DVD/TV Series Review: House M.D.: Season 4

 

Season 4 of House aired during the 2007-2008 TV season and was cut short by the writer's strike that occurred that year. The show picks up with the team in disarray with Chase, Cameron, and Foreman all having quit the team at the end of the prior season. House's solution is to hire 40 new doctors and eliminate them in a Survivor-like competition. He gave most of them nicknames as opposed to learning any of their actual names, and from time to time the original team members (Jennifer Morrison, Omar Epps, and Jesse Spencer all remained on the show) would pop in. This resulted in many new additions to the cast, some permanent and some recurring. The new cast members included Olivia Wilde, Kal Penn, Peter Jacobson, Anne Dudek, Edi Gathegi, and Michael Michele. As always, the show also had many recognizable guest stars including Frank Whaley, Thomas F. Wilson (from Back to the Future), Jeremy Renner (when he was still doing TV), Mira Sorvino, Fred Durst, and Ivanna Milicevic (who had done a lot of character work for many popular TV shows and would later star in the great series Banshee).

The DVD set includes the 16 season four episodes spread across 4 discs. The bonus material includes a commentary track on part 1 of the season finale and several behind-the-scenes and making-of featurettes. The series continued to be well-written and very well-acted. The new additions to the cast were great and the actors seemed very comfortable coming into the show. The two-part season finale was probably the two best episodes of the series up to that point, and this season, although abbreviated is arguably the best season of the show. It is absolutely worth your time to watch.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: House M.D., The Complete Collection

 

This is a region-free import of the complete series of House M.D. on blu-ray. As most fans of the show are aware (at least those who are also fans of physical media), in the United States, the first five seasons of House were released on DVD and the final three seasons were released on blu-ray. But, the older seasons of the show were never released on blu-ray and there was never a complete US series release on blu-ray. To my knowledge, this is the easiest and most cost-effective way to get the entire series on blu-ray. While it is an import from Japan, the discs do play in region 1 (US region) blu-ray players and it does have captions in English on the episodes, but not on the special features.

House was a hit medical drama that aired from 2004 through 2012 starring Hugh Laurie as Gregory House, a brilliant, acerbic diagnostician at a fictional hospital in New Jersey who was addicted to Vicodin, hated seeing patients, insulted them (and his team of doctors) mercilessly when he had to interact with them, and thought everyone is a lying idiot. His team (in the early seasons) included doctors Cameron (played by Jennifer Morrison), Chase (played by Jesse Spencer), and Foreman (played by Omar Epps). In Later seasons Olivia Wilde, Peter Jacobson, Kal Penn, Odette Annabele, and Charline Yi would also play members of House's diagnostics team. House's only friend is an oncologist named James Wilson (played by Robert Sean Leonard), and the hospital administrator, Lisa Cuddy, who is always butting heads with House is played by Lisa Edelstein. 

The show was mostly a case-of-the-week procedural drama in which the team was presented with a patient with some weird medical issue that no one else could diagnose. Intertwined within the weekly cases were serial arcs that sometimes involved House pissing off the wrong person, the lives of one or more of the team members, or the like. The first seven seasons of the show were great. Season 8 is not as good because a pot point from season seven never truly gets resolved in a satisfying way. That said, the series has a nearly perfect ending.

The blu ray set has 39 discs, all of which are in huge keep cases. They are, unfortunately, the kinds of cases that require two discs to be stacked on top of each other, and the discs can on some tabs come loose and fall off and on others be damn near impossible to get off. The blu-ray set does have all of the same special features, including interviews, commentary tracks, gag reels, deleted scenes, etc., that were released on the US DVD and blu-ray releases. The A/V transfer of the early seasons is okay, but not great. The final three seasons which got original blu-ray releases have a much better A/V quality. The blu-ray menus are very bare bones and are hard to navigate at first, and the titles of the episodes are not listed on the menus. The only change to the episodes themselves is that the theme that plays over the opening credits is different than the one that played in the US (it is the European version).

