On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 10:08 AM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
> I haven't written anything on the TV or not TV website in a while, but > I wanted to write up a long-form farewell to "House MD" and it seemed > to be more than just a message board post. Read and decide for > yourself. > > http://www.tvornottv.net/2012/05/11/burning-down-the-house/ > I put off reading Kevin's House Obit until I had a chance to finish it off, which I just did this morning. As always, Kevin is interesting and provocative; as usual, I disagree with a lot of what he says. My experience with the show is a bit unique, in that I had never seen a single episode until September of 2011, and then I basically inhaled seven seasons in three months, catching up with this season about half way through. So my relationship with the characters did not evolve and marinate over time, but was more of an intense but brief affair. I also was so worried about spoilers that I walled myself from any commentary on the show, and so developed my sense of it almost completely in a vacuum, which is odd in itself, given that television, perhaps more than any other medium, even live theater, is such a communal experience, where half the reason for watching a program is to be able to engage with conversation about it later with friends. I was so proud of myself when it hit me half way through the first season that House was a play on Sherlock Holmes, only to find some months later that this was obvious and everybody always knew that. If I had watched the show in real time I would have been spared that humiliation. My biggest disagreement with Kevin is over Jennifer Morrison and Olivia Wilde. I was intensely bored with Morrison from the start, which eventually grew into irritation and dislike, while I was riveted by Wilde from her first moment on screen, and my #2 complaint about the show is that they did not find a way to keep her on longer. From the view from my couch, Wilde is by far both the better actor, and the hotter chick. And her character was much (much) more interesting, partly because of the first two differences, but also because it was just better written and developed. I never believed the Morrison character was smart or strong or interesting enough to engage House in any real way, while 13 seemed up there with Cuddy in her ability to intrigue House. It was with some surprise that I learned a few months ago (after I had caught up with the real time episodes) that the fans and critics did not like the way the Cuddy relationship arc played out. For me that lasted a couple of weeks; perhaps putting up with it a whole year would have been more frustrating. I liked it, and thought it made sense (what does not make sense is TV writers artificially finding ways to keep two characters who on any semblance of the merits would obviously have tried to get together romantically apart - see the far inferior show Castle in recent seasons for a good example of how silly this becomes). What I did not like, and my #1 complaint with the show, was how they ended that so suddenly and thoughtlessly. Having it end of course made sense. I hear they ran into contract disputes with Edelstein and could not get her to agree to take a pay cut, like some of the other long time actors did. This was a mistake. Another thing I disagree with Kevin about is the importance of the original team to the show; with the exception of the final iteration of the team (which read like the economizing, cut rate casting decision it probably was) the members of the team did were not that critical to the show as long as they were smart and strong in some way. What was critical to that show was a different triad: House, Cuddy and Wilson. It was those relationships that made this show really special, and when they lost Cuddy they lost something they could not replace. The only time I thought the show dropped below the standard of being very good was the first 2/3 of its last season; once it got back to focusing at least on the House-Wilson relationship it got good again (though not as good as before). It was sad that they could not figure out a way to get Cuddy back at least for the last few episodes (and she was even pretty absent from the Series Wrap special - the small bit with Edelstein seemed clear to have been taken from something she said about the show when she was still working). I have a long and intense dislike of medical and hospital shows. When I was a kid I watched most of them, but once I got old enough to realize who manipulative and ridiculous Joe Gannon on on Medical Center, I swore of the genre as being cheap and exploitative. A while back I was chagrined to learn how much I liked Scrubs when I inhaled it on Netflix, which made me at least consider the possibility of watching House, which so many family members and students insisted I would like (I thought this was a compliment to how smart they thought I was, but realized right away it was a comment on my social skills). I spent April and May of this year dealing with the most intense, chronic pain I have ever had, in my foot, and had to walk with a cane for most of that period, giving me a real-life House experience. I love the character, and like the show, which will go down in my books as a very good, though not quite great, series (not great because I feel that the writers were usually a little too willing to put arguments in the character's mouths more to explore the theme of the week than to honestly develop and flesh out the relationships. Like Kevin, I will miss House too. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
