed to maintain the same personality during the duration.

Here's a quote from the recap from televisionwithoutpity.com: I couldn't quite remember, except that the son's over-controlling ways was part of why his mother was so fucked up:

Friedman grits that he's never thanking House, because House turned Friedman in. That is so much more important in the grand scheme of things than the fact that House saved his mom from the copper prison of her mind, and also from DYING AT AGE THIRTY-EIGHT. SHUT IT, Friedman. Friedman's mom just shifts uncomfortably until House rescues her, saying he just wanted Friedman out of his life: "That's why I had Doctor Cuddy call Social Services." Ha! The elevator reaches its destination, and Friedman wheels his mother away. 

This was a fun recap because it was written by someone who didn't know and didn't like the show. 

I think House called Social Services, just to keep the brat out of his hair.  I'm not sure why they let the kid back into her life, and always wondered if she went into an epic downward spiral afterwards.

no. it was the mother who dropped the dime on the kid. house was simply trying to live up to his role as healer; he's not after credit or  thanks--just wants the patient out of his life ASAP because THAT'S  WHAT HE'S SUPPOSED TO DO! he gave him the gift of hate. hate is a very  powerful focusing mechanism, as shirley maclaine says to dean martin at the end of "what a way to go!", or as michelle bachman says every  night to her mirror.

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Part Two: Who Do You Love?

In this season, I think the creators were going for the whole sexual romantic tension thing with Cameron.  I don't want to give too much away, but suffice to say it didn't happen.  There are still crazed fans out there who haven't gotten over it.  Inadvertently it happened with Wilson, in my opinion.  The guy who recapped the last two or three episodes from this period kept making observations about how gay they were, and I know the two actors enjoyed playing the hell out of the subtext, just to annoy Fox's censors.

Chase became the doctor who could perform almost ANY surgery known to God or Man.  I have a soft spot for him in those early seasons because I like little boys, and those rosy lips and blond hair do something to me.  Not necessarily a healthy something.  Also, particularly in this season, he's a weasel who will kiss House's ass so much he practically gets dragged around by his lips.

 

OK. but now i find out [last ep] that this is a TEACHING HOSPITAL, or  did i misconstrue some remark? sort of stands to reason, then, that  MAYBE dr house might want them to run their own tests to see what  might go wrong? this isn't an apologia--bytheby--as much as a  plausible alternative view that fits in with an approach to medicine.

it's called Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (or PPTH for short), and House is kicking their asses both for his own amusement but also to teach, not just medicine, but various life skills.  That last sentence was so lame I'm ashamed of myself. everything  house does RIGHT is usually only after he, or the others, do something WRONG. you can't make an intern without breaking ovum.

  

OK. the pretty boy is chase? so how come no one tells him he's a dead  ringer for the dish on GH? i mean, house himself commented on the F  asst's 1st class assets [and she is cute, but not porn star cute]; how  come nobody else notices this guy? no reason on earth he shouldn't be  boffing candystripers by the gurneyload.  or would that spoil your relationship with him?

No, I'm willing to share.  My favorite duckling is Foreman (the black guy), just because.  I don't have the hots for him, I just like the actor and the character.  Any complaints I have will have to wait until later on.  

Dr. Foreman is judging you. Harshly.

Jesse Spencer auditioned but didn't get a callback.  But he wanted the part so badly he flew back to LA from Australia on his own dime and auditioned again.  At first the character was going to be an American playboy, but they let Spencer be Australian.  Since Hugh Laurie is British and has to act with an American accent (he's likened it to "having a pebble in his shoe" in regard to his acting), there's a certain amount of envy there.

 

Season 1, Episode 5, "Damned If You Do"

Description:

It's Christmas time in the clinic, but there's no occasion for joy when Sister Mary Augustine is brought, apparently suffering from stigmata. Figuring that it is nothing more than an allergy, House treats the nun accordingly--and as a result she nearly suffocates. As the other nuns set up a prayer vigil (much to House's annoyance), the clues to solving this medical mystery are painstakingly pieced together, leading unexpectedly to an incident in the Sister's distant past.  She was once a free spirit, and has had a copper IUD inside of her for decades, causing a copper allergy. Ho ho ho!

i bet you like this one if only for the fact that it is his 1st confrontation with organized religion, which i do not equate with "god". what i don't get is how the cute M dr. could say under his breath, "i hate nuns" and then become her best buddy. flies in the face of his blanket statement. i hate nuns, but i have a very good reason. he went to seminary school. ok. so what part about seminary school has ANY contact with a sisterhood order? the answer is: NONE. so unless he has grade school experience, which would make him as bitter and resentful as i, then he has no business not being even more arch than house.

