All Sidenote No Substance - pt1

Being the narcisisstic little tart that I am I was looking at my own blogger profile, and it dawned on me, for the first time, that I am 21.

But instead of droning on about that I'm going to tell you something far more useful. Here is the first on my list of TV shows ( that prove to me that contemporary culture is not completely dead.

1. House

Why You Might Not Be That Into It

Everyone in the world has watched at least one episode of House. But even if there could be somebody who hasn't, they would still know the basic premise. Patient is admitted with an interesting illness that peaks the interest of grumpy misanthropic doctor. Patient lies, patient seems to get better, patient suddenly gets a whole lot worse, grumpy misanthrope enters to make patient tell the truth and saves the day.
What tempts a lot of people to dip in and out of House is the way the team deal with a different patient every episode. So at the end of each episode, the story ends with it. The problem with this is that it's easy to think, especially if the viewer hasn't watched a lot of House is that the show is all about the patient in each episode, and the non-patient dialogue and general plot is just filler.

Why You Really Should Be Into It

Because that could not be further from the truth. It is the developments in the characters and their relationships that made the fifth (and at the time of writing most recent) series of House nothing short of spectacular. It was literally the most genuinely moving television I have ever seen. I wept. Like a lost child. And (though I can see how that alone would convince you to stop reading this right now and go out and buy the boxsets) for the stony-hearted there's also blindingly witty dialogue, the clinic scenes which are absolutely hilarious and a particular scene in "Saviors" (season 5, episode 21, last 5 minutes) where Hugh Laurie proves to everyone that he is the single most talented man on the whole doomed planet.
Overall House is exciting, funny and entirely worth sticking with in the long-term. It is a constant source of amazement to me that despite relentless advertising on Channel Five and then Sky One and billboards, magazines, and bus stops that there aren't as many people captivated by it as there should be. Get it seen. You've got no excuses.

Next installment - Mad Men.