skykiii
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2018
So recently my mom and I have both been revisiting live-action shows we used to watch. We were both into a lot of mystery and crime drama type shows... but an outlier (kind of) was House M.D. (or Doctor House, or simply House... but I include the "Doctor" part so nobody thinks I mean the horror movies).
For those who missed it, House was (in theory) about a brilliant doctor who solved odd medical mysteries... while at the same time being a bit of a jerk. Among anime fans he's often compared to Dr. Blackjack... which is a comparison that makes some amount of sense. He's also sometimes said to be Sherlock Holmes but as a doctor. Apparently that was the intent but.... I feel like it doesn't hold up.
But yeah, watching the show again, I remember why I liked it but also why I hated it.
The good part was House himself, especially early on before the writers took his attitude to mean "anything goes." His jerkishness usually had a point to it (this is where the Blackjack analogies make sense), he wasn't just mean for meanness' sake. And it was just fun to hear him effortlessly call bullshitters on their bullshit. A character like this would never fly today because he'd be calling out everybody.
Watching it again... here's the issue:
First, from the get-go the writers kept having superfluous elements. A lot of times the medical investigation is a very small part of the show, instead more time is dedicated to either hospital politics or the million budding romances and other soap opera antics that nobody gives a shit about. To the point that later seasons are entirely about this kind of shit. At that point, I find it hard to care.
The other big failure is that the "genius doctor" angle doesn't hold up. Nothing in the show ever convinces the viewer that House is any better than your standard run of the mill doctor. Even the investigative tactics he uses are apparently standard operating procedure, according to anyone I know who worked in medicine. And yet the show's whole conceit is he's special somehow.
Nevertheless.... I'm finding that if you can get the early seasons, its still pretty fun to occasionally hear House's remarks... back when they were actual witty, not Reddit-witty.
For those who missed it, House was (in theory) about a brilliant doctor who solved odd medical mysteries... while at the same time being a bit of a jerk. Among anime fans he's often compared to Dr. Blackjack... which is a comparison that makes some amount of sense. He's also sometimes said to be Sherlock Holmes but as a doctor. Apparently that was the intent but.... I feel like it doesn't hold up.
But yeah, watching the show again, I remember why I liked it but also why I hated it.
The good part was House himself, especially early on before the writers took his attitude to mean "anything goes." His jerkishness usually had a point to it (this is where the Blackjack analogies make sense), he wasn't just mean for meanness' sake. And it was just fun to hear him effortlessly call bullshitters on their bullshit. A character like this would never fly today because he'd be calling out everybody.
Watching it again... here's the issue:
First, from the get-go the writers kept having superfluous elements. A lot of times the medical investigation is a very small part of the show, instead more time is dedicated to either hospital politics or the million budding romances and other soap opera antics that nobody gives a shit about. To the point that later seasons are entirely about this kind of shit. At that point, I find it hard to care.
The other big failure is that the "genius doctor" angle doesn't hold up. Nothing in the show ever convinces the viewer that House is any better than your standard run of the mill doctor. Even the investigative tactics he uses are apparently standard operating procedure, according to anyone I know who worked in medicine. And yet the show's whole conceit is he's special somehow.
Nevertheless.... I'm finding that if you can get the early seasons, its still pretty fun to occasionally hear House's remarks... back when they were actual witty, not Reddit-witty.