Overall, the show is great. It is probably the best medical drama after ER (which is the medical drama by which I compare all others) that I have seen. It was well-written and very well-acted. It could be suspenseful, sad, and funny, all within the same episode. The show also got a lot of great guest and recurring stars throughout its run, some of whom were very well-known (e.g., James Earl Jones, Candice Bergen, and Sela Ward), and some for whom the show was one of their big breaks (e.g., Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Amanda Seyfried, Michael B. Jordan, Elle Fanning, Jeremy Renner, etc.). If you are a fan of the show, this is definitely worth the pickup.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: House M.D.: Season 8

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season of House, but no major giveaways from the final season+++

House's eighth and final season aired in the 2011-2012 TV season and consisted of the show's final 22 episodes. The show starts out almost a year after House drove his car into Cuddy's living room. He ultimately returned to New Jersey, was arrested, and has been in jail for three months (after representing himself at trial). Foreman is now the director of the hospital (with Lisa Edelstein leaving the show because of a contract dispute after season 7), Wilson hates his guts, and Chase and Taub have moved on (seemingly). The first episode, much like the season House was in the psychiatric hospital, is set in the last few days of House's stint in jail (we learn that Foreman got him early release on the condition that he can only go to the hospital or his apartment), assuming he makes it through the last week without getting killed or having his sentence extended. 

While in jail he meets Dr. Jessica Adams (played by Odette Annable, probably best known for her role in Cloverfield up to that point) who works in the prison infirmary, and who would become a new member of the team along with the character of Dr. Chi Park (played by Charline Yi) who was pawned off on House after she punched her attending. Of course, House gets out of jail, and once he does, the show continues with the case of the week format as well as having a couple of different serial arcs, including a fake marriage to a Ukranian model (played by Karolina Wydra) and a major storyline that ultimately wraps up the series. 

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, there are fewer extras for this release than in prior season releases. There are no commentary tracks or deleted scenes, but there are three making-of/behind-the-scenes featurettes, one about the episode that Hugh Laurie directed, one that serves as a behind-the-scenes/making-of the final episode and has footage of the series wrap party, and one that is basically a series retrospective. Between the three of them, you get over an hour of bonus content. 

Ultimately, season 8 is good, with some great moments, but feels incomplete because there is no real resolution to the House-Cuddy storyline. Basically, the show was brought back for an eighth season on a smaller budget, and the producers asked Lisa Edelstein to take a cut in pay, and she refused. So, Cuddy was written out and she did not appear, even in the final episode in which many of the former cast members (including Kal Penn, Sela Ward, Anne Dudek, Olivia Wilde, Amber Tamblyn, Andre Braugher, and Jennifer Morrison) returned for cameos. That said, I do think that the ending to the series was perfect for House. It gave the viewers closure but still left some things open to imagination. Even with the reduced budget, the show managed to get some good guest and recurring stars (some of whom were not huge stars at that point) including Jaleel White, Michael Masse, Wentworth Miller, Yaya DaCosta, Jeffrey Wright, David Anders, Rena Sofer, and Michael B. Jordan. So, while I do not think it is as good as the prior seasons, it is still very good, and for me, it was better after a second viewing.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: House M.D.: Season 7

 

+++Warning this contains spoilers from the end of season six and a minor spoiler of the season seven plotline, but has no major season seven giveaways+++

