Pilot

I have been watching TV for over 50 years, and when starting a new series, as a viewer it is sensible to allow the writers and actors some time to get into the swing if it. But this episode is outstanding. Acting excellent, storyline epic, cinematography amazing and passion in abundance. Well done to all involved. Only problem moving forward is they have set a high bar. Can they deliver the same.

Being British I have grown up with Hugh Laurie, so I am confident of his abilities, from the beloved Blackadder characters series 3 and 4 to Jeeves and Wooster with National Treasure Stephen Fry.

Can't wait to watch more.

It's not that usual for a television series to be able to successfully establish all of its character dynamics and interactions so accurately in the very first episode, but House, M.D. manages to pull it off. This episode, commonly referred to as "Pilot", also known as "Everybody Lies", was extremely well written by the show's creator, David Shore, and expertly directed by Bryan Singer. It begins by introducing Rebecca Adler, a kindergarten school teacher who becomes the very first patient in the series, as she experiences the early symptoms of her mysterious condition while at work. The case eventually reaches the hands of Dr. Gregory House, the head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine, who finds it boring and is initially reluctant to take it on, but is ultimately persuaded to do so by his best friend and colleague, Dr. James Wilson. As the storyline progresses, we get to witness House's unorthodox approach to both life and medicine, whether it's through his interactions with the members of his team, which is comprised of Dr. Eric Foreman, Dr. Allison Cameron and Dr. Robert Chase, his boss, Dr. Lisa Cuddy, who is the Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey, and his patients, whether they suffer from common or rare medical conditions. Think of Gregory House as Sherlock Holmes with a lab coat even though he hardly ever wears it. He is a doctor who is not interested in treating people, just diagnosing and treating the illness, with very little regard for his patients' fate. This makes him one of the best characters that has ever been written for television, as he is both awesome and flawed and we get to see that during every differential diagnosis, every conversation and every scene in which he is involved in. His swagger is defined by his demeanour and he is truly at his best when he is either being arrogant, dismissive and sarcastic to people or just popping pills and quoting Mick Jagger. One thing is for sure... well, maybe two things: I'm hooked and I'll keep watching.

House MD starts off in a very smart way because, with the exception of a few moments in some scenes, it could be any other episode. The show's structure from episode to episode relies on it being a case by case basis for the doctors to work on, and this one involving a kindergarten teacher (Robin Tunney), who collapses suddenly in her classroom while teaching, isn't exclusive as being something that could only happen in a pilot episode ala alien abduction in The X-Files. This goes for House's clinic cases too, in this case being a man who's completely orange (looked like someone out of Willy Wonka for a moment) and a boy who can't figure out what asthma is. Already creator/writer/producer David Shore sets up the dynamics of House's personality- acerbic wit, sometimes razor-sharp, but he does care deep down about what he does even it takes a lot, like the patient not wanting to live anymore in Tunney's case, for him to show it. And already right away Hugh Laurie displays his incredible ability to balance out how a man with quick thinking (usually with the conceit of 'oh, I just got it while talking about something else') and a cynicism that comes with the job, and a leg problem.

So why not exactly a great pilot, or rather something that could right away be one-upped? I think, really, it has to do with the direction from Bryan Singer, and specifically a technical decision. I know some may admire how Singer and his DP put a sort of purple-ish tint on the whole episode, but it just does not work, at all, especially in the context of the rest of the series which does not feature it again. It's a choice that didn't add anything dramatically to the episode, except perhaps to be something akin to what's done on CSI. It's too much of a distraction in scenes that should just be focused squarely on not getting in the characters/actors' way (the constant tracking shots, a trademark since the days of ER, is paramount), and keeping the mood tense during the moments of crises with the patient. It's not that it isn't decent what Singer's doing with Shore's material, and most notably this comes with the shots going inside of the patient's system to see what's going wrong, a visual effect probably taken from Singer's days doing X-Men. But that one tint makes what is otherwise an excellent pilot a downer.

Is it really possible to replicate CSI's case-of-the-week structure inside a hospital setting à la ER? David Shore believed it to be no problem at all. In fact, he threw a little Sherlock Holmes into the mix as well as basis for the main character, and along came House M.D., one of the most intelligent postmodern serials of the 21st century.

Much like the pilot of CSI, the series starts with no need to introduce the various characters and explain the motivation. Instead, we get a teaser where a school teacher (Robin Tunney) starts speaking gibberish before having a seizure, and only then are we allowed to get our first glimpse of Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), head of the Diagnostics Department at Princeton Plainsboro Hospital in New Jersey. At first sight, one would never guess he's a doctor, and not just because he refuses to wear a lab coat: he's rude, acerbic and refuses to shave, plus he walks with a cane because of chronic leg pain to which he responds with far too many pills. In addition, he diagnoses patients without ever seeing them, since he believes total detachment is necessary to crack the "case".

Not that he does any of this alone: he has a team of assistants, which includes neurologist Eric Foreman (Omar Epps), immunologist Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer). Apart from being regularly insulted by their boss, they run all the tests and occasionally break into people's homes to find out what might be wrong. Not exactly part of the team, but important nonetheless, are oncologist James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), House's best (and only?) friend, and Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), the misanthropic physician's boss.

This opening episode is a practically perfect combination of three separate efforts (the only defect is the purple-ish cinematography that doesn't occur in the rest of the show): firstly, there's Shore's script, which manages to do to medicine what Aaron Sorkin did to politics, namely make the subject interesting with the assistance of fast-paced, smart dialogue and none of the sloppy sentimentality that characterizes Grey's Anatomy; then there's the director (and executive producer) Bryan Singer, who took a break from superhero films to concentrate on a smaller, character-driven mini-movie, albeit one where his familiarity with special effects does come in handy sometimes (one sequence in particular, where the mysterious disease is headed towards the patient's brain, reminds of the opening credits of the first X-Men).

And last but not least, there's the essential ingredient of quality TV: a good ensemble cast. Everyone pulls it off admirably, with a special mention for Leonard who hadn't been in anything this relevant since Dead Poets Society, but in every scene it is clear that House would only be half as good as it is if it weren't for Laurie, who does the best job of his career: throwing away the flamboyant insanity of his British television roles (Blackadder etc), he nails the required American accent perfectly and infuses his postmodern Holmes-like role with a healthy does of sarcasm that goes along well with the cynical seriousness, most notably when he quotes the "philosopher" Jagger: "You can't always get what you want". A neat summation of his view on life, and one of the countless reasons to watch the show.

Filmed much like a theatrical movie, the pilot for HOUSE, M.D. wastes no time in establishing the show's recurring theme: an individual falls ill, and Greg House and his merry crew spend the next 45 minutes or so trying to diagnose the illness before the patient croaks. Few episodes have varied from this pattern, for better or worse. In the pilot, House treats a young teacher (movie actress Robin Tunney) for an aphasia that gets worse by the minute. The symptoms pile up quickly. Eventually, she becomes paralyzed from the waist down and decides she wants to go home to die. House wants to do some more work on her instead. The incredibly intense scene that follows between the ailing teacher and House is what makes the episode. We also have all the basic characters introduced without a lot of wasted time, including the very sharp neurologist (Omar Epps), the emotionally charged immunologist (Jennifer Morrison) and whatever the heck the surfer-looking Aussie is (Jesse Spencer). Dr. Wilson (Robert Leonard) is the staff oncologist and House's closest friend. And Lisa Edelstein is House's incredibly nagging but sympathetic boss, who as time goes on we discover may have had a relationship with House in the past. Only time will tell. HOUSE is the best TV show since LAW & ORDER, hands down.