House is an
American medical drama that debuted on the
FOX network on
November 16,
2004. The show was created by
David Shore and
executive produced by Shore and film director
Bryan Singer. During the
2007–08 United States television season, the series was the most-watched scripted program on TV and the third-most-watched program overall, behind
American Idol and
Dancing with the Stars.
stars English actor
Hugh Laurie as the American title character Dr.
Gregory House, a
maverick medical
genius who heads a team of
diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. The original diagnostic team consists of Dr.
Robert Chase (
Jesse Spencer), Dr.
Allison Cameron (
Jennifer Morrison), and Dr.
Eric Foreman (
Omar Epps). In the fourth season, this team is disbanded and House gradually winnows a field of forty applicants to a new team consisting of Dr.
Remy "Thirteen" Hadley (
Olivia Wilde), Dr.
Chris Taub (
Peter Jacobson), and Dr.
Lawrence Kutner (
Kal Penn). Other main characters are Dr.
Lisa Cuddy (
Lisa Edelstein),
Dean of Medicine and hospital administrator at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital,
and Dr.
James Wilson (
Robert Sean Leonard), head of the Department of Oncology and House's best friend.
House has received various
awards and nominations. Laurie received the
2006 and
2007 Golden Globe Award for
Best Actor in a Television Drama and the
2007 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.
House received a
2005 Peabody Award for what the Peabody board
called an "unorthodox lead character – a misanthropic diagnostician" and for "cases fit for a medical Sherlock Holmes," both of which helped make
House "the most distinctive new doctor drama in a decade."
The show also gained three consecutive
Primetime Emmy Award nominations for
Outstanding Drama Series in 2006,
2007,
and 2008.
is currently in its fifth season of broadcasting.
Series overview
Gregory House,
M.D., is a
maverick and antisocial medical genius who heads a team of
diagnosticians at the Princeton-Plainsboro
Teaching Hospital in
New Jersey. Most episodes start with a
cold open somewhere outside the hospital, showing the events leading to the onset of symptoms for that episode's main patient. The episode follows the team in their attempts to diagnose and treat the patient's illness but most of the time they do not succeed until the patient is almost dead.
House's world-renowned department typically only sees patients who have failed to receive a correct diagnosis, making the patient cases exceptionally complex. Furthermore, House resists cases that he does not find interesting but eventually does solve a case no matter how boring it is to him. The medical cases featured are often rare but realistic, and described by Andrew Holtz, the author of
The Medical Science of House, M.D., as "a conglomeration of all the worst things that can happen to people from all over the world, crammed into one little community."
The team arrives at diagnoses using the Socratic seminar and differential diagnosis,
with House guiding the deliberations. House often discounts and challenges the opinions of his team, pointing out that their contributions have missed various relevant factors. The patient is usually
misdiagnosed over the course of the episode and treated with medications appropriate to the misdiagnoses. This usually causes further
complications in the patient, but in turn helps lead House and his team to the correct diagnosis by using the new symptoms.
Often the ailment cannot be easily deduced because the patient has lied about symptoms and circumstances. House frequently mutters, "Everybody lies", or proclaims during the team's deliberations: "The patient is lying", or "The symptoms never lie." Even when not stated explicitly, this assumption guides House's decisions and diagnoses.
Because House's theories about a patient's illness tend to be based on subtle or controversial insights, he often has trouble obtaining permission from his boss, hospital
administrator Dr.
Lisa Cuddy, to perform medical procedures he thinks are necessary, especially when the procedures themselves involve a high degree of risk or are
ethically dubious.
Cuddy also requires House to spend time treating patients in the hospital's
walk-in clinic so that the interactions will improve his bedside manner. House's grudging fulfillment of this duty or creative methods of avoiding it is a recurring subplot on the show. During clinic duty, House confounds patients with unwelcome insights into their personal lives, eccentric prescriptions and unorthodox treatments, but impresses them with rapid and accurate diagnoses after seemingly not paying attention. Realizations made during some of the simple problems House faces in the clinic often help him solve the main case.
Episodes frequently feature the practice of entering a patient's house with or without the owner's permission in order to search for clues that might suggest a certain
pathology. The creator, David Shore, originally intended for the show to be a
CSI-type show where the "germs were the suspects,"
but has since shifted much of the focus to the characters rather than concentrating solely on the environment.