The seventh season of House aired during the 2011/2012 television season. It would end up being the second to last season of the show and, in my opinion, the last very good to great season of the show. This season is all about the House/Cuddy romantic relationship that was teased (yet again) at the end of season six when Cuddy showed up to stop House from taking drugs. The big serial story arc that runs throughout the season is their relationship, its function, and dysfunction, whether House can be as good of a doctor when he is happy, and whether he will end up sabotaging the relationship. Then, the show also does the case-of-the-week procedural storylines that have been the backbone of the show for the first six seasons. The series undergoes more cast turnover with Olivia Wilde taking a leave of absence from the show to go shoot movies, which allowed the show to bring in former soap opera actress Amber Tamblyn for a multi-episode arc. And of course, Jennifer Morrison had completely left the show after season six. Wilde makes a very short appearance in the season premiere and then returns about 3/4 of the way into the season in what is one of the season's best episodes (and for me, one of the top five episodes of the entire series). The season ends with a relatively big moment that will have a major impact on season 8.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the 23 episodes are spread across five discs. The show looks good, but not great in the HD format. Of course, it does not have a ton of special effects or CGI (although what is in the show does look good), and while the A/V quality is a step up from the DVDs, it is not huge. The extras include commentary tracks on three episodes, features on the characters of Thirteen, Cuddy, and Martha Masters (Tamblyn's character), and featurettes on the episodes Bombshells and The Dig, all of which are carried over from the DVD release. There are also some BD-live and U-Control extras that are specific to the blu-ray set.

Overall, the season is very good. It has a good blend of action, drama, and comedy, the latter mostly at Taub's expense. The storylines are well-written and the medical cases continue to be entertaining and interesting, and the acting is still top-notch. The show also continues to get a good slate of guest stars which this season include Candice Bergen, Cynthia Watros, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jack Coleman, Jennifer Gray, Donal Louge, and Matthew Lillard. If you have liked the show up to this point, this season is definitely worth watching. In some ways, it is really the payoff to seasons 1-6 much more than season eight is. I definitely recommend it. 

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: House M.D.: Season 6

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season 5, but no major season six giveaways+++

The sixth season of House picks up with House going through withdrawal in the mental hospital that he checked himself into at the end of Season 5 after hallucinating Amber, Kutner, and sleeping with Cuddy. The season premiere was actually a two-part episode that spanned the three-month period of time that the show normally time jumps. The only two regular cast members that appear in the season premiere are Hugh Laurie (of course) and Robert Sean Leonard. House does get clean and is discharged being able to provisionally go back to practicing medicine, but until his license is restored, Foreman is "the boss" of the team, which starts out as the original team of Foreman, Cameron, and Chase. This season has more cast turnover with one of the series regulars leaving partway through the season, and the fate of another character in limbo at the end of the season. After the first episode(s), the show goes back to the regular case-of-the-week format with the serial arcs mixed in. There are also a couple of episodes in which House and the team are not the focus. One follows Wilson around through a day and the other follows Cuddy around. In each of the episodes House pops in and out as he does, the only difference is that we stay with Wilson and Cuddy so we do not get the full context of what House is doing, which makes the interactions even funnier than normal.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the show looks and sounds good in the HD format. This is, at least in the US, the first season that was available on blu-ray, with the prior seasons only being available on DVD. This season does have one episode with a lot of CGI special effects in which the team takes on the case of a video game creator. The CGI shots of the game (that was made especially for the episode) look great in HD. There are a lot of extras, including commentary tracks on the episode Wilson in which Robert Sean Leonard provides commentary along with David Foster, a commentary track on the Cuddy-centric episode 9-to-5, in which Lisa Edelstein provides commentary with the writer of the episode, a commentary track on the season premiere with the director/writer Katie Jacobs and two of the three co-writers. Then, there is a featurette on the episode Hugh Laurie directed, a featurette on the video-game episode, a featurette on the footage Katic Jacobs shot on location at the hospital in NJ at the end of Season 5, some of which was used in the series premiere, and then a behind-the-scenes featurette that focused on the first episode. So, a lot there if you like going through the bonus content.

The show continues to be very strong in season seven. The writers keep coming up with good storylines and balance the ensemble cast well. This season also has a strong slate of guest and recurring cast members including Michael Weston, Andre Braugher, Cynthia Watros, Lin-Manuel Miranda, James Earl Jones, David Marciano, Jon Seda, Joshua Molina, Ethan Embry, Orlando Jones, Laura Prepon, and Sarah Wayne Callies. The season has a couple of cliffhanger-ish elements that will likely take the show in a bit of a new direction in season seven. So, if you have liked the prior seasons of the show, this it is still worth watching. 

