House is such a wonderful show.  I routinely curse Fox for its stupidity in cancelling excellent programming (Firefly, Keen Eddie, etc., etc.), but I can’t help but also admit that they really do have some excellent shows that they have kept around (so far, at least).

I’m really loving the series so far and Hugh Laurie is fantastic as Dr. House.

I fell in love with this show the day I saw the pilot. House himself is one of the best characters on TV—he’s abrasive, arrogant and the most blatantly sarcastic character I’ve run across in a while. And the fact that he’s located on Fox was a welcome surprise as well.

Maybe it’s me, but I wasn’t really impressed with this show.  Just another CSI where everything is neatly laid out.  But perhaps, I should give it another look.

Unfortunately House is on a night when I’m not usually home but I did see it once.  He’s the stereotype of a brilliant atheist curmudgeon who doesn’t want anyone to know he also has a heart of gold.  In fact, I bet that phrase appears somewhere in the series prospectus presented to Fox.

But I did enjoy it.

Well, as the CSI shows happen to be my favorite thing about TV at the momment, I have a hard time taking that as a criticism. Yes, they do wind up neatly in just an hour, but unlike detective shows of old, these use hard science and to me, it more about technoque then the individual crime. Much the same, on House I find the diagnostic process itself more interesting then the individual cases. Also, in this day of huge story archs and shows that you need to watch every single week for fear of losing the plot, it’s nice to have plotlines that are completely resolved in a single hour. Miss an episode? doesn’t matter, new story next week.

My wife and i watch House any chance we get. I love that show so much…never knew House was an atheist though. Can’t say i’m surprised, however.

Love Hugh Laurie since his brilliant and varied roles in the 4 Blackadder series.Intruiging he’s managed a flawless yank accent considering his oh-so-very-british regular voice!

It sounds like a pefect role for the great Hugh Laurie, been a fan of him since his Blackadder days. Sounds like a show to investigate.

Thanks for the recommendation!  I love that line: “‘Cause you can tell me that you put your faith in God to get you through the day but when it comes time to cross the road, I know you look both ways.“

One little irritation:  do you know how many shows come up when you search for the word “House” on a DVR???  (Searching on Hugh Laurie works much better.)

Absolutely love the show!  It’s the reason I speed home from my Tuesday night class…I usually miss the first 10-15 minutes of it…but I’m on Spring Break this week…so you know what I’ll be doing tonight!   I wasn’t familiar with Hugh Laurie, now I have to go find other stuff with him in it.

Mick, I totally failed to make the connection with Black Adder. I kept looking at the guy and thinking, “Damn, I know I know him from something else!“ Thanks for jogging the old memory.

Incidentally, Fox has had a series with an atheist in the leading role before. The captain of the previously mentioned Firefly was also an atheist as I recall.

Les,
I did the same thing.  I haven’t seen the show, but I couldn’t place him from the previews.  Now I’m going to have to watch, since I love Black Adder and George is one of my favorites.

Incidentally, Fox has had a series with an atheist in the leading role before. The captain of the previously mentioned Firefly was also an atheist as I recall.

Not quite. I believe Whedon’s back story on Mal was that he was a former Christian who had come to hate God for all the atrocities he had seen in the war.

On the other side, though, over at CBS, it’s fairly obvious that Grissom on CSI is at least agnostic and probably atheist.

1.  I’ll always think of Hugh Laurie from his Jeeves and Wooster hi-jinks, myself.

2.  I may have to watch the show, though I hardly have time for the shows I do watch. 

3.  Decent-sounding dialog from House, albeit against a straw-man true-believer.

4.  I believe KPG is right about Mal Reynolds—he had much more of a hate on at God than a disbelief in same.  A pity we didn’t get to see more of that (and conflict with Book) in the series (and aren’t likely to in the movie, I suspect).

“I routinely curse Fox for its stupidity in cancelling excellent programming (Firefly, Keen Eddie, etc., etc.)“

Don’t forget Family Guy.

Thanks heaps for calling this show to my attention. It is indeed unusual to allow even the word ATHEIST to have any validity in the media today without denigration, mockery and scorn. The pervasive influence of True Believers makes it unlikely that any show will present non-believers in a positive light.

I’ve recently read that Hugh Laurie has signed to play Perry White in the new Superman movie planned for 2006. Another definite for casting is Kevin Spacey to play Lex Luthor. Heh! The idea of another superman movie seems kinda stale to me and “Batman Begins” definitely does but there’s some interesting casting going on with Superman.

I had an off reaction to Laurie’s voice on House and now I know why: It’s affected speech. However I do like the show for his acerbic comment style.

Ah but Brock;the new batman stars the fantastic Christian “American Psycho” Bale.Enough reason to see it for me…never mind the bat thingie!

Watched it again last night and was disappointed.  He lied to a transplant committee to save a patient who clearly was a poor risk, with the justification that she was his patient.  For a guy who’s supposedly this big rationalist…

He’s like a packaged imitation of a strong character compared to the blinking cyphers around him. Something tells me even if one person’s name is listed as “writer” that the story lines are being written by a committee.  Too bad.

I think Hugh Laurie took the “House” role in part to clear his actorly palate after playing the dad in the “Stuart Little” movies (also with a flawless American accent, I might add).

House is the only thing I watch (except for the occasional NRL, AFL or movie) on commercial (every time it gets interesting or not) TV and that’s only to hear how Hugh delivers his often bitting lines, flawlessly.
I like clever sarcasm and arrogance.
Probably why I like SEB.

I managed to catch a few episodes of House when I was in the States last month (no, it’s not offered here in benighted Austria).  Although I agree with Angie that the plots are a bit predictable (medical mystery, ranting and soulsearching, brilliant solution found every time), Hugh Laurie is a great actor and the character House is a breath of cold fresh air in the warm and fuzzy wasteland of American television.

Shoulda been ‘biting’ lines, Eh?