The season opener on BL, while House takes on the Wizard of Oz from "Wicked" (and even makes an in-joke "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" comment). Two different dramas, two different creators, two different stations--but both of them focusing on the right to privacy and allowing someone to do as they wish with their body. Comments below:
A Stephen Colbert moment: "House." Merely great, or the greatest medical drama ever?
Most episodes of "House" are all about the diagonsis. This one, however, is drenched in medical ethics, including the endlessly unsolvable question of whether someone in a terminal situation should be allowed to call for their own termination. Interestingly, the answer comes across as far more clear-cut on "House" than one typically sees. Yes, there's focus on the diagnostic wizardry of House and his people (and I have to say that House's "A-HA" moment, in which something prompts him to realize the truth, was one of the lamer such instances this time out. A red thong? C'mon) but, interestingly, once they've established that Joel Gray's character is definitely terminal, his wish to die is granted in very short order, followed by a marvelously terse ending scene in the hospital chapel that was filled with emotion despite its brevity.
Meanwhile, subplots begin to percolate that save "House" from being merely diagnose-the-disease-of-the-week. Back on the cane and the painkillers, House continues to insist that Cuddy is pregnant while finding himself the subject of a jailbait's crush, plus we see thematic fallout of Cuddy and Wilson's lying to House about the fate of an earlier patient. And Hugh Laurie continues to hold the entire series together through sheer talent and charisma. A must-see.
"Boston Legal," or as I call it, lawyers behaving badly. BL continues to walk the fine line between parody and drama, ranging from the ludicrously sad (a man suffering from major intimacy issues is pathetically devoted to a sex doll) to the ludicrous (Denny Crane--the reborn William Shatner--has his own sex toy of Candace Bergen's Shirley, and is completely incapable of understanding that what he's doing is wrong...placing him, on the moral comprehension scale, somewhere below the pre-souled William the Bloody who at least was ashamed when Buffy confronted him about the Buffybot) to the sad (Michael J. Fox's dying billionaire is tangled in a case where he's buying a terminal man's healthy lung.) Sometimes the over-the-top plot aspects tend to strangle whatever serious issues the series tries to address. This episode is not one of those instances, and the show returns in good form. Let's hope it can maintain it.
PAD
Posted by Peter David at September 20, 2006 07:12 AM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentingI definitely agree with you on the thong revelation. And even though I guessed pretty early who was going to actually administer the morphine at the end, I still appreciated the significance of using that particular character and what they represent.
From a writing perspective, it's amazing how powerful a simple, quiet line like "I'm proud of you" can be when it comes from a character who has been developed and established to never say things like that.
The comment I made to my wife after watching that very powerful scene at the end was "Do you think she feels better or worse that House is proud of her?"
And someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the first time he's given a compliment to one of his staff?
Is it too early to start the Emmy campaign for Christian Clemenson? He had me on the verge of tears all through what by rights should have been a stupid sitcom plot. Masterful. Let's all give Hands a big hug.
And someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the first time he's given a compliment to one of his staff?
You're not wrong - that's what made it so incredibly powerful. It's the first time he dropped the sarcasm and bite and interacted with the character on an honest, emotional level. The few times we've seen that from House in the past, he's been alone.
House is typically rather infused with medical ethical issues - or, at least, I notice them, since that's what I study - but in this instance, although the issues were up front and clearly debated, I don't think they were the point, or the intended discussion. I think the point was character development for that one particular character, who had to develop, character-wise - was becoming too much a charicature. The point, I think, was the making the decision.
I need to watch the episode again before I make my weekly ethics'o'House roundup.
Arrrrrgh!
Missed House while working to meet a deadline. Forgot to set the DVR. It sounds like they had a doosie of an opening. I'd decided to try to get back in the habit of watching House. I stopped last year because I wanted to watch Carl Sagan's Cosmos for the first time since I was twelve and they were airing at the same time. My feelings on that were mixed as they had to cut stuff to play the episodes on commercial TV in the space of an hour.
Does anyone know if Fox is going to air the episode again this week?
GROZIT! I didn't even know it was time for BL's season premiere. Now that I think of it, we didn't even think to look in that hour on the Dish guide.
I don't watch either of these shows, but it is nice to be able to live vicariously through Cowboy Pete. Well-written, insightful criticism.