DVD/TV Series Review: House M.D.: Season 5

 

+++Warning, this review contains major season four spoilers, and a couple of hints, but no major giveaways from season five+++

The fifth season of House is another very good one, especially in the last third of the season. It starts out a couple of months after the events that ended season four, with Wilson returning to wrap up his practice at Princeton Plainsborough, intending to find a new job after Amber's death. Of course, Robert Sean Leonard did not end up leaving the show so he eventually overcomes his resentment of House, but the first part of the season is really about repairing their relationship. Then, the show becomes the traditional case-of-the-week procedural mixed with serial storylines. The big storyline for the middle part of the season is 13's participation in a Huntington's drug trial that is being run by Foreman, and a great storyline involving Cuddy. Then, in the latter half of the season, another major death rocks House and launches into the storyline that ends the season and sets up season six. This season sees another round of great guest and recurring characters/stars including: Michael Weston, Breckin Meyer (from Clueless), Emily Rijos, Zeljko Ivanek, Jimmi Simpson, Jay Karnes, Mos Def, and Collen Camp. The writers also found a way to bring back the character of Amber (Anne Dudek) as a part of the final big storyline of the season.

For those who get the DVD set, the extras include a commentary track on the episode "Locked In" which is one of the most unique episodes of the series that was partially inspired by an episode of M*A*S*H*. Then there is a featurette on the 100th episode (which aired later in the season than it normally would have because of the shortened season four), a featurette on Cuddy's storyline, the featurette on the medical accuracy of the show, one on filming the teaser opening to one of the episodes, and a featurette on the guest cast members that have appeared throughout the first five seasons of the show. The total running time for all of the featurettes comes in at a little under an hour. So, there is a lot of good bonus content if you like to watch the bonus features.

Overall, the season is very good. The show does a good job balancing the large cast, which of course, got larger during season four with the addition of Olivia Wilde, Peter Jacobson, and Kal Penn. All of the cast members got pretty significant storylines, some definitely longer than others, however, including Cameron and Chase who I felt were underused a bit during season four. The show continues to be well-written and very well-acted even though the character dynamics have changed from the first few seasons. But, if you were a fan of the prior seasons, the show is definitely still worth sticking with.

DVD/TV Series Review: House: Season 4

 

Season four of House was, at least for me, an unexpectedly great season. I was worried about how changing the dynamic of the characters, with Foreman and Cameron quitting and Chase being fired would affect the show. Of course, Omar Epps, Jesse Spencer, and Jennifer Morrison all stayed on the show, but their roles were very different not being members of House's team. I think the writers did a great decision by having House hire 40 new doctors only to whittle them down to three in a reality-tv style competition. And, of course, he gave the characters nicknames instead of learning their actual names (for the most part). Some of the candidates included Olvia Wilde (playing 13), Kal Penn (playing 6/9/Kutner), Peter Jacobson, Anne Dudek, Edi Gathegi, and Michael Michele. The season is shorter (just 16 episodes) because of the writer's strike that occurred about halfway through the season. The show actually came back for four episodes after the strike so they could do their planned two-part season finale. 

The show continued with the case-of-the-week style procedural format, but the storyline about which potentials would make the cut was the main serial storyline throughout the season. Thankfully, the show abandoned the House pisses off the wrong person off storylines from season 1 and season 3, and just focused on the relationships between the characters for the serial arc.

For those who get the DVDs, there are a fair amount of extras which include a commentary track on part 1 of the two-part season finale, clips from the soap opera that House watches, featurettes on the writers and visual effects process, the new team, and the season as a whole. So, a lot there if you like the bonus material.