Another large portion of the plot centers on House's abuse of
Vicodin to manage pain stemming from an
infarction in his
quadriceps muscle some years earlier, an injury that forces him to walk with a cane. House admits he is addicted to Vicodin, but says he does not have a problem because, "
pills let me do my job, and they take away my pain." His addiction has led two of his colleagues, doctors
James Wilson and Lisa Cuddy, to encourage him to go to
drug rehabilitation several times, but no attempts have successfully gotten House off the drug. Sometimes when House does not have access to Vicodin, or when he perceives the Vicodin alone is not enough to relieve his pain, he
self-medicates with other
narcotic pain relievers such as
oxycodone and
morphine.
House is in many respects a medical
Sherlock Holmes. (Holmes himself was inspired by real-life physician Dr.
Joseph Bell, according to Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, Holmes's creator, who was a doctor as well.) This resemblance is evident in various elements of the series' plot, such as House's reliance on
psychology to solve a case, his reluctance to accept cases he does not find interesting, his drug addiction, home address (apartment 221B, the same number as
Holmes' home),
playing of an instrument,
addiction to opiates, relationship with Dr. James Wilson (who parallels Dr.
John Watson),
and his encounter with a crazed gunman credited as "
Moriarty", which is the same name as Holmes' nemesis.
Also, series creator David Shore has said that Dr. House's name is meant as "a subtle homage" to Sherlock Holmes (i.e., homes).
In the season four episode "
It's a Wonderful Lie", House received a "second edition
Conan Doyle" as a Christmas gift.
Characters
During the first three seasons, House's Department of Diagnostic Medicine consists of three other doctors:
Eric Foreman,
Allison Cameron, and
Robert Chase. At the end of the third season, Foreman announces his resignation, telling House, "I don't want to turn into you." Soon after, in the
season three finale, House fires Chase saying that he has either learned everything he can, or he has not learned anything at all. Cameron subsequently resigns, having developed a soft spot for Chase. This leaves House without a team for the
season four premiere.
At the end of the fourth season premiere, House considers forty new doctors for the Department of Diagnostic Medicine. Early episodes of season four focus on cases that House uses to narrow the forty applicants down to three new employees. He makes a
reality TV-style game out of it using diagnostic cases as contests and eventually eliminates thirty-seven of them, hiring
Chris Taub,
Lawrence Kutner, and "
Thirteen" as his new team members.
Dr. Foreman rejoins the team after getting fired from a new job at a different hospital. Cuddy rehires Foreman at the same salary after she determines he won't be able to get a job anywhere else because he has become too much like House. Chase and Cameron are still employed at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in different departments although Wilson and Cuddy briefly attempt to convince House otherwise.
|
| Lisa Cuddy
| Lisa Edelstein
|
|
|
| James Wilson
| Robert Sean Leonard
|
- Head of the Department of Oncology (1.01–5.01, 5.04–)
- Member of the Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital Board (1.01–5.01, 5.04–)
- Member of the Organ Transplant Committee (1.01–5.01, 5.04–)
|
|
| Eric Foreman
| Omar Epps
|
- Physician, Department of Diagnostic Medicine (1.01–3.24, 4.04–)
- Head of Diagnostic Medicine at Mercy Hospital (4.01–4.03)
|
|
| Allison Cameron
| Jennifer Morrison
|
|
|
| Robert Chase
| Jesse Spencer
|
- Physician, Department of Diagnostic Medicine (1.01–3.24)
- Surgeon (4.01–)
|
|
| Chris Taub
| Peter Jacobson
|
- Physician, Department of Diagnostic Medicine (4.02–)
|
|
| Lawrence Kutner
| Kal Penn
|
- Physician, Department of Diagnostic Medicine (4.02–)
|
|
| Olivia Wilde
|
- Physician, Department of Diagnostic Medicine (4.02–)
|
|
Casting
The producers were reportedly dissatisfied with early auditions for the role of
Gregory House. When
Hugh Laurie auditioned, he apologized for his appearance as he was filming
Flight of the Phoenix at the time.
[ Casting Session with Hugh Laurie House DVD Special Feature, [1]] Laurie's
American accent was reportedly so flawless that
Bryan Singer singled him out as an example of a real American actor, being unaware of Laurie's background.
[Radio Times magazine, March 23, 2007] Laurie later stated that his original impression was that the show was about Dr.
James Wilson. The script referred to Wilson as a doctor with "boyish" looks, and Laurie assumed that Wilson was the central character and that House was the "sidekick" (the show was not yet titled
House at that point). It was not until he received the full teleplay of
the pilot that he realized that House was the protagonist.
[ Inside the Actor's Studio Hugh Laurie Interview, BRAVO Network, [2]] Laurie, whose father was a doctor himself, said he felt guilty for "being paid more to become a fake version of my own father" after being cast as House.
