House M.D. Article: I miss the old days (a "rant"+contains spoilers)

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I miss the old days (a "rant"+contains spoilers)

posted by Olivine

Like the title says, I miss the old days, the early seasons of House.
When I talk about the early seasons I'm talking mainly about seasons 1-3, but also season 4.
Why is it that I get this warm fuzyy feeling when I think back but get a nasty feeling when I think about seasons 5 and 6?
Does anyone else feel like this? I haven't even watched many episodes of season 6 yet, because I'm just not excited to watch them anymore.

The reason I'm writing this article is the newest spoiler I just read. I couldn't believe it, I want to think it's fake.
Spoilers said that Cuddy intends to marry Lucas.
...
Now I'm not pissed because I'm not a fan of Luddy or because I'm one of the fanatic Huddy fans.(because I'm not lol), but because this sounds like yet another relationship drama stuff.
This is what the show seems to focus on right now, relationships, relationships, relationships.

I'm pretty sure they aren't going to marry, this is just an attempt at shocking the Huddy Fans and at staving off the actual Huddyness. Well, awesome. Dondondon, after the Chameron wedding and Chameron divorce there now comes a Luddy proposal. Epic! Wait...patients? Clinic patients maybe? We don't need those as long as we can focus on the characters' personal lives.

This is why I miss the early seasons. We had interesting patients, we had funny clinic patients and slowly, with so called baby steps, we found out more about the characters. They didn't shove everything in our mouths like they seem to do it right now, we had to be patient, we had to wait and slowly, very slowly, relationships developed.
We found out that Cameron had a crush on House, Stacy came, Chameron started to have sex. In a few episodes we saw Foreman with a girlfriend.

I loved these small portions of relationships and personal life. I loved waiting for those scenes, but not being overwhelmed by them as it seems to be the case right now.
I mean wtf- the writers are even thinking about pairing Chase and Thirteen.
Who else is reminded of Grey's Anatomy where pretty much everyone has already had sex with everyone? Exactly.

I liked the old days when the show consisted of more than just Huddy and Luddy and when there wasn't so much drama.(Last Resort, Kutner's death, episode "Wilson", all the huntington drama and 13 centered episodes, hallucination sex, people being fired all the time, Cameron leaving, Cuddy almost gets baby, then Cuddy gets a baby,Chase almost dying from strawberry lotion,House and Lydia....)
I mean, some of these are basically really good ideas and storylines, but sometimes less is more...
In earlier seasons episodes like "Three stories" or the season 2 finale were exciting for us, we were amazed when a character was getting personally involved, now this happens on a regular basis. House is almost getting shot in every second episode -_-° Ok huge exaggeration here, but you get the point.
Do the writers think that every season needs to be more dramatic than the last one, every episode we have to find out new and shocking details about the characters or what?

Don't get me wrong, I still like the show, but I can't get over the fact that I loved the early seasons so much more.

swarleyhabana, lovelife93 and 14 others like this

misanthrope86 Like I said in an article I wrote a while ago, I think fandom and tv critiques pushed the show down this path. The show was accused of being formulaic because of the emphasis on the medical aspects of the show, so the writers/producers were forced to change things up and shift the focus of the show, or face cancellation. I totally get what you're saying, even though I still love all the stuff that is going on in the show. I like the shift in focus because it is exploring the burdens of House's genius and the importance of the relationships around House. But I do love looking back at the old seasons and seeing how the show has changed. Personally, I see it as evolution. The show is growing and changing and some people won't like it, some people will. The 'Grey's Anatomy' accusation is probably growing truer with each season, except I think that House MD has the characters and the actors to go down that path and still be interesting and fresh. I'm sure people disagree with me though. They ususally do.

wendus92 I understand you. The last few seasons have been so different. New HD camera, new characters, new storylines, new House...and I agree, sometimes it's a bit too much. However, I've enjoyed the last few seasons just as much as I enjoyed seasons 1 - 3, I don't know why. I think it's actually because they are different. I wouldn't want to watch the same all over again. I like the fact that we get to know much more about the characters, I like the fact that there are many things going on. To me season 6 has been just amazing. Broken, Brave Heart, The Tyrant, Known Unknowns, Wilson, 5 to 9, Private Lives, Knight Fall, The Choice..these episodes made me realize how much I love House MD. Still, I get it when people can't get over the fact how much the show has changed. You have to get use to it, that's all.

