The return of House M.D. has almost arrived, and as always Blogcritics’ resident House expert, Barbara Barnett, has listed the best episodes thus far in the series, analyzed House’s key relationships, and of course reviewed each new episode in depth. With Barbara’s kind permission, I’m adding another viewpoint to our House articles.
As a fan since the very first season (the episode “Poison,” AKA the “poisoned pants” show, hooked me for good), I’m concerned that House has seen a decline in viewers this season. According to Entertainment Weekly's January 9, 2009 issue, the Nielsen ratings reported a 24% decrease in viewers last year. While this number can be attributed to many causes (one being the 2008 writers' strike), this figure raises a valid question: why has NCIS consistently beaten House in the ratings so far this season? Being a fan of the show since the first season, I find the Nielsen figure disturbing and, perhaps, a sign that some changes may be required. Therefore, I offer suggestions from one fan's perspective. I'm sure the list will generate some controversy, and that other viewpoints will emerge. My aim is to discuss some strong and weak elements of the great show, and where improvements may help boost ratings.
Dramatically reduce 13’s screen time. Olivia Wilde is a very capable actress, but her character simply fails to generate much interest. Every week reinforces the “13 Has Huntington's Disease” story line. While the condition certainly merits more exposure, House’s writers obsess too much over 13’s knowledge that she has a shorter lifespan. The final episode aired before Christmas had 13 and Foreman (Omar Epps) kiss, even though the two characters possess little to no chemistry. Would the straight-laced, stubborn, disapproving Foreman really become involved with someone as seemingly impulsive as 13? If the writers insist on retaining her, at least reduce the Huntington’s storyline in future episodes.
You have acclaimed actor Kal Penn in the cast — now use him. In addition to comic fare such as the Harold and Kumar movies, Penn has shown impressive range in films such as The Namesake and an episode of Law and Order: SVU (where he played a fame-obsessed murderer). When I learned that Penn was joining the cast last season, I thought he would be the perfect foil for the venerable Hugh Laurie. Instead Penn occasionally appears in shows, often reduced to reciting few lines. We know virtually nothing about Kutner’s background, so writers need to delve deeper into the character’s backstory in order to let Penn’s goofy charm and dramatic acting chops shine.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Lynn M.
I am new to House and have been busy catching up with past seasons on cable TV so I haven't seen the episodes with Thirteen's Huntington's Disease story line. As someone who has HD in my family, I am of course very grateful for the show's increasing public awareness of a disease with which most people are unfamiliar.
If the impression being conveyed is that the character is simply coping with knowing she has a gene that will lead to a shortened life, then the dramatic possibilities of this illness are being overlooked. Of course everyone wants a long life, but the real fears that people at risk for this disease experience are based on the relentlessly progressive nature of a disease that not only causes involuntary movements/impairment but psychiatric problems, a regression to childlike methods of dealing with the world, and cognitive impairment. In short, the Disease will change who Thirteen is long before it kills her. She won't be able to practice medicine very long after symptoms first appear and for a woman who has worked and studied long and hard to become a doctor, she will become less than who she was. It's hard to believe that the talented writers can't do something more with this.
2 - Donya
This season has brought mostly disappointment, ever since the writers came back it feels as if they're ruining the show more then assisting. After Ambers death...well possibly up until Wilsons return, the show has gone downhill. Do they expect us to be stupid or something? This whole Foreman/13 couple suddenly arising with nearly no chemistry or growth, or that they expect that our memories are stretched so thin we wouldn't notice the drop of Lucus? I noticed more because I found it interesting that someone aside from House or Wilson was pursuing her; and the whole pairing of House and Cuddy has only become awkward. The kiss was horrid and confusing, and ever since they've been immature.
So far everything you have said has been dead on. I mean, I figured at least after the whole nearly loosing Wilson and crying when he found out Amber was doomed that he would have changed, yet House seems to have changed so little. If all of this keeps up, it seems doubtful they will even make it up to their contract of nine seasons. Since I'm unsure whether they will even pay attention to your writings, all we can hope for is that the new year will bring up less confusion. Hopefully the break gave them time to think more clearly about the shows ratings. And for God's sake, bring Lucus back.
3 - Sandra
I've been watching the show since the pilot and got really hooked to the show two episodes later - House and his team dealing with the sick babies in "Maternity", especially the scenes with House and Cameron, is responsible for that. So, hi, my name is Sandra and I'm an House-addict.