I disagree on the Studio 60 stuff, but that's a rarity. Peter usually gets this stuff right -- his precise evisceration of Buffy's final season immediately coming to mind (and how God-awful was that, once you got past the first seven episodes?).
Still, there have been some loose ends, I think. PAD, you reviewed Firefly and Wonderfalls on this blog-- did you ever get the box sets and complete those series? What did you think? (I particularly liked the way Wonderfalls ended -- a cross between the Angel season 4 finale and a Rube Goldberg-ian plot to end all Rube Goldberg-ian plots.)
-Dave O'Connell
I'm fortunate to have the bestest job in the world. I may have to wait a year to see the episodes, but eventually the boxed set of DVDs just show up in the mail and I can watch the whole shebang at once.
Can't wait to get to the end of Season 2 now (I'm over halfway through.)
Just in case the poster wasn't jesting I should point out that Christian Clemenson won the Emmy this year for that same role.
(Although as someone with a copy of Veronica Mars season 1 sitting on my DVD player and in the midst of reliving The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. via Netflix, I still mentally associate him with other roles first.)
PAD, I noticed in this posting, as in previous writings, that you refer to the character William the Bloody instead of calling him Spike. Do you feel that the nickname "Spike" is beneath such a character? Just curious...
Is anybody else noticing that BL is ending up as "The Old Trek Actor's Home"?
I mean, having Shatner and Auberjonois as regulars, and first Jeri Ryan, and now Armin Shimerman as guest actors?
It's getting silly...
I think that HOUSE has improved a lot since the first season, by getting more involved with the characters' lives than just the case of the week. And it was brilliant to see the season begin with House (apparently) cured -- but acting the same as always.
As for BOSTON LEGAL, that always seemed more like a parody of law shows than an actual law show. Virtually every case is completed in 1-2 days, Alan Shore breaks every law on the books and gets away with it, Shatner's boss would be sued for sexual harassment by any female there -- and it goes on and on. Usually it takes David E. Kelly a few seasons to ruin a show by dragging it into painful repetition (ALLY McB's dancing baby, THE PRACTICE's defense lawyers agonizing over their responsibilities as defense lawyers), but this one happened very quickly.
>>Is anybody else noticing that BL is ending up as "The Old Trek Actor's Home"?
This isn't the first time this has happened--the Gargoyles animated series was also known as the Trek reunion show, since Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Kate Mulgrew and Nichelle Nichols all had regular or recurring roles on the show, and Avery Brooks, Levar Burton and Colm Meaney all did guest voices as well.
I just finished reading your TV Round Up with my sex doll Janelle. Needless to say, we are very disappointed that you characterized that Boston Legal man's DEVOTION to his polyethylene playmate as pathetic and "ludicrously sad". Where am I going to be allowed to read "X-Factor" now, Peter? On the "crapper" or-- heaven forbid-- the store?! Sadly, you can tell those folks at IDW that they just lost a "Fallen Angel" pull customer! Do you know that Janelle has been "Fallen Angel's" BIGGEST booster? She's been writing Paul Levitz once a week imploring him to release the second "Fallen Angel" trade! (Two weeks ago she even sent Paul some polaroids of her wearing her favorite sheer silk teddy-- hoping that would make a difference.) Geez, I gotta go... I smell MYLAR burning. Janelle told me she'd burn my complete (including all the variants) pristine mint "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" collection if she ever saw me posting here again!
"(Although as someone with a copy of Veronica Mars season 1 sitting on my DVD player and in the midst of reliving The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. via Netflix, I still mentally associate him with other roles first.)"
I haven't started watching my Brisco County, Jr.set yet, but did see Veronica Mars. Abel Koontz is so completely different from Jerry Espenson, that until I saw his imdb picture just now I couldn't associate the two of them. He is just amazing.
Neil
I mean, having Shatner and Auberjonois as regulars, and first Jeri Ryan, and now Armin Shimerman as guest actors?
It's getting silly... >>
No, it is not. A good actor is a good actor.
Now what is seems weird is that Currie Graham last season was a recurring actor on Boston Legal (A.D.A Frank Ginsberg), Desperate Housewives (Ed Ferrara), and House (Mark Warner) (and played a different character on The Practice as part of Crane, Poole & Schmidt).
