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House M.D. has jumped the shark.


I will state it for the record right now.

Last week's episode was a little off-beat, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt even the plot seemed ridiculous (House in a classroom giving a profanity-laced lecture to grade school students while the teacher intermittently expressed mild outrage, parsed with clips of him being berated by a bossy tween into revealing secrets about his love life.)

This week, it was back to the old tried and true "patient of the week" formula that has worked flawlessly for seven seasons. Can't mess up when you're playing the standards, right? Alas, somehow they have completely forgotten how to do it correctly. There is no drama in the attempt to find the diagnosis. They try to sneak this fact past the viewer with dramatic music and slow motion shots, but it's too little, too late, and it just feels out of place.

The episode plays more like a bad sitcom. We are treated to unconvincing roommate drama between Taub and Foreman, half-hearted revelations made by Chase and Masters, and recycled dialogue. "But there are only about a thousand documented cases!" / "Now there are a thousand and one."

Season 7 is not a wash; the smallpox episode was wonderful. And I don't care about 13 being missing or not missing. Her character is no better or worse than Masters. It's just a bad episode. To the show's credit, it is the first of the series that is completely uncompelling. However, since that's completely within the patient-puzzle mold that the show has done well since the beginning, things are not looking up.

Meanwhile, we have a black & white sitcom-themed ep to look forward to. I'm David Spade. Just shoot me.
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Comments

  1. Britt KempMarch 1, 2011 at 9:37 AM

    this is why I have not watched that show in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AWMarch 1, 2011 at 2:03 PM

    There have been some very good episodes this season. I wouldn't suggest against watching any but the last two. A lot of people are mad about the House/Cuddy "Huddy" relationship, but I don't think that's the problem. I think this episode just lacked any sense of focus. The writer wrote another episode earlier in the season that was very good. The director, however, has no other credits in the series.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Britt KempMarch 1, 2011 at 2:59 PM

    I just have never gotten into that show. DON'T HATE ME I LIKED ER

    ReplyDelete
  4. AWMarch 1, 2011 at 3:09 PM

    I never saw ER. I'll pick an episode of House that you'd like.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AWMarch 1, 2011 at 3:26 PM

    This is good.

    http://www.cucirca.com/2009/01/27/house-season-1-episode-21-three-stories/

    Maybe I'll do a top 10.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AWMarch 1, 2011 at 6:12 PM

    http://songsyoucansingtobabies.blogspot.com/2011/03/top-10-episodes-of-house-md.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Britt KempMarch 1, 2011 at 8:09 PM

    you are too kind!

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousMarch 2, 2011 at 6:37 PM

    Agreed on House past its prime. The peak was House's Head/Wilson's Heart, and the show has been in gradual decline since. I was struck by how slowly the cast was speaking their lines in the tedious episode this week, as if they had not rehearsed. Masters continues to annoy without any redeeming interest to her character. She is a pale imitation of Cameron, without the charm that she had. Sad decline for a once great show. I hope they end it soon.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AWMarch 2, 2011 at 7:51 PM

    I picked House's Head/Wilson's Heart as my #1 and #2, but also a good selection from all seasons. Some of them are surprisingly solid across the board. Almost every episode in Season 1 is a classic.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousMarch 4, 2011 at 6:45 AM

    I thought it had jumped the shark when it had that ridiculous series involving all the random doctors trying out to be on the Dr House team.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Miss MacJanuary 23, 2012 at 11:15 PM

    I felt it had jumped the shark long ago when they all were in the graveyard, digging up a corpse. I watch it now occasionally just to see if it is getting better but it is 10 minutes into tonights episode and I am switching to re-runs of The Closer.Once was just the best, now, not so much.

    ReplyDelete

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