Overall, I think this is the best season of the show. I think all the new cast members did a great job joining an established and wildly popular show, and the existing cast did well with the changing dynamics. The two-part season finale was wonderful and set up season three very well. And, the show continued to get a ton of great guest stars including Frank Whaley, Thomas F. Wilson (from Back to the Future), Jeremy Renner (when he was still doing TV), Mira Sorvino, Fred Durst, and Ivanna Milicevic (who had done a lot of character work for many popular TV shows and would later star in the great series Banshee). If you are a fan of medical procedural dramas, chances are you watched House at some point. If you are one of the few who have not seen it, start at season one and watch it. It was almost always good, many times great, and sometimes the best show on TV. Definitely worth watching.

DVD/TV Series Review: House, M.D.: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior season, but no major season three spoilers+++

Season three of House picks up some time down the line after House was shot at the end of season two. We see that the Ketamine treatment he requested worked, and he is pain-free and even able to jog. He is in a better, albeit not a good mood, and he is still acerbic and acts like a jerk to nearly everyone. One of the main serial arcs of the season, which while not a carbon copy of the season one storyline, but definitely derivative of it, involves House ticking off the wrong person who can make his life (and the lives of everyone around him) miserable. When that arc gets resolved, about 1/3 of the way into the season, the show pretty much sticks with the case-of-the-week format until about 3/4 of the way into the season, in which one member of the team decides to leave, and the season ends on a pretty big cliffhanger with the future of the entire team up in the air.

For those who get the DVD set, the extras include a gag reel, a commentary track on the episode "Half-Wit" and an "angry valley girl" alternate scene in which Jennifer Morrison and Lisa Edelstein swear at each other (bleeped out of course) the entire time, and a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes. A decent amount, but not a ton.

Overall, the season is very good, even with the one storyline that kind of mirrors the first season's storyline. There is a good slate of guest stars including Leighton Meester (who has a pretty hilarious role for a couple of episodes), Charles S. Dutton, David Morse, Marc Blucas (from Buffy), Lyndsy Fonseca (from the Kick-Ass movies and Agent Carter series), Patrick Fugit, Meagan Good, Joel Grey, Clare Kramer, John Larroquette (from Night Court), Sheryl Lee (from Twin Peaks), Dave Matthews (of the Dave Matthews Band), Joel David Moore, Piper Perabo, Tyson Ritter (of the band All American Rejects), and Kurtwood Smith (from That 70s Show). The writers do a good job juggling the ensemble cast. The focus is always, of course, on House, but this season Wilson, Cuddy, and Foreman get the most substantial character arcs (we even get to meet Wilson's ex), while Cameron and Chase are a bit more on the sidelines (somewhat). The acting is great (as always) and the cases are interesting. So, if you like the first couple of seasons, this one is definitely worth watching.

DVD/TV Series Review: House, M.D.: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains minor spoilers from season one, but no major spoilers from season two+++

The second season of House uses pretty much the same format as season one. It is mostly (about 95%) a case-of-the-week medical procedural, that also intertwines story arcs that span multiple episodes. At the beginning of the season, the main story arc involves Sela Ward's character Stacy, House's ex-wife who showed up in season one seeking his help with her new husband's medical condition. House keeps trying to win her back (and Ward was basically a series regular) for about the first third of the season. Other arcs involve Cuddy looking into getting pregnant via a sperm donor, Wilson and his wife (who we still don't meet) separating, and a Cameron versus Foreman conflict that appears later in the season. The season finale ends on a major cliffhanger going into season three. As in season one, there are numerous recognizable guest stars this season, for some of whom their guest-starring role was one of their first big breaks. Some of this season's guest stars include LL Cool J, Ron Livingston (from Office Space), Cynthia Nixon (from Sex and the City), Elle Fanning, Julie Warner, Howard Hessman (from WKRP), Greg Grumberg (from Heroes and Alias), Michelle Trachtenberg (from Buffy), Jake McDorman (from the series Limitless), Lance Guest, Jayma Mays, and Elias Koteas (from Chicago PD).

