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 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 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?

My Overview of Seasons 1 Through 7 of House MD - The Best Episodes

January, 2011

Dear Carle -

Thanks for your exploration of my obsession.  Actually, the show's creators were up front about creating the characters based on Holmes and Watson (House and Wilson).  However, the show ended up diverging from the formula in that his team became his Watson.  I like the original team the best--they were the team for the first three seasons. The original premise was "a doctor who hates his patients."

Speaking of Holmes, there was one season finale that had House shot by a patient who never had a name, but his name in the script was Moriarty.

A large part of my obsession comes from identifying strongly with House, particularly during those periods when I am forced to walk with a cane.  And also downing large quantities of pills.  House is easily bored, and yes, retreats into drugs, booze and music (Hugh Laurie is a practiced musician so they wrote that in).  If I had to pick one episode from the first season to watch, it would be "Three Histories." It's brilliantly done and tells House's back story.

Season 2 has an amazing amount of good episodes.  My absolute favorite (you won't have to guess why) is "House Vs. God" Ep. 19 or so. "Autopsy" is also great; based on the idea of doing an autopsy on a living person. The other episode from Season 2 is "All In," which uses a swanky hospital do as a background.

You'll note that while there is some sexual tension between House and Cameron (his employee) and Cuddy (his boss), there is also a strong homoerotic tension between House and Wilson.  The writers have played around with this concept ever since Season 2.  That is the aspect that has caught my heart, like any pre sexual fan girl.

From Season 3, my favorite episode that can be taken out of context is Ep. 9, "Informed Consent", co-starring Joel Grey.  He is incredible, as is the entire episode.

Finally, the episodes that got me hooked in the first place: the Season Four two-part finale "House's Head/Wilson's Heart." You'll notice some cast changes, because at the end of Season Three all of the regular team (Foreman, Chase, Cameron) left and House formed a new team.  Foreman came back to work for House, while Chase and Cameron worked in different areas of the hospital.

These are some of my favorite episodes, and I would guess the ones that reveal the most about myself.

Last season (#6) House kicked Vicodin and became a "nicer" person, which means considerably less interesting.  Suddenly he was madly in love with Cuddy for twenty years  (the earlier premise for the first five seasons was they had a one-night stand in college) and at the end--literally THE LAST FIVE MINUTES OF THE SEASON FINALE--she showed up, declaring her everlasting love.

This season (#7) shows them in their relationship.  The "Patient Of The Week" is now a throwaway part of the episode so we can concentrate on the soap opera of the characters' lives.  House is now happy happy happy, and I can only hope that somebody important dies.

 Season 7, Episode 1 "Now What".

Oh, and as for realism, he was drinking while he was on Vicodin, he kept drinking after he was off of it, was drinking until he blacked out at the end of last season (his therapist didn't seem particularly perturbed) and is happily drinking like a normal person now.  There's a lot of other things I could rant about--the show's treatment of mental illness is, pardon the pun, crazy-making.