RoR: Forum

"House" is an interesting show. Here is an excerpt to give a feel for the type of humour:

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Dr. Cameron: Why did you hire me?
Dr. Gregory House: Does it matter?
Dr. Cameron: Kind of hard to work for a guy who doesn't respect you.
Dr. Gregory House: Why?
Dr. Cameron: Is that rhetorical?
Dr. Gregory House: No, it just seems that way because you can't think of an answer. Does it make a difference what I think? I'm a jerk. The only thing that matters is what you think. Can you do the job?
Dr. Cameron: You hired a black guy because he had a juvenile record.
Dr. Gregory House: No, it wasn't a racial thing. I didn't see a black guy, I just saw a doctor with a juvenile record. I hired Chase 'cause his dad made a phone call. And I hired you because you are extremely pretty.
Dr. Cameron: You hired me to get into my pants?
Dr. Gregory House: I can't believe that that would shock you. It's also not what I said. No, I hired you because you look good. It's like having a nice piece of art in the lobby.
Dr. Cameron: I was at the top of my class!
Dr. Gregory House: But not *the* top.
Dr. Cameron: I did an internship at the Mayo Clinic!
Dr. Gregory House: You were a very good applicant.
Dr. Cameron: But not the best.
Dr. Gregory House: Would that upset you, really, to think that you were hired for some genetic gift of beauty instead of some genetic gift of intelligence?
Dr. Cameron: I worked very hard to get where I am!
Dr. Gregory House: You didn't have to. People choose the paths that gain them the greatest rewards for the least amount of effort. That's a law of nature, and you defied it. That's why I hired you. You could've married rich, you could've been a model, you could've just shown up and people would've given you stuff - lots of stuff - but you didn't. You worked your stunning little ass off.
Dr. Cameron: Am I supposed to be flattered?
Dr. Gregory House: Gorgeous women do not go to medical school... unless they are as damaged as they are beautiful. Were you abused by a family member?
Dr. Cameron: No!
Dr. Gregory House: Sexually assaulted?
Dr. Cameron: No!
Dr. Gregory House: But you *are* damaged, aren't you?

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There has been some discussion on Solo at,

http://solohq.com/cgi-bin/SHQ/SHQ_FirstUnread.cgi?Function=FirstUnread&Board=5&Thread=848

Post 1

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 1:55pm

By far one of the most refreshing and overall fun shows I've seen come down the pike in years. Brutal honesty.

Post 2

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 2:48pm

I've been watching re-runs because this series was recommended here. Hugh Laurie has a complete change of character from Bertie of "Jeeves". I've wondered why he is depicted as having a disability unless Laurie has developed one in real life. I enjoy the program thoroughly.

However, the best of them all is 'Boston Legal'. It's very funny and ingeneous. William Shatner is stupendous as Denny Crane who has incipient Alzheimer's and who is so enamoured of himself that he gets off whenever Candice Bergen whispers "Denny Crane" in his ear. He never loses a case

As with all this genre the cases that they defend and win aren't always those an Objectivist would champion.

Sam

Post 3

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 4:49pm

I've posted on this elsewhere, but as I'm fond of seeing my words on the screen, I'll iterate. This has become my new-found favorite show. The one virtue that stands out with me, is that it celebrates the achievements of a great mind. So many of the other medical shows out there seem to portray their doctors as merely reacting rotely to the emergencies that arise. They have them cry and 'feel'(which in and of themself are not wrong things to do) but they never show them win the day by thinking. It's great to see a show that features just what it takes to efficaciously deal with and diagnose disease and illness.

Sam-
I've always wondered the same thing- Why they depicted him with a disability and a drug addiction.

Post 4

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 7:25pm

I think the disability helps account for and excuse his grouchiness. His grouchiness drives him to say the unsayable truth, which is one of the things we love about the show.

Post 5

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 8:43pm

John:

I think you're right. He is a curmudgeon who has total integrity.

Sam

Post 6

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 9:13pm

If you had watched the rerun this past week, you would know why he is a cripple, and why the pain pills... and why his wife left him... it's a lead-in to the fall show...

Post 7

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 1:34am

I thought his ex-wife said his personality was exactly the same before he had the disability though. Doesn't seem like they are trying to use it as an excuse for his personality... And it's great to know that his character persevered in spite of being a cripple, rather than being the result of it.

In the episode where it explains how he became a cripple, why was he introduced, anonymously at first, as a drug addict? I thought he only became addicted to painkillers because of his leg and had no prior addiction. Was it just a smoke screen?

JJ

Post 8

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 2:13am

Presumption of judgment - which was good in this show because it makes one ask the all important question 'why'... besides, IS he an addict, if he is in constant pain and needs medication to relieve himself of it?

Post 9

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 5:53am

What are you people on about?

His doctor screwed up on his leg, gave him a limp. Ergo, House pursued medicine and ergo House pissed off. The two go together. The doctor who can heal everyone but himself. He lives through solving mysteries of medicine, a sort of vicarious pleasure he cannot derive from his stalemate situation with the limp.

That was season1 anyway, so far as we've gotten in Melbourne.au

ps Boston Legal- just great. Especially good to see Shatner still at it

Post 10

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 9:41am

I can't resist posting this link again to William Shatner singing 'Rocket Man'.

http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/21099/

Sorry if it's off the topic of House.

Sam

Post 11

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 9:25pm

I know the story, in the show, of how he came to be crippled and riddled with pain. And I remember he was supposed to be an inconoclastic curmudgeon even before the botched operation.

That's the explanation within the made-up story world of how he came to be crippled.

I was trying to answer a different question: why did the writers create him in this way? What advantage is had for the show in having him be crippled and in pain?

Many of us Soloists would think a healthy and pain-free curmudgeon was fine. Many of us are ready to hear people say the unsayable. Otherwise we wouldn't be here.

But to the average viewer, House is unbearably rude and cruel. Nonetheless, he's forgivable - the viewers cut him slack - because they know he is a suffering soul.

At least, that's my guess.

Post 12

Friday, September 2, 2005 - 1:25am

I've heard William Shatner sing Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and nothing in this world has the power to scare me anymore.

I can't resist posting this link again to William Shatner singing 'Rocket Man'.

Sorry if it's off the topic of House.

Sam

Post 13

Friday, September 2, 2005 - 2:31am

Why not start a Shatner thread then?

Post 14

Friday, September 2, 2005 - 1:38pm

John,

No disagreement, really. Frankly, I'm surprised by how much the show is getting away with as it is. It could very well be that they threw in the pain and the limp for sympathy points for those whose sensibilities might otherwise have been offended. At least the show has never been apologetic for House's personality wherever an explicit stand was made.

Funny thing is, I've never thought of House as a suffering curmudgeon. Most times, I don't even notice the limp. He seems to be funny, curious, astute, constantly thinking and integrating as new facts come in to make sense of reality. I'd say he's full of sense of life, actually. Sure, there is the leg pain, but it's not important to him. He deals with it so that he can get on to the bigger things that make his life fulfilling.

JJ

Post 15

Friday, September 2, 2005 - 3:05pm

That was my impression, too - every one else is making concerns of his pain, not him... he just takes the pills and moves on...

Post 16

Friday, September 2, 2005 - 8:39pm