Posted Feb 26th 2010 9:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, 24, House, Reality-Free
Yesterday, the leaders of America gathered in Washington, D.C. for a
health care summit. It was an effort to gnash out the differences between the proponents for a comprehensive health care bill and those who think the current proposed legislation is a waste of paper. We're not weighing in on the debate, other than to say it's a damn serious subject and one that needs solutions, not rhetoric.
But as a television production, the health care summit was a snoozefest. Whether you like any of the political personalities involved, it didn't change the fact that while Chris Matthews was giddy about the political theater, it was dreary TV.
Continue reading The Healthcare Summit Needed Gregory House
Posted Feb 22nd 2010 1:00PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, House, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, 30 Rock, Dexter, Awards, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men, Glee, Modern Family
On Saturday night, the
Writers Guild of America revealed the big winners for 2010, honoring the best in TV, movies and other media, but for our purposes, let's just stick with television. And as such, we can say the they rounded up the usual suspects.
'Mad Men' was tops in Drama Series and
'30 Rock' was tops in Comedy Series. There was something new honored, Best New Series was
'Modern Family,' but seeing how the category makes new a requirement, it's not that shocking that it won.
However, in the episodic categories, for individual shows, there were was variance. The pilot of 'Modern Family' won in a tie with '30 Rock' for the episode 'Apollo, Apollo.' And the two part episode of
'House' -- 'Broken, Part 1 and Part 2' -- overcame all the 'Mad Men' nominees to take the WGA prize.
Continue reading WGA Awards Honor 'Mad Men,' '30 Rock' and others
Posted Feb 19th 2010 1:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, 24, American Idol, House, The Simpsons, Bones, Reality-Free, Fringe
Good news for everyone who likes to plan their schedules far in advance. Fox has
released the season finale dates for some of their most popular shows. If you already know that you won't be around, you can set the DVR right now. Either that or cancel that Aruba trip for fear of missing the finale of
'The Cleveland Show'.
The network is giving a whopping 127 minutes for the finale of
'American Idol'. There is also a double-feature finale of
'24' and and a one-hour finale for
'Family Guy'. Oddly, they are showing a repeat of
'House' during its season finale (most likely they're showing the new episode finale and a repeat back-to-back). It doesn't seem likely that any of the listed shows will be series finales.
The finales end in early June with
'Glee', which paves the way for repeats during the summer. So which season finale are you looking most forward to?
Posted Feb 9th 2010 1:13AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
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"You can do it." - Cuddy
I get the reason for making an episode like '5 to 9.' Long running show that's popular. Established characters and story structure. The desire for David Shore, Katie Jacobs, and the rest of the '
House' crew to try something different is to be expected. However, that doesn't mean they should have done it. '5 to 9' wasn't a bad episode (in many ways, it felt like a back-door pilot for Cuddy), but it was, in a word, pointless. At the end of the day, '5 to 9' doesn't really add anything to the world of 'House,' and its outside-the-box attempt at being different just ended up being forgettable.
Continue reading Review: 'House' - '5 to 9'
Posted Feb 6th 2010 11:02AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: House, Lost, Casting, Reality-Free
Cynthia Watros, the dearly departed Libby on '
Lost,' is leaving Hurley for Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard). Watros will be appearing in a recurring role on '
House,' playing one of Wilson's many ex-wives. In fact, not only is she playing Wilson's very first ex-wife, but it looks like they'll be rekindling their relationship.
Watros is set to appear on several episodes, so it appears as though House (Hugh Laurie) doesn't chase her off right away. Of course, she probably became intimately acquainted with House during her marriage to Wilson, so his antics can't be anything that new to her. Regardless, it takes a brave woman to step back into that minefield -- especially now that House and Wilson are roommates. He kind of makes the Smoke Monster look like a gentle breeze.
We haven't seen Wilson in a real relationship since Cutthroat Bitch (Anne Dudek) died, and since I don't think House said "yes" to Wilson's recent proposal, it seems like a good time to have him fall in love again. What do you think? Do you want to see Wilson with his ex, or should he really just focus on his true soul-mate, House?
