House

Really, though, someone should sue the pants off him

House premiere: I've never been a fan of Gibson's more metal guitars, but the Flying V is a classic. And the Fender amp is a classic as well, though either House or the sound guy went overboard on the reverb. Mmm, 70s tube tech ftw! (To be honest, I think what we're hearing and what we're seeing aren't related at all. That sound probably came from a chip.) Hugh Laurie has the self-taught thumb-wrapped around grip many people have. But he in fact played the Eddie two-handed tapping thing.

No resolution to the ducklings problem. Note that House correctly solved the week's medical problem, both in understanding the real symptoms of the patient and in figuring out what the core problem was.

House S4 ep 2: HA! 2001 "voyage to thee infinite and beyond" redux! Can I tell you how happy I am that House is playing games with prime factorizations of his little tribe? So happy. So, so happy. His treatment of them is unrealistic (in that he'd be sued into the ground five seconds after he started), yet amusing. Things like that are why I watch the show, in fact.

OMG. Did Wilson really break his guitar, as in damaging the wood by ripping out the trem? Holy crap. That's serious. Value of the instrument is way damaged, and playability is too. Good for you, Wilson, hitting House where it hurts.

So, the resolution is reconfiguration, with an option to lapse back into the original configuration again if audience response is sucky. Meanwhile, they've expanded the cast a bunch, again with the option of dumping characters the audience doesn't like. Let's see how long it takes. I'm hoping his assistant sticks around for a while.
  • Current Music: Ferry Corsten Mix : William Orbit : Ravel's Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte (Promo)
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    antennapedia
    And apparently the medical stuff is pure bullshit, too. Oh, television, how bullshit you are! I should probably be more annoyed by this. It does bleed over into real life, as when US soldiers ignore their training in order to practice Jack Bauer interrogation techniques on captives. Because if it works on 24, it's gotta work in Iraq, right? Um.
    antennapedia
    Three quarters of the public seems to be irretrievably stupid. And in need of remedial education in how to read a newspaper. Pardon. I am having a misanthropy day here. Somebody needs to put me in a lead-lined room until I get better.
    chicken_cem
    I think that the nice thing about the medicine being such bullshit is that it means the show expects its audience to be smart enough to know it's bullshit. "Yes, we know you know it's crap, and we know you know we're just doing all this in the name of comedy, and we expect that you can make the mental leap and get the joke."

    This is why House is a well-written show -- too many shows hit the audience over the head with a five-ton hammer, whether that hammer be a moral lesson, a joke, or whatever. This is the kind of moronic writing that drives me batshit. In general, they avoid this on House, so it's much more enjoyable.
    antennapedia
    The medical story each week is the skeleton upon which the interesting character stuff is built. It's essentially meaningless to me, and I rarely care as much about the Puzzle of the Week as I do about, say, what Wilson and Cuddy are up to. I think the secret is the writers know this about their audience.

    I watch for House, Cuddy, and Wilson, in that order, and am rarely disappointed by the quality of the snark each episode gives me. Oh, I do love the snark.
    chicken_cem
    I agree -- the characters are interesting because they snark, and are flawed, and bring the funny. Also, I enjoy Cuddy's cleavage. Yes, I am that shallow.

    The snark is the top quality. It's hard to get snark this good outside British telly.

    Dry, understated Giles-snark pops into my head every time I click "reply to comment" on your LJ. (I wonder why? Heh heh.) You know, the "my contrition completely dwarfs the impending apocalypse" variety of snark.
    antennapedia
    Cuddy's cleavage is mighty fine. I do wish she wouldn't display it in the professional contexts she does, but that's just my reality filter intruding again.

    smacks reality filter down

    Now, let's get them all to take their shirts off. For some semi-plausible plot reason!
    chicken_cem
    Now, let's get them all to take their shirts off. For some semi-plausible plot reason!

    I'm sure there are plenty of fake diseases which would precipitate such an event. That, or some wacky bet between Wilson and Cuddy over House (those three should have a threesome).
    sweetdoggie
    I agree with you here. The medical stuff is just the excuse for the characters to interact. House could be a mechanic diagnosing what's wrong with the engine of the week, for all that it would matter to the show. He has such a horrible personality, it's like watching a train wreck. I'm glad he's not my doctor--or that any of them aren't, for that matter. He'd be sued a dozen times an episode if he were really in practice.
    antennapedia
    The downside of the "engine of the week" setup is that the stakes are small. Note that the House plots generally (formulaically) crank up the stakes of the illness until it's a life or death issue. Many plots do the same: the viewer has to be made to care about the result somehow. There's a bit of a cheap-shot effect here, and sometimes I wonder if this doesn't have to do with why I stop caring about the medical subplots. (Ho hum, this week's bleeder might die! Shock me!)
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