Neil
For those of you who missed House this week, keep an eye on the USA Network run of the show on at 11:00PM E /10:00PM Central Friday nights. Last Friday was the Season 3 premiere. They started last Fall with Season 1, ran it all the way through, with a few repeats, the cruised through Season 2 at two shows a week this Summer, to catch up and be just a couple of weeks delayed for Season three, much like their runs of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Saturday nights and SVU on Sunday nights.
"And someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the first time he's given a compliment to one of his staff?
You're not wrong - that's what made it so incredibly powerful.
Yeah he is. House has often complemented them when they surprise him with a clever idea or diagnosis. This would be the biggest deal of it, though.
Now what is seems weird is that Currie Graham last season was a recurring actor on Boston Legal (A.D.A Frank Ginsberg), Desperate Housewives (Ed Ferrara), and House (Mark Warner) (and played a different character on The Practice as part of Crane, Poole & Schmidt).Even though Boston Legal is a spin-off from The Practice, I've always felt that the two shows inhabit completely different universes, and it's a bit of a mistake to think of Boston Legal as The Practice's continuation. Denny Crane wasn't a buffoon on The Practice, and as much as I like Denny Crane I miss that Denny Crane. Even Alan Shore was a different character--he may have been unethical, but he wasn't theatrical. (Though I'm suggesting that the two shows aren't connected, I admit I was expecting a reference Tuesday night to the Patrick Dempsey storyline from The Practice when Alan and Denny were talking about Alan's sexual interest in older women--after all, we learned then that Alan's first sexual experience was with his best friend's mother when he was a teenager.) The similarity of names is all the two shows have in common.
House has often complemented them when they surprise him with a clever idea or diagnosis.
Different - he might say they did well, but it's laced with sarcasm and bitter. This is the first time he's simply said something positive, kind, and warm - genuine. Big, big difference. :)
House is off to a rather weak start. Just a bit too much focus on the soap opera elements that I don't really watch the show for. No worries, because I know the show will quickly drift away from them, because that's what it does. It's about the cases, and they'll get everyone back into their respective grooves before too long.
"Even though Boston Legal is a spin-off from The Practice, I've always felt that the two shows inhabit completely different universes, and it's a bit of a mistake to think of Boston Legal as The Practice's continuation."
I was quite surprised after watching the 4 episodes of The Practice that came with Season 1 of Boston Legal at Best Buy. They really are parallel universes with many characters of the same name. A lot of characterization changed from one show to the next. As seen in the bonus material in the set, they set out to do a different type of show and so these changes were made.
Neil
Well, I also missed the Boston Legal premiere, and was not aware of it until reading PAD's roundup. But a friend of mine found it in alt.binaries.multimedia (in high-def, no less), and saved it for me onto a CD. Watched it over the weekend; as usual, the over-the-top stuff with Denny was more than balanced by some fine performances and endearing moments, especially the final balcony scene. I'm hopeful that the Squid is really gone for good. One thing that struck me about this episode is that it seemed more like a coda for last season than a beginning to a new season; since this week's episode is titled "The New Kids", I'm wondering if they deliberately held back this season finale until the start of the new season (shades of Babylon 5 here.) Even the opening credits were unchanged, and yet I know they're bringing on Craig Bierko as a new series regular, and you would expect them to have added his name to the credits.
Doug
Posted by: Scavenger at September 21, 2006 03:14 PM
"And someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the first time he's given a compliment to one of his staff?
You're not wrong - that's what made it so incredibly powerful.
Yeah he is. House has often complemented them when they surprise him with a clever idea or diagnosis. This would be the biggest deal of it, though.
I don't know if I would group the frequent "back-handed compliments" with a sincere "attagirl" compliment like House delivered on the 3rd Season opener.
For example, in the second season opener(I think), Forman ran off some statistics on an illegal firearm and House said,"Am I the only one who thinks it's cool that he knows that?"
It'll be interesting if House coming to terms with his own mortality at the end of last season, the return of his "famous limp" and the semi-regular addition of a hard-ass cop who will attempt to make a "drug bust" on our favorite Percodin addict(as announced in TV Guide's Fall Preview), it'll be interesting to see what new developments will be in store this season.