this is the third allergy and 2nd to use copper as a villain. [actually, i probably remember "star trek" much too well. but copper was also the basis of spock's blood, in case you'd forgotten, didn't know, or didn't care. now, as for me? i'm basing an entire novella/novel ungothic vampire story on the use of tungsten in the place of molybdenum... figure that one out! heh-heh...] i bet that a lot of this stuff was very good for big pharma to get more people ordering prescripts from their docs after these shows and astro-zenca-zyrtec-zipcar-type commercials that end with 10 second speed-readings of hazardous side-effects.

 
how many times have you said to yourself: IF ONLY I COULD OUTLINE ALL MY PROBLEMS IN DRI-ERASE MAGIC MARKER ON AN EASEL-MOUNTED WHITEBOARD, I COULD BE HAPPY!

now, i think it's time to say something about the deep tissue eye-massages we get from the sf/x people. [bet you didn't know i was a big fan of isaac asimov when a tad. i remember reading "fantastic voyage" in the boy's life scouting magazine and was smitten by its passages through the circulatory system.] does that site of yours, the one where doctors discuss the shows, ever say anything about the representation of the organs, and the way they inflame, or contract or pulsate like gushy icky bags of mucus-covered goo-traps? it is cheesy and surrealistic at the same time, sure, but is it more than shock value...and a chance to ramp up the dramatic music? [by the by: soundtrack by massive attack. that's verrry hipulatic.]

Chase bonds with nun

The admin bazoomer--after something like this, any rational person would have said 'i owe you a big one' but all she says is thanks. and that he let's her get away with it...you know, human beings, in general, behave pretty much, as heretofore mentioned, like wild monkeys. they don't really vary their habits [like diet, say] unless forced to. house must have some ulterior motive for not tearing her a new one, like he would with anyone else. i'm not saying "vindictive"; i'm just saying that his "triumph" over her, well, it could have used a little more "mounting", if you catch my drift, unless he was saving it up for later use. but that seems improbable too, as these things happen all the time at the shop; how come he's never called in favors before? or is that yet to come?

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I have no idea how accurate the representations are, and the special effects people have admitted they are WAY too much in love with the stuff. Most of it is to give the viewer a sense of what's happening in the body while the doctor is rattling out the medical jargon. One regular commentator calls the effects the Magic Schoolbus Cam!


The doctor site, which you SHOULD check out, is politedissent.com It doesn't cover just House, but many other aspects of media. Oh, yeah, they love allergies, and they adore heavy metal toxicity.

As for Chase's feelings about religion, I have no idea about that part of his life, other than he went to seminary school and he's the only one of the three ducklings (or Cottages as some call them) with any religious feelings of substance. Cameron's more or less an atheist and Foreman is a lapsed Baptist or something like that.

[bytheby: soundtrack by massive attack. that's verrry hipulatic.]

 Hugh Laurie chose that. He's hip-tastic. 

This is a sucky episode, and the wig the nun is wearing...well, I'd rather watch the squishy goo. Are you trying to extrapolate deep literary thinking and depth of character from a television show? Beyond a certain point, ain't gonna happen. If at some point you feel yourself screaming "I can't take any more of this shit!" I'll resend you my favorite episodes.

the admin bazoomer

On the Tropes site, this character is called Ms Fanservice (any character obviously there to gratify the viewers' sexual fantasies). 

Male characters are called The Estrogen Brigade. You really should check it out. Last night's episode truly blew goats. (Season 7, ep. 10, Carrot or Stick) 

housearbeit? 

German for homework. [actually s.b.= hausarbeit] 

"I can't take any more of this shit!" > I'll resend you my favorite episodes. 

no need. still in my system. all this blather is by way of saying: 'so, you must have considered this at some point or other, or read it in the blogs, and how did they answer/approach dismiss/dispense it?' i figger if you spent so much time with this, you probably hit the same notes. or am i really not getting it at all? 

i mean, we're used to comic strips existing outside of time and space, but i'm sort of wondering if there is any bit of all the trauma that has gone down previously coming to a head. if house's back story is what gives him his brooding depth, you assume there is some sort of accumulation in experience that leads to a richer one to come? 

like the admin-bazoomer thang here. in any real world this would amount to a blank check, a maker to be called in w/no questions asked. but here it is just another dissociated day at the orifice?