VictoriNoRisuu I feel exactly the same way. I miss the episodes centered around a patient with strong persinalty: "Autopsy", "Informed Consent", "Fetal Position". I miss the episodes when my heart almost stopped beating when we got small pieces of house's past: "3 stories" "Son of a coma guy" "One day one room". These episodes are still my favourite! I miss the balance made be the old cast. Their personaliities were built step by step through 3 seasons. I somehow can't believe we know Taub & 13 three seasons two, because I can't see this logical & consequent building of their chacters in the show. They just...are, and I can't really get into their storyline. About the clinic - it was one of the first thing that catch me in House. The must-be few minutes of intelligent humor in every episode, interesting clinic patients that I got to like & know more then now i like the main patient... "House" is turning into the soap opera. Instead of medical cases we get tons of Huddy/Luddy/Chameron/Forteen/House+Lydia/Taub+his wife/Wilson+his girlfriend/Chase+13... I'm afraid to ask what will come next. So, because there's still hope for House next season, I'll keep watching & hoping, that the screenwriters will eventually find their mind again...

kibby Things are always better when they're new and in everything in life we look back with rose tinted glasses. I used to be a Buffy fan (don't know if anyone remembers that show) and towards the end me and all my friends used to say the earlier seasons were much better, but now - years after the final season we love the later seasons too because the whole thing has an air of nostalgia about it. So even if I watch an episode of House and feel a bit 'meh' (which I don't actually think has happened yet...)I know that in retrospect I'll come to appreciate it more.

misanthrope86 ^ I like your perspective. I think that is very true.

Olivine I love Buffy, watched all seasons :) It makes sense, but on the other hand there are shows where I love the later seasons as well as the earlier ones. (like desperate housewives, csi:ny)

HuddyJoy0524 I'm actually one of those people who likes the more character centered arcs. I LOVED all the old seasons but I like the new seasons a lot too. I like that we are delving into the personalities of House, Cuddy, and Wilson (i dont care much for the others but i think its interesting to learn about them as well). I think some of it is that i love watching shows for characters and love to analyze, explore, study, and predict how characters are and where they are going next (im also an actor, go figure ;) So the earlier episodes sometimes bored me when they were too medically driven. I do NOT like soap opera stuff, however. I think that the show is in danger of heading that way but hasnt gotten their quite yet. I have faith in DS, KJ, and all the writers and that they ultimately know what they are doing. They have to keep the masses entertained, and if that includes making it more character driven they'll have to do it.

salemslot It goes without saying that the biggest disappointments derive from even bigger expectations which I believe is the main reason why the show is enduring a lot of harsh criticism from both fans and critics. The show raised quite high the bar so we expect nothing less than perfection because we know that the show can offer us it and that's why the reactions are over-proportional to the ones it would have been if this was another TV show. Like misanthrope86 said, the show had to change but the changes were not to its fullest of potential which has caused problems to the equilibrium the show used to have between medicine and personal aspects of the characters. The show is struggling with those changes and in s6 it has managed with them better than in s5 but still the problems are evident. The show also had an influx of viewers (the numbers say it) that prefer more light-hearted storylines that don't appeal to the earlier viewers like me, Olivine and others. Did the show jump the shark and we didn't realise it? If it did, then "Broken" definitely unjumped the Shark. The show undoubtedly still has inside it what made it unique. But it's not unique anymore, either because it is not allowing itself to reach the grandeur it potentialy can so it's dealing with contrived storylines which are used by second-rated shows or because other shows have improved dramatically. House MD may not be my first choice to watch which hurts my fan heart, I may have lowered my expectations notches down but I will cherish and smile when I see the show offerring me episodes like "Moving The Chains" and "Broken". I have come to terms with the fact that it won't be as often as I would love it to be but I won't stop watching. You get what you can from the show.

cudambercam13 Usually when a TV series has gone this long, season six is when things begin getting more and more intense and smushed together. You get more into relationships, marriages, personal problems, and the extra people, in this case patients, seem to become less important to the writers as they slowly drift away from their usual ideas and start thinking more out-of-their-box. Things might slow down for a short period of time but then they speed up some more until the most epicly dramatic scene, the most epicly dramatic problem, the most epicly dramatic solution, and then comes the end. I do get why a lot of people are upset at this new pace, but I'm more worried about this being the beginning of the end. This is the way great TV drama's go. A slow and steady pace the first few seasons, then it quickens, then it's going a hundred miles an hour, then when it finally reaches a thousand it stops so hard your brain jumps and yells, "What the hell just happened!!!" That would be the end when your glad all the drama is done and you can get on with your life not thinking about the show every minute, but you still have some gaps that even the most drama, relationship cramped TV show never filled, that want to see more action, and the loss of having a friend that kept you going even though it went through a downward spiral after a few years and you got sick of the drama in it's life. You'll always want something more satisfying and suspenceful in the beginning, less dramatic at the end, but at least it was still running. Think about it. At least House MD has made it this far, has'nt pooped out yet. Enjoy it while you can because time-line says the last episode will be at the end of either season 7 or 8.

claudya07 From a brazilian fan, i think House writers lost their 'mojos'!!!! I wanna see episodes with a unique sick people on it! And House come back to attending at the Clinic again, (with patients = hilarious). Season 5 & 6 are too boring for me (sorry). I like the old crew, cause the chemistry between them and House are better than new one.