What I've always loved about the show was this wonderful balance between medicine and personal drama, between the characters and potential ships. Back then every character had a proper amount of screentime, one more in one episode the other more in another, the same applies for ships. It was good that way. IMO the main problem at the moment is that there's too much focus on one character (Thirteen) and on one ship (Huddy) and the neglection of two characters that do have a big fanbase too (C & C not in the 100th episode - WTF is up with that?!).
In addition the whole development between House and Cuddy feels forced and unreal to me, so incredibly awkward. I really enjoyed the banters and teasing between House and Cuddy but they should have stayed at that point. Trying to push things into a romantic relationship or whatsoever doesn't fit into the show, and it makes House look out of character. Not to mention the horrible shipper wars going on all over the internet. Personally I would count myself as House/Cameron shipper, but that is not the reason why I think House being with Cuddy is a mistake, so please don't get me wrong. I think it would be as much of a mistake to let House and Cameron get together just like House and Cuddy, it would end up just the same. I like the way the writers handled things in the first seasons, that was brilliant.
And a big yes to: we need more interaction between House and Wilson - and not Wilson playing Cupid, but Wilson putting up with House's crap.
My advice to the writers: sit back and take a look at the former seasons, there is a reason they have been so sucessful. Don't try to change everything just for the sake of change. Not all change is bad, you know, but changing too much is.
4 - operahouse
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I completely agree with all of your main points. As for the "getting House out of the office episodes," I did't care for Airborne or Whatever It Takes, but Birthmarks and Son of Coma Guy are two of the best episodes ever. (By the way, it was Oxycodone, not Vicodin, that House almost OD'd on in Merry Little Christmas.) The only big point that I see differently is your statement that "Thus far, other than Lucas, no new major character and arc have been introduced." I think they're having two seemingly neverending arcs, Thirteen's storyline (which you spoke of) and Huddy. I agree 100% that they have to get Thirteen off the screen (and show more of Kutner, by far the most likeable newbie), but Huddy annoys me the most. I look forward to that immature, unfunny "banter" ending and the show getting back to House, medical mysteries, ethical dilemmas ... and Wilson. Thank you for the note about Robert Sean Leonard deserving an Emmy! He elevates every scene he's in. Thanks again. It has been so nice to read a different perspective on blogcritics.
5 - Val
You are godsend. I hope the writers listen to you because otherwise we are doom with a boring House nobody wants to watch anymore!
6 - Alex
Don't you think that integrating Cameron and Chase more into the show would also help to increase ratings? Don't you think that a large part of their fanbase stopped watching the show a long time ago? As you say viewers have memory, we can't forget how interesting characters Cameron and Chase were versus Thirteen, Taub or Kutner. I wonder why you don't see the lack of screentime for Cameron and Chase as part of the problem why House is losing viewers.
7 - Christopher Rose
I've always found Cameron and Chase pretty boring myself but could see a Cuddy-House relationship working, although one of them would presumably need to get a new job somewhere else, which might kill off the dynamic...
8 - Alex
I've always found Cameron and Chase pretty boring myself but could see a Cuddy-House relationship working
Yeah it happens, mostly those who think a relationship between House and Cuddy might work don't care about Cameron and Chase, only care about House, Wilson and Cuddy. I always found House interactions with Cuddy pretty boring, childish and repetitive and what drove to the show was House's scenes with Cameron, Chase and Foreman.
9 - Mark Saleski
i've always been slightly amazed at the way tv writers can't seem to do anything interesting with relationships. they seem to get a lot of mileage out of the whole "will they or won't they" arc...and then after they get together they're on the verge of breaking up one or two episodes later.
does this mean that happy couples are boring to most people?
10 - Christopher Rose
It's not that I don't care about C&C, I just think they are pretty dull people. Cameron was ok when she started standing up to House a bit but they are essentially dull. Dull has its place, just watch any episode of either version of The Office for example, but House needs stronger people around him, like Cuddy, Foreman, Wilson or Amber, who I could never quite believe was going out with Wilson in the first place.
11 - PAM Candlish
I find it hard that someone gets paid for writing about House who I think I have seen in various online things objecting to the HD line and 13. The comments have been picked up on list serv for HD.
HD has been there in Hollywood since Mucus Welby and the Valley of the Dolls. Mucus regretfully put the husband in LTC. Tony also went off to LTC and the costs put the star in need of a job.
I'd like to meet 13 somewhere and take her to my aquatics for movement disorders which I do twice a week since 2001. My balances tests go from 4 to 1. I am a piano player and have put a video at youtube called "What Dusty Does" The only thing I prayed for was a genetic test so my children did have to wait to find out if they have HD or not. Today we have that, but it is a whole new area called Asymptomatic gene positive leading to symptomatic gene positive. Fertile area for dramatic writers and right in the groove of what people to deal with in more and more diseases. I suppose that if you met Michael Fox you would be in the group of people who accuse him of using his disgusting illness to get something like stem cell research and parkinsons research.