Season One, Episodes 3 & 4: Occam's Razor and Maternity

Description:(Occam's Razor)

After calling in sick at work, 22-year-old college student Brandon (Kevin Zegers) spends the morning having wild sex with his fiancee--and then lapses into unconsciousness. It's obvious to Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) that Brandon wasn't lying about being sick, but his symptoms are mysterious and contradictory--and worse, they keep multiplying. As he tries to figure out this puzzle, House saves time by treating all of his other patients in a record five minutes.

this is a gimme. Occam's Razor  first became popularized via the jodie foster film "contact" from the book by carl sagan. since then, it has become the 'go-to' concept used by everyone as shorthand for critical thinking, and because it sounds sooo cool...which is part and parcel of the essence of this particular episode: teenage sex! yes, starts off with a bang! and why? so the cute F asst. can tease the cute M asst. with saucy asides as she thrust out her prodigious headlamps at him in the lounge. and, as well, the whole 'defiance-in-the-face-of-authority' thang gets the patient a full body scan and medical just because house identifies with her attitude. see? it pays to be cool!

ok. i'll bite. who IS Wilson? seems to be an administrator who's always around but doesn't work for the uber-she. 
 

Description:  Maternity

After checking on two neonatal infants who have suffered mysterious seizures, House (Hugh Laurie) concludes that the clinic has become the breeding ground for a deadly epidemic--which is rapidly spreading to the other newborns. In order to isolate the reason for this outbreak and to stop it in its tracks, House is faced with a difficult choice: One of the babies will have to die to save the others. As it turns out, the source of the epidemic has little to do with babies, but neither House nor the audience finds this out until the very last moment

Maternity. you know, when i think about the Paternity episode, i think it really ought to have been called, Parenting, because it didn't have anything to do with a paternity suit and the fact that the kid was adopted makes it more about a 'family matter' than anything having to do with who was the sire and who was the dam...and who is the parasite. which may have been the major point of this ep, as house gets to show his contempt for children as well. as for the treatment? no way. never in 1000yrs. this is the stuff that trial lawyers' dreams are made of. sorry, uh-uh. violates credibility

House agrees: everything is better with bacon!

so, why is he in the maternity lounge? to watch the TV? he doesn't seem to mind watching his portable, so why would he change his habits? as you know, habits aren't hard to break, they're fucking impossible to break--they can only be substituted for or curbed, but only with FULL SELF-KNOWLEDGE! and he doesn't ever make a comment that his M asst., the blonde guy, is a dead ringer for the one on GH?

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Wow,  you're getting obsessed!  I STILL cannot believe you are watching every episode of this show from the beginning.  Once you burn out, I'll give you a list of the particularly good episodes.  Bear in mind that in the first season they're still working out the kinks.

Remember, this is television, not reality, so there's a lot of shorthand.  Also, the titles usually mean several different levels (maybe not Occam's Razor, but it became standard later on and gave the analysis monkeys something to dissect).  The reality is that a real hospital would NEVER keep a doctor like House for more than three weeks. But this character is the springboard for 1,000 snarky main characters. Check out:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/House

This site...well, you have to see for yourself.  I think you will really, really like it and not just because of the show. The beginning of the shows are called "teasers" for a reason.  Last season and this season have had overreaching teasers that strain credulity to the breaking point.  What's a gimme?

 catchall for 'been-there/done that' etc. simply that any episode with that title is going to be a cultural hitchhike upon the fender skirts of greater minds...

Wilson's character didn't really come together until Season Two.  He's the head of oncology but who seems to have plenty of time to hang around House and his crew.  Last season they did an episode called "Wilson" in which they explored his day, more or less.  The parts involving House's team was pretty funny, because you saw how completely insane it looks from the outside.  Wilson both works for the uber-she, but also conspires with her to control House.

so, why is he in the maternity lounge? to watch the tv? he doesn't
seem to mind watching his portable, so why would he change his habits?
as you know, habits aren't hard to break, they're fucking impossible
to break--they can only be substituted for or curbed, but only with
FULL SELF-KNOWLEDGE!

House will do ANYTHING to keep from being bored.  Everything is a substitute for his basic addiction: medicine.  Without medicine he is nothing.  Well, he's a drug addict, too.  Pills, video games, television...as for the latter, House watches it all over the hospital as long as he can be left alone.  Mostly in the wing where the coma patients are.  For the medical, etc., you should check a great site, "Polite Dissent," in which a doctor analyzes the medicine in each episode. There are several doctors on the staff, but still, the show plays fast and loose.  This show in some ways is as formulaic as "Law And Order"; patient shows up, the staff nearly kills him a few times before finding the disease--although sometimes they die. 

no way. never in 1000yrs. this is the stuff that trial lawyers' dreams are made of. sorry, uh-uh. violates credibility 

As I wrote earlier, in real life House would never sustain employment.  But this is a tv show called "House, MD," so...

right. answers the above. understood. this is "medical lite" like law&order is "legal lite". so the idea is to ignore the contrivances [after all, this is listed as a mystery] and concentrate on adapting the acerbic comments to any public discourse i might engage in, yes?