Having watched tons of House episodes over the past few months (I think I'm nearly caught up with all the episodes prior to the current season), last night's episode had a sort of inevitability about it. The question of whether there will be a romantic relationship between House and Cuddy is one of those questions it seems every long-running show deals with eventually. Think Sam and Diane, Sam and Rebecca, Monica and Chandler, everyone and everyone else on ER, and the various iterations of coupling on Buffy just to name a few.
The common wisdom suggests that such a coupling inevitably is the immediate antecedent to a severe drop in program quality. It's no so much that the coupling creates the drop in quality, but rather represents the moment when the folks in the writers' room have run out of ideas.
Though not always inaccurate, such a view is certainly awfully simplistic. Single individuals, on the whole, tend to get involved in long-term romantic relationships as they get older. Television shows, which to some degree reflect reality (often in a fun house mirror), need to account for these relationships and don't always wish to bring on new characters as a significant other.
Think about it, a show already has characters that the audience is familiar with and enjoys — why go mucking about with a great cast dynamic by bringing on someone new who solely represents a "love interest?" That is all the more true when the goal of the love interest is to establish a long-term relationship (marriage?) for a series regular. The character is going to appear over and over and over again; it shifts a workplace drama/comedy into something completely different. It's not always a good choice.
Article comments
1 - Barbara Barnett
Why, Josh. Cool that you wrote about House. I think the best thing about House and Cuddy "finding" each other as they seem to be doing, is that it's not something initially planned (or even foreseen) by the powers that be. The fact that they have is a such a joy.
I love it when characters take on a life of their own...and the real people who control them allow it (within limits). Especially when they know how to apply the brakes when need be. I trust the writers to do well by this.
2 - NancyGail
What relationship? They kissed, and briefly. House did not even try to take advantage. This show could keep going for a long while yet simply with the hospital patients,