The show that proved that not all Doctors are nice or compassionate. They can be sarcastic, cold. funny and addicted to pain killers. Well at least on TV anyway. And no TV Doc in history was better in this way than Gregory House M.D.
Debuting in 2004 and running 8 seasons until 2012, in a world of more serious medical dramas, House was the shot in the ass that the genre needed. It brought interesting cases, as well as laugh out loud funny dialogue, mostly from Dr. House. He would often banter with his boss Dr. Lisa Cuddy about why she is a terrible Doctor and unqualified to be the Dean of Medicine, also he would mention that she has a big butt. A course for sexual harassment at any workplace, but not here.
The only reason she doesn’t fire him is because he solves cases and saves lives. Despite being full of himself and having no bedside manner with patients, he and his team get the job done. His original team was Doctors Foremen, Chase and Cameron. Latter in the show, his team changed, but I will always remember and love the first team that put up with his antics over the years. Basically he would joke about Foreman for being black, Chase being Australian, and Cameron being a lady Doctor. Once again things that could get anyone else fired, but not House.
Besides the witty and sarcastic humor, the show had some cool cases, even if some of the medical terminology was made up. One of my favorites was the one where Dave Matthews and Kurtwood Smith guest starred in. Matthews plays a mentally challenged man who was a world-class piano player. But when House treated him for a dying condition he had in the hospital, he cured his mental illness, but at the cost of losing his piano playing skills permanently.
There were plenty of other guest stars as well. Such as Piper Perabo, Laura Prepon and an unforgettable episode with Katheryn Winnick where House makes a confession to her that his grandmother molested him as a child. Of course, that may have not been true, and maybe he was just trying to understand her better by telling her this. But as House famous says throughout the series, “everybody lies.”
He can be arrogant for sure, comparing himself to God. But he is certainly not the only Doctor to that, just the funniest. I like how he and his roommate and best friend at work Dr. Wilson banter throughout the show. House would make remarks to Wilson about his emotional investment to his dying patients as a cancer Doctor. And to his credit, Wilson would fire back at House telling him about his addiction to Vicodin and that it makes him act like an ass.
I like the episodes where a patient he once treated turned out to be a detective who started investigating House for illegal practices. Such as working while high basically. He didn’t back down from House and it was a bit of a change in the usual way the show ran. There were the episodes where he lost his medical license and checked himself into rehab. If anything, the series showed the tolls that drug addiction can wage on a person and how House was able to fight the urge to take so many pills for his bum leg.
House was the best show of its era, yet changes in cast and overall direction bogged it in down in the later seasons. I was still sad to see it end, but it was cool how House and Wilson rode off on Harley’s into the sunset. I will always love this shows witty humor, interesting cases and pissed off patients, mainly mad at House though. If you haven’t seen or only think that House is a noun, well it is a noun but is also one of the greatest medical dramas of all time and needs to be binge watched stat.
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