Posted Feb 2nd 2010 8:26AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
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"Hey, I don't care where an idea comes from as long as it makes sense and embarrasses someone." - House
I've long wondered if Foreman's brother Marcus was someone we'd eventually meet on '
House.' That being said, it's been six and a half seasons and even though we'd heard bits and pieces about him, I had reconciled that he just wasn't going to show up. If anything, the timing felt a little odd.
But if you think about it, the entire plot featuring Marcus (Orlando Jones) was just about as generically evergreen as plots on 'House' get -- this could've fit into any previous season had the writers felt like telling this story sooner. I wish they had, especially if you consider the fact that after all the cast shake-ups this show has been through, Foreman has been one of the few constants. It's about time we found out more about the guy.
Continue reading Review: 'House' - 'Moving the Chains'
Posted Jan 26th 2010 1:15AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
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"Yes, it's hilarious! Great to see what a success your therapy was!" - Wilson
Ever since the season six premiere way back in September, one of the biggest complaints that I've heard or read
House fans make is how the show's creative team seemed to abandon any of House's lessons from therapy. He no longer seemed to be getting better and for the most part, House was back to his old crotchety self, thus negating his stay at Mayfield.
That quote up above from Wilson felt like a little bit of an inside joke -- the writers get it, too. So with "Remorse," not only did we get the best patient-of-the-week case we've seen this season, but we also got to see House trying ... a little. But, to make a pun, if it ain't "
broken," don't fix it, and crotchety House still works.
Continue reading Review: House - Remorse
Posted Jan 12th 2010 1:22PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
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"You're OK with that right? You're not gonna put a pillow over his face?" - House
After a short hiatus,
House was back last night with one of the better episodes this season that still followed the old "mystery patient" formula. However, it expanded upon just the patient du jour with three very entertaining storylines and the hour made a good argument for why Thirteen and Taub deserved to come back.
While the show can still be nerve-wracking at times, if only because you know it's all building up to House's light bulb moment at the end, it's good to know that the journey to that moment doesn't always have to be the same.
Continue reading Review: House - The Down Low
Posted Dec 18th 2009 9:29AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, House, Chuck, Reality-Free
It looks like the NBC series
Chuck has another enemy, but it's not one that will appear on screen. Fox has decided to show
an original episode of their medical drama House on Jan 11, at the same time as
Chuck's first episode in its Monday timeslot (the show's season premiere is Sunday, Jan. 10). This is two weeks before the show was originally scheduled to come back with new episodes.
I'm a fan of
Chuck and I'm also a fan of Hugh Laurie from his days on Britcoms (although I don't really watch
House), and I could tell you right now that
House will likely win in the ratings for that night. The audience for
House is far more mainstream than
Chuck and there are more viewers for that show overall.
Chuck is more of a minority cult-type show.
However, NBC can take it as a good sign that it's a viable show since Fox is concerned about ratings for the night. Hopefully it won't get so decimated in the ratings that it will stay on for a few years and not be moved to Friday nights.
Posted Dec 17th 2009 11:33AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, House, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office, Celebrities, The Closer, 30 Rock, Dexter, Awards, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men, Glee, Modern Family
Every day it seems that we have nominations to announce. Yes, we are in award season and today it's the Screen Actors Guild's turn. On Saturday, January 23, 2010, at 8 p.m. on TNT and TBS, the winners of the
16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will air live from Los Angeles. Here's the nominees in the main categories and some thoughts on each:
Drama Ensemble: The Closer; Dexter; The Good Wife; Mad Men; True Blood
Interesting that CBS's
The Good Wife made the cut, especially over
Lost or
House or
Breaking Bad or
Sons of Anarchy or
Damages or
Friday Night Lights. And I love
The Closer, but the inclusion here is a surprise. I guess
NCIS would be too big a surprise to get recognized.
Comedy Ensemble: 30 Rock; Curb Your Enthusiasm; Glee; Modern Family; The Office
Glee and
Modern Family are freshmen, but clearly excellent ensemble comedies. And for
Curb Your Enthusiasm, are they honoring the
Seinfeld team all over again? Also, where's
The Big Bang Theory?
