timepiececlock | Entries tagged with house m.d.

A significantly major-ass question about continuity: ( spoilery for a plot point that has already been revealed in episode promos and advertisements )

I couldn't really get into the rest of the episode because I was distracted by that gaping plot hole.

House, season 2 finale

I'm tyring to decide if saying "you anti-semantic bastard" to the next person I get the chance would be funny or simply in bad taste. Being that I love semantics, I think it's a hilarious crack. But the other half of the joke makes fun of a term referencing unfair persecution of a particular cultural subset, and I'm generally against slurs. On the other hand, it doesn't actually mock the particular cultural subset. It mocks the people that oppress them. Or maybe I'm just overanalyzing.

( I liked ''Three Stories'' better, but this was interesting in its own way. )

Current Mood: blah
Current Music: ambivalent

Watched episodes 19-23 in a row last night. I've decided I like watching this show in a marathon, because multiple episodes in a row allow me to enjoy the parts I enjoy while glossing over the major problems in the writing. On a week by week basis those flaws are hard to ignore, but when all smooshed together you can sort of pretend they don't exist because you're already moving onto the next episode.

Some thoughts as we're nearing the end of the second season:

1. Still think House and Cameron's actors have the best UST.
2. Still think House and Cuddy are my OTFriendship.
3. Still think House and Wilson are my OtherOTFriendship, though not quite as amusing and more with the drama.
4. If I were to pick any two actors on the show for who'd have the best looking kids, it's Lisa Edelstein and Hugh Laurie. God their kids would be handsome.
5. I've gone from disliking Chase to being lukewarm about him.
6. I've gone from being lukewarm about Foreman to disliking him.
7. I still like Cameron. I wouldn't say I love her character, but I like her, which is a step or several above Chase or Foreman.
8. I still love House, Cuddy, and Wilson as characters.
9. I still get surprised by how much an ass House can be. Which is good, because the day I'm no longer surprised by House's asshole behavior is the day I stop watching the show.

Veronica Mars

Weevil ( is love. )

House

You know, for all that I enjoy this show, I really want to smack the writers sometimes. A lot this season, actually. They can't seem to grasp the concept of character arcs.

Time to be honest with ourselves here.

House, while entertaining to watch, does not have a good grasp on character development.

It kind of saddens me that a kid's fantasy on Nickelodeon which I'm also watching has a clearer sense of how to build a multi-season character arc than a highly funded hour long drama series on a primetime network.

This problem crops up for House's character, but it's demonstrated the worst in his three ducklings: Cameron, Foreman, and Chase. From week to week I can't tell which one will be the asshole, which one will be compassionate, and which one will be the whipping boy/village idiot. How am I supposed to like any of the three as characters if they change every other episode? I used to like Foreman. I used to dislike Chase. I still mostly like Cameron, but they keep making her need to learn "life lessons" or some shit like that one week, then the next week having her be all "I'm more experienced than you give me credit for" the next.

Writers, make up your damn minds! Stop rotating character traits between the three of them like a hot potato! Write a frelling series bible for each character and stick with it! And in your down time watch Farscape for tips on how to make diverse and believably moving characters who each have distinct personalities that could never be confused.

Oh, and make up your mind about whether you want House to actually go anywhere this season or not. I thought from the first half of the season that there was an end-goal; now I think you're just meandering around aimlessly with him. But at least he's got a set personality, which is a start.

I want to read what you guys think about episodes of my favorite shows.

So please, if you write response-posts on semi-casual basis (as little as one every three or four episodes, or as often as every episode), please sign below! I want to create filters for my flist so I can go back and read all your reactions. :D This will help because sometimes I get the episode 3 days after it aired.

Just click below for the shows you watch.

[Poll #711113]

Just caught an episode of this show called Love Monkey over dinner. I know, I know... late dinner. Anyway, it had that guy. You know, that guy.... who....was in that...show...that I never watched...

I don't know know why I never watched it, but I think it has something to do with why I'm not going to watch another episode of Love Monkey. It's... cute. It's safe. It's feel-good tv with a guy who pulls off cute, safe, charming. In a funny-but-not-really-still-cute-anyway-so-I-forgive-your-not-being-funny kind of way.

Which means he's a guy I'd totally date (if I were ten years older), but not a guy who makes for thrilling tv.

I like watching him on tv. He's very watchable. Very leading-man romantic guy. I *want* to like him. But he keeps doing the cute, nice, romantic guy and no matter what show (or bad tv movie) he plays in, he's the same guy.

