I'm going to watch because I want to see if House has any revelations about the three former fellows. I'm interested to hear what Cuddy and Wilson will say to him about each one, but Chase in particular. And I don't want to miss whatever bits they will give us about where Chase is and what he's doing because let's face it, I write mostly Chase, and I want to know what's going on in canon. The lack of screen time will motivate me to write that much more, knowing that the Chasers/Chasians will need the support.

I haven't gotten the interview downloaded yet, but I feel like crying after reading merlin's post.

The lack of screen time will motivate me to write that much more, knowing that the Chasers/Chasians will need the support. I'm gonna hold you to that. We're going to need our fix from somewhere, so we'll be counting on you brave fan fic writers to help us through. It was funny listening to him talking about how he hasn't really been offered any movies worth making and how he turned down the practically porn one. I'll give him credit for not taking every project thrown in his direction- though I probably would have found a reason to suffer through if he had decided to do the near porno one. :P

I'm going to tape the eps, but I have people who can tell me what Chase did in his ten seconds of screen time. Watching newbie characters I don't give a rat's behind about will just depress the hell out of me. I wish Jesse would go off and get a show of his own or do movies. Merlin, I really sympathize, because you know that I'm a rabid Chaser as well. But I wouldn't have even started watching the series except for Hugh Laurie, and I'll continue to watch it for him (and Wilson and Cuddy, too.) I prefer to think of the beginning of S4 as being the same as the first part of S3, where Chase was little more than a background prop. He might've had more time on set for his big scenes of walking out of the conference room to run tests on the patient, but really, he had very few lines and even less to do. However, S3 really paid off in Chase character development at the end of the Tritter arc, and of course, the entire second half of the season. Hope springs eternal in me for more of the same good stuff later in S4. :wink: As for Jesse going off--I really hope he doesn't, at least not for a while. He doesn't have the rep or the 'street cred' yet in Hollywood to carry a project by himself, although I agree he has the ability--given good material, which is so rare nowadays that the actors are still raving about the pilot script for House. I'd just as soon not see him as yet another hotheaded rookie cop, or a pretty boy CSI investigator, or a pretty sitcom boy, or any other two-dimensional role. Hearing about the movie roles he was offered this past summer, I can only applaud his inherent good taste and sense of career advancement for him turning them down.

I don't want to see Jesse in a stupid show/role either, but I think given the right script/character he could carry a project. The majority of the HOT STARS NOW were nobody's before they got the right show/character. I think that Jesse's goal is not to be a Hot Star Now--he's already had that, complete with girls squealing at the sight of him--but rather to be a working character actor with a long career. House is the perfect place for him for many reasons, one of which is that he has two long-career actors right on set with him (HL and RSL). Another good reason to stay with the show is that he, as an Australian, has a good shot at character development in Chase, since his character's nationality is realistic in the medical setting. How many other American shows (other than Heroes and Lost) have leading characters with accents? I think that Jesse has seen enough of Hugh's struggles to not want to be forced to assume a foreign (for him) accent for the duration of a series. Yet another reason for staying with House is that he is carefully building up a good reputation as a solid, non-ego-driven actor--something that is rare yet valuable in Hollywood. There are many sad stories about actors with big britches disappearing into obscurity. It's probably before your time, but two of the original actors from MASH, Wayne Rogers and McClean Stevenson, thought they were such hot stuff that they quit the series at its height to become Big Stars, only to become instant has-beens instead. It took years for David Caruso to overcome the reputation he got for quitting NYPD Blue after the first season to become a Big Movie Star--which again, did not happen. He's back on TV now in CSI Miami, essentially playing the same kind of role he objected to in NYPD Blue. Hollywood does not appreciate ingratitude. Finally, if Jesse is a smart young man, he's socking away the big American TV series paycheck for the future days when he may be cooling his heels waiting for the right project.

I prefer to think of the beginning of S4 as being the same as the first part of S3, where Chase was little more than a background prop. He might've had more time on set for his big scenes of walking out of the conference room to run tests on the patient, but really, he had very few lines and even less to do. However, S3 really paid off in Chase character development at the end of the Tritter arc, and of course, the entire second half of the season. aenissesthai, Thanks for giving us hope! :D Actually, as disappointed as I am to hear that Jesse isn't on set much right now, I'm really hoping that they are gearing up to make some pretty big character developments as far as Chase goes. Bringing in the new crew of ducklings could be a way for us to learn things about the originals, and provide new characters for the old crew to interact with once they come back. On the movie thing...I have no doubt Jesse is in House for the duration. I've heard him say before that he doesn't tend to get offered a great deal of "smart" projects and seems really happy to be doing this one. Sometimes looks can work against an actor as much as for him, and I think this might be a bit of the case here.

We have to keep the faith, merlin7. I know it seems grim right now, but we can't give up. Think about it this way: while it sucks for us to see less of him onscreen right now, it might be what he needs as a person. The future he was planning for himself just fell apart, and the woman he was planning to spend his life with is a coworker. It can't be easy for him to be on the set with her right now. I'm sure they are both reeling over this. They are human, after all. Being forced to suffer through long days of shooting alongside her won't help his performances; he may be distracted and disengaged. If he's going to get good offers, he's going to need to showcase his best work on this project. Whatever will help him do that, I support. Thank you for the compliment about my writing. I'm sure most everyone would rather see Chase on the screen, but honestly, I've read some fanfic that rivaled anything we've seen on the show. Shows get cancelled. As long as there are fans, there will be fanfic, and the character will go on. In the immortal words of the philosopher Jagger, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need. :wink:

In the immortal words of the philosopher Jagger, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need. IMO that sort of characterizes s3, doesn't it, wrt Chase? :lol:

There's a thread on the FOX board about who is the best doctor of the 3 ducklings and the response was 100% in favor of Chase. Srsly? Fox? I was under the impression that folks there didn't care for Chase much.