Production
[
edited.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Film director Bryan Singer. Singer is an executive producer on the show and also directed the [[Pilot (House)|pilot episode] and the
third episode of season one]].
House is aired by the
Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a co-production of
Heel and Toe Films (
Paul Attanasio and
Katie Jacobs),
Shore Z Productions (
David Shore), and
Bad Hat Harry Productions (
Bryan Singer) in association with the
NBC Universal Television Group for FOX.
All three companies are responsible for production and all four people are
executive producers of the show. The show was inspired by a monthly column called
Diagnosis in
The New York Times Magazine, which is written by Lisa Sanders, M.D. She is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the
Yale School of Medicine and is a technical advisor to the show.
David Shore's ideas for
House are inspired by the writings of
Berton Roueché.
[ (last sentence of 8th paragraph)]
As of the season two episode "
TB or Not TB", a German production company, Moratim, is credited in the copyright notice instead of
Universal Media Studios (Moratim Produktions GmbH & Co. KG, of
Pullach im Isartal, Germany).
Moratim has produced five episodes. These German interests are now partners with Universal on this series.
The
58th Primetime Emmy Awards nominated Derek R. Hill (Production Designer) and Danielle Berman, S.D.S.A. (Set Decorator) for a
Creative Arts Emmy Award for
Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series for the season two episodes "
Autopsy", "
Distractions", and "
Skin Deep".
The
59th Primetime Emmy Awards awarded a Creative Arts Emmy Award for
Outstanding Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or Special (Prosthetic) to Dalia Dokter (Department Head Prosthetic Makeup Artist), Jamie Kelman (Prosthetic Makeup Artist), and Ed French (Prosthetic Makeup Artist) for the season three episode entitled "
Que Sera Sera".
Theme music
In
North America (and some countries elsewhere) the opening theme of the series is "
Teardrop" by
Massive Attack.
"Teardrop" has lyrics, sung by guest vocalist
Elizabeth Fraser of
Cocteau Twins;
however, the version used in the opening credits uses only the beginning and ending sections, which are solely instrumental.
Due to rights and licensing issues, in most countries a piece of music named "House End Credits" is used, which was composed specifically for the show by Jon Ehrlich, Jason Derlatka, and Leigh Roberts.
The satirical
British television show
Dead Ringers, which sometimes spoofs
House, uses "Teardrop" for the spoof's opening theme.
"Teardrop" is also used in the season 2 region 2 and region 4 release, replacing the "House" theme at the beginning of the episode.
In the fourth-season finale, an acoustic version of "Teardrop" performed by
José González (with lyrics) is heard during the episode as part of the background music.
It was recorded at the famous Taylstev recording studio on personal request from Fox. The version was later made available as a free download via the music-sharing website
Last.fm.
Filming
House episodes often use the "
walk and talk"
filming technique (also called "pedeconferencing") made popular by
Aaron Sorkin and
Thomas Schlamme in television series such as
Sports Night and
The West Wing.
[ (Quote on page 4: "The gorgeous wood and glass sets must be a pain to shoot properly, and walk-and-talk shots are a signature, but otherwise the direction tends to the clean and simple.")][ (At a little less than halfway, the transcript says, "Cue walk and talk.")] The technique consists of
tracking two or more characters backwards as they walk from one location to another, usually discussing the topic of the meeting they are heading to, or in this show's case, the patient's condition, test results, and diagnosis.
This was referred to jokingly in the season four episode "
Ugly", in which a documentary crew follows Dr. House and his team throughout the episode. At one point House starts walking with his team and the camera crew follows, shooting in the "walk and talk" style. As House and his team are walking away, Dr. Foreman asks where they are going. House responds: "Walks look good on camera. They give the illusion of the story moving forward."
Exterior shots of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital are actually of
Princeton University's Frist Campus Center, which is the University's
student center. Filming does not, however, take place there. Instead, it takes place on the
FOX lot in
Century City.
Reception
U.S. television ratings
Below is a table of the seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of
House on
FOX. Each U.S.
network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of
May sweeps.
| Season
| Episodes
| Timeslot°
| Season premiere
| Season finale
| TV season
| Rank
| Viewers
(in millions)
|
| 1
| 22
| Tuesday 9:00 p.m.
| November 16, 2004
| May 24, 2005
| 2004–2005
| #24
| 13.3 |
| 2
| 24
| Tuesday 9:00 p.m.