Maybe he needs to stop being him. I know! He could join the cast of some great dramatic show. Something on HBO, perhaps? Or, Showtime... he would've been a great addition to Dead Like Me, where he'd still get to be the cute nice guy, but he could have much better lines and a more complex character.

I'd suggest a show that's still on, except the only things I watch are Veronica Mars, Avatar, and House. Avatar's animated, Veronica Mars wouldn't be a good fit... oh wait! He could be on House! House has the right mix of humor and drama, and it's brightly colored visually (this guy looks good surrounded by bright colors), and every week Hugh Laurie could say something heart-crushingly mean to him. Yes, I like this plan.

Dear guy,

Ditch your VH1 show and join the cast of House. Or something on HBO.

A happenstance fan,

Rashaka

I had put off watching this for a few days (no real reason), but

donna_c_punk's post on her sudden character love for Cameron tweaked my interest. So, tonight I'm watching it for my last evening before the spring school quarter begins.

( Running commentary, natch )

EDIT: so apparently

donna_c_punk's sudden conversion to H/Cam shipperdom was an April fool's thing. ::shrug:: That's what you get from being away from the internet for two days. Oh well. Seeing as I already ship them, it was no big stretch of my imagination. I had initally thought the post was sarcastic, but then I read it again and thought maybe it wasn't because there was no wink. Didn't even think about April Fool's Day.

If this thread amused the heck out of me, you can imagine the fit of giggles I collapsed into over the comments in this thread, with almost a complete new version of "I've Got A Theory."

Dear Joss Whedon: Thank you thank you, thank you so much for creating shows where dancing demon and puppet vampire jokes never, ever get old.

House is on in 45 minutes, yay! It'll be my first time actually watching an episode on tv.

If you go to the official website, they have an amusing little poll in the bottom left corner: "Would you ever consider using yourself as a guinea pig in order to foil an old nemesis?"

I find this amusing a) for the word "nemesis" which is so appropriate for House's obsessive nature, and b) because I fall within the majority of answers, and it pleases me that the anwser differential is as high as it is-- most people, it seems, are in their right minds on a question like this.

However, that the minority is as high as it is is depressing in its own way.

EDIT: *spoilers* for "Skin Deep" in the comments below.

From this site:

( 1 paragraph promo synopsis for the new House episode: )

Um... ( the part that confuses me, from a medical standpoint. )

I don't know any spoilers beyond the synopsis above, which only pertains to the upcoming episode. But I'm curious from a medical and canon standpoint.

The world of Veronica Mars is yellow and magenta and green. Which could be ugly, but ends up being bright and gorgeous to look at.

The world of House, M.D. is cyan, very cyan and white, with dabs of red and brown.

The new Doctor Who is a veritable rainbow, but also heavy with the magenta, yellow, and blue.

Damn, it's kinda sad that that's all I watch on tv these days. Three shows, and I've technically never even watched House on tv. (except The Daily Show, of course, which is red, white, and blue.)

Thanks to

mswyrr.

( running commentary )

...and here's where my computer's power source quit on me again. Stupid thing.

I'll finish watching the first episode later. I'm behind on my music pirating.

random: I NEED HOUSE ICONS. Clever and funny ones.

Or, dude, CROSSOVER HOUSE ICONS! That would be awesome. What dialogue could you cross House with? Jossverse is tried and true, always good for a laugh. Then there's movies of course.

I still want to see an episode / read a fanfic where House meets John C.McGinley's doctor character on Scrubs. I've only seen about 12 episodes of Scrubs from scattered seasons, but his character is House's kindred soul. I'm telling' ya. They even have similar hair.

House - Episode 2x10

I'm getting this ghastly feeling like the writers really don't have a direction they're aiming for with some of these character relationships. The arcs are more like semi-arcs: they start to look like they're going somewhere and then they don't. And if you're not going to do arcs, then everyone should always be the same and never change (like a Friends episode.) But that doesn't happen either-- these characters go through what should be character-changing experiences, but it's like they never make it all the way through. They just climb halfway up the mountain and then get turned around and mill about.

I noticed this in the beginning of the second season, but I was hoping 10 episodes in it'd sort itself out. Doesn't seem to be the case. Which is really a pity, because the first season had some lovely character arcs stretching from early eps into the final episodes. What happened to those?