12 - Alex
Christopher Rose, the problem I have with your comments is that you assume and say it as a fact that Cuddy, Wilson or Foreman are strong people to be around House, but that's your vision, I would have thrown an "in my opinion" or "I think" because, from my point or view, those characters you mentioned have barely shown signs of strength against House, in fact, and from my point of view again, Wilson always puts House's needs before his own, Cuddy practically lives to make House's life easier and Foreman with his complex "I don't want to be House" is too afraid to ever stand up to House and leave the nest that is working under him. But I do believe that Cameron and Chase have evolved and become stronger people, and for me it would be a pleasure to see how those qualities applies now that they're not longer working for House and are more equal to him.
13 - Christopher Rose
Alex, I assume you're simply new to Blogcritics. That would explain your presumption about my comments.
To clear things up for you, frequent commenters don't write "in my opinion" or "I think" every time they comment as it would get very boring, both to do and to read. Furthermore, I didn't state anything as a fact at all, so your observation is simply inaccurate. Maybe you just like bland people?
14 - Eli
I agree with everything!
I also have to add that I find it really odd that I`ve learned more about Huntingtons from reading the comments here than I`ve learned from watching the show...
15 - Pat
Well done.
I agree with much of what you say. Arcs on this show have always been too long from Vogler, to Stacy to Tritter to Foreman's resignation arc that went from season 3's HouseTraining to Whatever it Takes in season 4. The current Huddy arc, now with the addition of a baby, a traditional show-killer, and the never-ending Thirteen and her inability to deal with her HD (I should think that while people who deal with HD in their real lives appreciation the attention it's getting from the show, they're cringing at how Thirteen is behaving) have both gone on long past their most effective times.
I think The Last Resort would have been so much richer if it has been Wilson held hostage with House, not Thirteen. Wilson, always needing to sacrifice himself for another person and possibly the only person other than himself who House truly loves. As it was, the episode served only to advance the two plots of this year, Thirteen's HD and Cuddy's feelings for House.
I also agree that House needs more emotional growth but over the five seasons of the show, he's been moving backwards not forwards. In the first season with Cameron, he was snarky but vulnerable, his lack of self-esteem as relationship material preventing him from forming bonds. With Stacy, he loved but acted like a teenager, Romeo prevented from being with his true love. Now with Cuddy he's acting even younger, someone more intent on pranks and power games besting the other person than in being tender or supportive to the extent that I simply cannot buy that he truly cares for her. I think this arc with Cuddy has taken more from both characters than it has given the show.
Speaking of taking from the show, there is a loss in getting rid of Chase and Cameron. Of the new team, only Kutner has a unique place, filling the hole of 'creative and enthusiastic House supporter' now that Chase has grown up. Taub and Thirteen are like Foreman, cynical, negative, challenging of House, while Foreman himself remains around. In diagnostic sessions, the three are almost interchangable.
Jesse Spencer could make Chase interesting from nothing more than reactions and small business and Chase was always a good foil for House's snarks. Cameron not only brought out House's vulnerability during the House/Cameron arc of the first two seasons, she brought the ethical conflicts to the show, something that I miss very much. Taub may point out that House is behaving unethically but he never argues with him or refuses to follow his orders. It's a pale imitation of what the show used to be. (Cameron also brought out things in Wilson that we never got from Wilson's conversations with House those were focused only on House and his feelings.)
I enjoyed reading your comments. You approach the show from a loyal but critical standpoint rather than as a fangirl and I appreciate that.
16 - C/C Fan
I enjoyed your comments and agree with you on many points (especially on reducing the screentime for the always in our faces 13). But you really missed one of the main problems with the show. Viewers come to expect a certain quality with a product and viewers don't particularly like change. House had an excellent product that was superbly delivered in the first three seasons. In sidelining Chase and Cameron, they lost quality in both the product and in the delivery. It's shameful that an actress as bad as Olivia Wilde is getting as much time as Hugh Laurie in some episodes while an actor as immensely talented as Jesse Spencer is averaging, oh, twenty seconds or so per episode. It was not House alone that made the show great. And contrary to many statements to the contrary, "House/Wilson/Cuddy" were NOT the "main stars" of the show for the first three years. House/Foreman/Cameron/Chase were the at the forefront. To many a loyal viewer, putting half the "main cast" on the backburner has made us lose much of the interest we had in the show in the first place. People form attachments to their favorite characters and many of us miss Chase and Cameron! Yet, even with a natural resistance to change, change can be accepted when it's a change for the better. But going from Chase/Cameron/Foreman to Foreman/13/Taub/Kutner has been a horrendous change for the worse. As someone pointed out above Foreman/13/Taub are practically interchangeable with their dismal attitudes and sour dispositions. One Foreman was enough. We don't need 3 cynics on the team plus the greatest cynic of all, House himself. The fact that the show has lost so many viewers since Season 3 and that fans are still clammoring for more time for Chase and Cameron should tell TPTB that they made a mistake.