Continue reading Screen Actors Guild award nominations for TV
Posted Dec 16th 2009 10:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, House, Festivus, Celebrities, Friday Night Lights, TV Squad Lists, Emmys, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men, The Big Bang Theory, Glee
On the eighth day of Festivus, TV gave to me ... eight stars a shinin'!
There are a lot more than eight wonderful stars shining in the TV pantheon for 2009, but these eight are a remarkable bunch who have been exemplary this past year. They've left us with memories that'll last long after this Festivus has ended. So, in no special order, here are the eight stars a shining from the year gone by.
1. Jane Lynch. If the Emmy doesn't already have Jane Lynch's name engraved in a statuette for
Glee, it will by the time the awards are handed out. Lynch has been the perfect villain, the villain you love to hate. But if she were just a one-note nasty, it wouldn't work. Lynch has shown the other side of Sue Sylvester. Her "swing" date showed Sue in love, and her visit to her sister Jean was a soft earthquake emotion. Jane delivers week in and week out. Her star is glowing.
Continue reading The Twelve Days of Festivus: Eight stars a shinin'
Posted Dec 14th 2009 11:29AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: TV on DVD, House, Festivus, Reality-Free
On the tenth day of Festivus, TV gave to me... Ten shows on DVD.
There are plenty of great TV collections being released all the time now, bringing back classic TV, shows that had short runs, and current favorites. You know about most of the big shows, so here's a mix of more popular and some maybe less-heralded collections.
House, M.D.: Season Five: This was a breakout season for the show, where the secondary characters really came to life and
House broke down and finally had to face his addictions and personal failings. Season five may wind up being a pinnacle for the series as a whole.
Continue reading The Twelve Days of Festivus: Ten shows on DVD
Posted Dec 10th 2009 1:29PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Programming, House, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Chalk this one up to "you mean this hasn't happened already?"
Despite having aired over 100 episodes to date, Hugh Laurie has yet to direct an episode of House. That's about to change.
In what's become common practice for stars of big shows in the past few years, Laurie will step behind the camera for an upcoming episode set to air this spring. According to EP Katie Jacobs, they've wanted him to do it since season one and the episode Laurie will helm is "very intense and truly a director's piece."
This won't be the first time Laurie has directed a series he also starred in. He previously directed a few episodes of his British series Fortysomething. According to numerous reports, Laurie will direct the 17th episode of House's sixth season, scheduled to air on March 22nd, 2010.
Seems to make perfect sense -- there's no one else more qualified than the man who plays the title role and when you're already an actor and producer, what's one more credit?
Posted Nov 30th 2009 11:58PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
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"They're all dying. They're all your friends." - HouseEpisodes like this are why I've faithfully stuck with
House after six and a half seasons. Sure, more often than not,
House can get
stale -- it's the same thing, week in and out, and even something shocking (like
Kutner offing himself last year or
Cameron saying good-bye two weeks ago) isn't enough to take away from the fact that it's just another episode with another wacky case. But episodes like "
Broken", and now "Wilson," are proof that there are so many more layers that need exploring in the world of Princeton Plainsboro.
Continue reading Review: House - Wilson
Posted Nov 30th 2009 10:01AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, House, Video, Reality-Free
Ooh, the tables are turned in tonight's House, and Wilson is the one with the medical mystery on his hands. On a hunting trip, his buddy, played by The West Wing star Josh Malina, has a physical meltdown, and Wilson has to figure out what's going on.
Earlier this year,
executive producer Katie Jacobs said, "We have this upcoming episode where House is to Wilson as Wilson is usually to House. Like he'll be in the middle of something and House will drop by, or he'll go see House in the middle of a differential diagnosis meeting, and we'll never even know what they were working on. I'm excited about it."
And, of course, I always love the episodes where Hugh Laurie gets to display his musical talents, even if it IS in a House-centric way. In fact, I'm loving
House this season. How about you? Join in our spirited discussion on whether
House and Cuddy should get together. Here's a three-minute clip of tonight's episode, which airs at 8 PM on Fox.
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