For those who get the DVD set, the extras include commentary tracks by Executive Producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs on two of the episodes, a blooper reel, a collection of clips on all the times it was not Lupis, cleverly titled "It Could be Lupis", two alternate-take scenes in which Cuddy and Cameron do the scene in "Valley Girl" speak, which is pretty hilarious. The most extensive feature is a roundtable discussion with the cast members and the writers and producers entitled "An evening with House", in which everyone discusses the show, their characters, etc.

Overall, the show is very good. It is well-written and very well acted. There is still a lot of character development going on, and the show does a good job being as medically accurate as possible while still embellishing for dramatic effect. Chances are, anyone reading this by now has at least an idea of what the show was like, but if you are one of the few that has not seen it, it has a good blend of drama and humor and is definitely worth checking out.

DVD/TV Series Review: House M.D.: Season 1

 

Medical dramas can vary wildly in quality. Some are really good and become instantly popular (e.g., ER), some are good and never get good enough ratings to stick around, and a handful never really take off. This one, fortunately, is in the first category. It stars Hugh Laurie as Dr. Greg House, a witty, acerbic diagnostician with no bedside manner who does everything he can to avoid patients. He is the head of diagnostics at the fictional Princeton–Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (PPTH) in New Jersey. He leads a team of three young doctors, Dr. Robert Chase (played by Jesse Spencer), Dr. Allison Cameron (played by Jennifer Morrison) and Dr. Eric Foreman (played by Omar Epps). His boss, the hospital administrator and Dean of Medicine Dr. Lisa Cuddy (played by Lisa Edelstein) is constantly butting heads with him and is the only one who can sort of keep him in line and on his toes, and his only true friend is Dr. James Wilson (played by Robert Sean Leonard), head of the Department of Oncology.

The series is basically a case-of-the-week procedural, with some patient presenting with symptoms that nobody can figure out. Each episode, for the most part, is self-contained with House making a brilliant diagnosis by the end of the episode, usually saving the patient. There is a serial arc about midway through the season that involves Chi McBride's recurring character who immediately dislikes House and vice-versa. The season ends with a two-part episode that sets up part of the storyline going into season two. Because the series was written by David Shore and Bryan Singer (before he became one of the persona-non-gratis in Hollywood) the series was able to get a bunch of recognizable guest stars as well as several young actors basically just starting out. Those included Robin Tunney, Cress Williams (who would go on to star in House of Dixie and Black Lightning), Sam Trammell (from True Blood), Elizabeth Mitchell, Dominic Purcell (before Prison Break), Brandy, Harry Lennix, Leslie Hope (from the first season of 24), Amanda Seyfried, Nicholas D'Agosto, Sarah Clarke (also from 24), the aforementioned Chi McBride, John Cho, and Sela Ward.

For those who get the DVD set, there are six short featurettes that total about 20-minutes, give or take, The Concept (which is basically an overview of the show), the Casting Session with Hugh Laurie, Medical Cases (which talks about selecting the cases for the team to work on), a Set Tour with Jennifer Morrison and Lisa Edelstein, House-isms (in which the case discusses some of the better one-liners that House delivers, and one that is just entitled Dr. House, in which the cast and crew talk about the character. So, not a ton of extras, but what is included is good.

Overall, the series is great. The acting and writing are both top-notch. It is not exactly a politically correct show, and I am not sure some of what made it to air in the first season would fly today. But, the characters all have layers and are definitely not one-dimensional. Almost all of the main cast members get time to shine this season, and the show does a good job balancing the large ensemble cast. The best episode is probably the second-to-last episode of the season in which House is forced to substitute teach a class presenting three cases of leg pain to the medical students trying to see who can figure out what is wrong with each of them (which also includes pretty hilarious appearances by Carmen Electra). So, if you are a fan of medical dramas, and are one of the few who have not seen House by now, it is definitely worth watching.