On the other hand, my annoyance at the weird stagnancy of these characters is balanced by the fact that I still enjoy the mystery of the week stuff. And I like the style of the series as a whole. So, in that vein, I've decided to try and not get annoyed at character stagnancy and just enjoy what I enjoy about this series. Maybe the characterization writing will pick a pattern and stabilize as the series gets further along.

EDIT: Now seen up to 2x12

season 2, episode 2: I started cracking up in the scene b/w the little girl and Dr. Chase. I knew she was going to ask for that a few lnes before she did and I almost couldn't watch. Too amusing.

( some thoughts on the end of season 1 and the start of season 2, plotlines, etc )

This is getting a bit soap operatic.

Damned if I don't like it.

You know, I managed to go an entire lifetime not watching more than 10-15 minutes of any day time soap opera. Ever.

Now I'm going to be addicted to a nighttime one. After 21 years of successful soap opera avoidance.

'Ts fucking up my record! My pristine record! Pristine!

EDIT #1 w/ episode 17: Aww fucking hell, I've got a crush. I've got a TVcrush on Dr. House. You know, before I started watching this show, I didn't even think he was that attractive. Okay looking: not bad, but not that great. Now the snappy dialogue and barbed crotchety niceness and well-lit blue eyes have hit and I've got another TVcrush.

Oh well. The joy of TVcrushes is that I can relish in the unreality of them. Cause if I met a guy like him in real life I'd be really attracted to his wit and not so much attracted to him physically (too old for me.) But it's a TVcrush, so reality need not knock on my door.

The piano. Dead give away for woobiness.

Edit #2: Really well-lit blue eyes.

Edit #3: "You can't be around that much niceness and not get any on you." Oh I :heart: Wilson.

Edit#4, end of episode 17: *headdesk* Dammit, come on man! Even your deep inner pain isn't worth this much punishment! Why must you insist on being miserable when someone who totally could do better than you is completely in love with you! Wake up! Smell the daisies!

Now up to "Sports Medicine", minus episode 8 (all the links for episode 1.8 on the episode comm aren't working for me). So far, I am delighted. It's a surprisingly easy show to watch-- it's got seriousness, but it's not terribly heavy. Since medical dramas aren't my usual cuppa, the light-hearted-ness is a good thing.

As is wont with a new show, I am pondering ship possibilities. So far, mixed reactions. On the one hand, I love everyone with the relationships they have right now. I like the college kids to cranky professor/uncle relationship between House and his staff, and I like the snappy, slightly USTific professionalism between House and Cutty. I definitely don't want the trio to sleep together, or any of them to sleep with anyone else. I want the other guy (whatshisface from Dead Poets Society) to be happy, but I don't think he'd be happy with any of them.

I love how everyone's friends. I love Whatshisface's friendship with House and I don't want it to go slashy at all the same way I don't want any of the professional relationships to go romantic or sexual (het or slash). They're all so awesome as they are... which makes this about as close to noromo that I've come for a series for a long time.

On the other hand, there are possibilities. Whatshername/House could go from this weird father/daughter thing to an illicit younger woman/older man affair, which might be hot under the right circumstances. I think she's certainly mildly attracted to him, and he's admitted he finds her hot (though I don't believe he really hired her because she was pretty--- that's too boring.)

I could also ship House with Cutty, because let's face it, they've got a bit of a thing.

On the other hand... why muck up these perfect working dynamics with romantic entanglements? That'd be a shame, from an academic/ingellicencia standpoint.

Also, there's the fact that House is a downhill rolling stone of pain and misery that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Addicts? Not so fun to be in a relationship with when you're sober.

Still, House is a woobie inside and part of me wants him to have healthy relationships and be happy.

I want a crossover where he meets the mean doctor from Scrubs. The one who jerks the main character around but manages to be the coolest person on the show. Haven't watched that series enough to remember his name, though. But you know who I mean! The tall one. He and Dr. House are, like, bedside manner soulmates.

EDIT: I recently tried to explain the term "woobie" to my housemate. It involved references to Fox Mulder (ultimate woobie), and the deeply-deeply buried woobieness in Christian from Nip/Tuck, and some comparison to "emo" (her comparison, not mine, but I worked with it.) So, to you guys: What's the simplest and clearest definition of "woobie"?

EDIT 2: Have clarified for housemate using

mswyrr's useful definition:
A woobie is someone who's been wounded and is vulnerable because of it, even if only way down deep inside