| September 13, 2005
| May 23, 2006
| 2005–2006
| #10
| 17.3 |
| 3
| 24
| Tuesday 8:00 p.m. (2006)
Tuesday 9:00 p.m. (2006–2007)
| September 5, 2006
| May 29, 2007
| 2006–2007
| #7
| 19.4[ (Subscription required)]
|
| 4
| 16
| Tuesday 9:00 p.m. (2007–2008)
Monday 9:00 p.m. (2008) | September 25, 2007
| May 19, 2008 | 2007–2008
| #7
| 16.2 |
| 5
| 24
| Tuesday 8:00 p.m. (2008)
Monday 8:00 p.m. (2009)
| September 16, 2008 | TBA
| 2008–2009
| TBA
| TBA
|
°Times listed are in
EST
The most-watched episode of
House to date is the season four episode "
Frozen", the episode that followed
Super Bowl XLII;
it attracted slightly more than 29 million viewers.
It was ranked third for the week, tied with that week's
seventh season episode of
American Idol (
also on FOX) and outranked only by the Super Bowl game and the Super Bowl
post-game show.
Awards
[
Laurie Actors Guild.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Hugh Laurie] at the Actors Guild Question and Answer, 2005]]
House received a
2005 Peabody Award for what the Peabody board
called an "unorthodox lead character – a misanthropic diagnostician" and for "cases fit for a medical Sherlock Holmes," both of which helped make
House "the most distinctive new doctor drama in a decade."
At the
2005 American Film Institute Awards,
House was an official selection as TV Program of the Year.
was nominated for the
2008 Golden Globe Award for
Best Television Series - Drama but lost to
Mad Men.
Creator
David Shore won a
writing Emmy in 2005 for the first season episode "
Three Stories".
Writer
Lawrence Kaplow won a
Writers Guild of America Award in 2006 for his season two episode "
Autopsy".
In
2005,
2007, and
2008, lead actor
Hugh Laurie was nominated for an
Emmy Award for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
He was awarded the
Golden Globe for
Best Actor in a Television Drama in
2006 and again in
2007,
when he also won the
Screen Actors Guild Award for
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series.
Laurie was nominated for Best Actor in a Television Drama again for the
65th Golden Globe Awards but lost to
Jon Hamm.
received a total of four
NAACP Image Award nominations and won in 2007 and in 2008.
Merchandise
DVD releases
| Title
| Region 1
| Region 2
| Region 4
|
|
| Season One
| August 30, 2005
| February 27, 2006
| November 28, 2005
|
|
| Season Two
| August 22, 2006
| October 23, 2006
| October 23, 2006
|
|
| Season Three
| August 21, 2007
| November 19, 2007
| September 17, 2007
|
|
| Season Four
| August 19, 2008
| October 27, 2008
| August 20, 2008 |
|
| Season Five
| TBA
| TBA
| TBA
|
Despite the series being filmed for
widescreen (
16:9 standard) television, the season-one
DVD set is in
4:3 standard format, although the
Region 1 release has
letterboxes, thereby still presenting images in their entirety, whereas the other regions have a cropped
fullscreen format, thereby losing the lateral portions of the image.
The Season Two DVD set, on the other hand, presents the show in its original widescreen format in all regions, except for the Spanish release that still has fullscreen format. The Season Two and Season Three DVD sets have not yet been released in
Region 3; their possible release dates have not been confirmed yet.
Other
House M.D. Original Television Soundtrack was released on September 18, 2007, by
Nettwerk.
The soundtrack includes full length versions of songs featured in the television series and previously unreleased songs especially recorded for the series. Exelweiss developed a
House game for mobile phones in
Spanish and
English.
The plot of this game is similar in some parts to the season two episode "
Humpty Dumpty".
High-quality
American Apparel 100%
cotton T-shirts with the phrase "Everybody Lies" printed on them were sold limited from April 23 to April 30, 2007.
The shirts were sold for
$19.95 a piece on Housecharitytees.com, and proceeds went to the
National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Notes
- Due to rights and licensing issues, "Teardrop" cannot be used in some countries, so "House End Credits" replaces "Teardrop" as the opening theme in those countries.
- In episode 11 of season 1, "Detox", House admits that he is addicted to Vicodin. At the end of the episode, Wilson and House are discussing how House has changed since the infarction in his leg and Wilson asks, "And everything's the leg, nothing's the pills, they haven't done a thing to you?" To which House responds, "They let me do my job, and they take away my pain."
- Foreman tells House this at the end of episode 21 of season 3, "Family". He then tells House, "You'll save more people than I will, but I'll settle for killing less. Consider this my two weeks notice."
- She's a member of the Set Decorators Society of America.
- McCosh Health Center, Princeton University's infirmary, is situated adjacent to Frist, and can be seen in some shots.