17 - Karen Stoessel
Hey Kit. Looks like TV is where it's at! Congratulations. But, to get to the subject at hand, I WAS a House fan...WAS being the operative word here. I loved him from the get-go...until I got bored with his personality. Yeah, I know...that's what the show is all about but having to deal with people, sometimes with personalities like his, all day long in my world, I want to come home at night, sit in my leather chair with a big bowl of popcorn and be entertained...maybe even have a laugh or two. House just wasn't doing it. I endured him for two seasons. He was making me feel anxious and uncomfortable. Not the way I want to spend an evening. Just once I was hoping for "nice-guy House" and I never saw him. OK, call me a romantic but I got fed-up with his character. I was constantly waiting for that little bit of change but no...it was the same thing over and over and over. It wasn't want I needed nor had to watch. Thank God for the remote! CLICK AND GONE!
18 - Gerry
Very nice article! I don't share every concern, but there's no doubt you've touched on some points that many fans feel. For me, the only issue I have with Thirteen is that her screentime is overbalanced and her story is not integrated firmly enough into House's. If the writers take care of that, I'm fine with her story--it has weight and it can certainly help us learn more about House. I also share the concern about not enough screentime for House. I should never be watching an ep of House, wondering where House is. Doesn't matter which character is getting that much focus, it won't fly.
Other than that, the Huddy arc has been bumpy and upset my expectations, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it ends up somewhere different than it is right now. I like seeing these two people, both damaged, trying to raise some barriers and finding it hard. I adore Kutner and Taub, and want to see more. They have a great dynamic with each other and with House.
I've always loved Chase, but he doesn't yet have a new arc, and if the only arc the writers can imagine for him is being treated badly by Cameron, it's time to move on. I feel that even more strongly with Cameron. Find her something new to do that doesn't involve pining for House or treating Chase badly or move her on. It's a crowded House right now.
Again, very nice article!
19 - Gerry
oops--I meant lowering some barriers!
20 - barbara barnett
Hey, Kit... Just had a chance to read your interesting take on the show's direction. I agree with you on the lengths of the story arcs. The special arcs have always been too long...since the days of Vogler.
I do think House has grown emotionally. But (as is so very true--especially of people in middle age) you take a step forward and three back. I would think that's especially true of someone like House, who has a pain problem that extends to drug overuse.
I agree also that the powers that be should always keep front and center that this is fundamentally House's story.
Thanks for the great read (and the plug--I am blushing).
21 - HouseHunter
The solution?
House needs more LOL.
22 - Gman
Why is it that liberal Hollywood seems to have a need to offend decent white people with trash like Foreman kissing 13? Are we really expected to believe that someone as beautiful as 13 would settle for a black guy? In the real world, the vast majority of white women who settle for black guys are ugly.
Is it too much to ask that the writers can't find a black girl for Foreman?
23 - Dr Dreadful
Yes, I'm sure that's all Hollywood thinks about, Gman - finding new ways to offend decent white people.
So how come you're so upset?
24 - bliffle
Hey hey hey, Barbara! Easy on the Ageism!
"But (as is so very true--especially of people in middle age) you take a step forward and three back."
I'm middle-age (I plan to live to 144, so I'm in the middle) and I find that offensive.
Where's Gman when a guy needs him?
25 - Sheelagh
I agree with every well articulated point, with one exception. I like my Phantom (House) to remain in the Opera House (Hospital). The episodes you mentioned as off set excursions were my least favorites,; the best of that bunch being 'Son of Common Guy' where the hotel room stood in for the office.
I have worried this Season that the characters are becoming more caricatures. Trip wires and breast grope notwithstanding. Greg House was a much more complex mix in Seasons 1-3 ...and some of 4. The scripts at times this Season have almost assumed a Graphic Novel type of presentation, loosing the subtle shading of the prior Seasons. Compare the banter between House & Stacy and House and Cuddy and it's really apparent.
Thanks for expressing your (our) thoughts so cogently.