FIRST IMPRESSIONS: House M.D.

21 years late to the party and I finally sat down this morning to watch the show that made 100% of British people exclaim: “Wait, who’s made it big in America on a medical drama?! That foppish, gangly comedian from the 80s?!”. Yes, apart from a recommendation by a friend, my only other reason for watching House M.D. is Hugh Laurie. I grew up adoring him as the titular Bertie in Jeeves & Wooster, George (both Prince and Lieutenant) in Blackadder, and one half of A Bit of Fry and Laurie (can you guess which?). While having all the makings of a “posh cunt”, Laurie is always effortlessly loveable, similar to the members of Monty Python, I guess.

So, yes, I wasn’t quite sure how I’d react to this usually-silly man actually being serious for a change. And with a faux-American accent, to boot!

To be honest, I care as much for medical dramas as I do for soap operas and singing contests, which is to say not at all. I suppose I’ve seen a few episodes of E.R. and similar British medical shows, but I’m a sitcom person at heart. Therefore, the only medical show I’ve ever really gotten into is the 90s American sitcom Nurses. I am not ashamed to admit this.

But it is a relief to finally come out about it.

After three episodes of House M.D., I’m finding myself feeling a little cautious. Laurie’s comedy background is helping a great deal with his eccentric character, but some of the interactions he has with coworkers and patients come across somewhat fantastical. I don’t know how things go down in American hospitals, but a man like that really would be escorted off the premises fairly sharply in the UK.

Still, I have the ability to suspend my disbelief, so I’m gonna go ahead and treat (no pun intended) the universe of Dr House as an alternate one to my own. This also speaks for moments when doctors break into patients’ homes to find evidence of their sickness (???), bets being placed on life and death situations, and patients arguing with medical staff about treatment. But, hey, this isn’t reality, this is a medical soap opera.

I was also keen to see this show as I share my name with one of the main characters. This character seems to appear randomly, like an apparition, to have brief moral debates with Dr House. If I was a betting man, I’d say he was the ghostly memory of a dead colleague who forever haunts Dr House. Silly, of course, but that is how the character is presented. I wonder if he was written in at the last minute to provide exposition.

We shall see.

Well, regardless of any concerns or bonkers theories I may have, I’m hooked, so with any luck I shall be posting a follow-up review in a few weeks.

Do stay in touch, darlings.

Toodles!