Boffle, I very much enjoyed reading your long and thoughtful post. And your S&S icon :D My far more shallow thoughts on season 4 so far, for what they're worth, are pretty positive. Of the four eps we've had, two have had plenty of House-Wilsony goodness. That's a 50% success rate and if that was repeated over the full season I'd be pretty damn happy. I like the new kids for the most part and look forward to seeing any three of them set up shop for a while. I would have preferred to have CCF all working elsewhere though, and to have each of them only appear periodically for a full-ep meaty role (e.g. referring a patient of theirs to House) - rather than the bitty bit-parts they seem to have at the moment. Oh well. I'm also delighted the Cuddy baby thing has gone quiet. (This is where I find future canon comes back to bite me).

Something I find odd about the newbs...Why do we get so much info/action about some of them--CTB, ROF, Cole, 13 (well with her we get constantly told what a mystery she is and she gets to kill a patient)--and almost nothing about some others--6/9, Doctor Without Borders (what the heck's he there for???) and Plastic Surgeon. spoiler: especially when spoilers have it that 6/9 and Plastics Man are sticking around... Each getting their turn before being kicked off and darling 13 always getting some (obviously because she's so hot) or what? Does anyone besides me find Amber's cut-throat bitch antics really pushing the envelop of drama and veering over into slap-stick? Could she be any more obvious? Isn't she gone yet?

Doctors Without Borders guy (Brennan) is there because he's now engaged and wants to settle down.

I didn't mean what was his motive, Namaste, I meant what possible reason does the show have for keeping around such a snooze of a character. Thanks for the reminder though.

I'm not too sure how I feel about the season so far. I mean, House is my favorite show on tv now, one of the few newer shows that I watch and the only one I sit down and give my undivided attention to. I love the show, I love House and I adore Wilson. But, so far, with a few exceptions(I'm a complete and utter pushover for any scene with House and Wilson together and I'll admit the 'ILU' made my season) the episodes have been kinda disappointing. It just seems really unsettled to me so far like these first episodes are just the prologue of sorts to the actual start of the season, and I'm pretty sure it's because of the nkotb. Now, I'm not saying I hate them or anything, there's just too many of them I think, and watching the narrowing of them down every week is, to me, not too interesting. But, I'm sure there are plenty of fans who like the way it's being done, and I'm not saying they're wrong, I guess I'll just be glad when it's over with and hopefully it won't feel so disjointed. But I do wonder if, when we have the final three, maybe there will still be too many people providing we still see CCF often. Oh well. It's early days yet and I'm optimistic about the whole thing and am totally looking forward to next week's episode as usual, which looks like it might be the first really great(to me) show of the season. Besides, all I need is some lovely House Wilson scenes and I'm a happy camper(come on 'ILU' resolution) :D

Thanks hwshipper on both counts! ;-) And reven very much agree that unsettled is the right word for this season: I guess that's the plan, to shake things up, since one big critcism is that House was becoming formulaic and predictable. As if L&O, mystery novels, most drama, most comedy, and, for that matter, Shakespeare, aren't formulaic. Formulas are the structure on which the narrative hangs: they give the writers something to push against, they give the audience expectations that can either be met or played with, and they give the actors somewhere to start from. Where they go and how effectively they break out of the formula gives the necessary dramatic tension and meaning to the show's structure and infuses the drama with layers of irony, paradox, conflict: the stuff that drama is made of. If, of course, it's done well. Like House. If it's done poorly, you've got CSI: Miami.

Did they even get rid of anybody last week? Twins? Couldn't they be getting rid of them faster? :lol: And seems they got rid of ROF twice: the time House said "I think I'll miss you the most" and then last ep...confusing. But then he's fired 6/9 and CTB too but they are still around. Just wish they would get rid of the "extras" already and settle down to the season so we will know what the heck to expect. Not fun--lasting too long.

Did they even get rid of anybody last week? Twins? House fired everyone from the women's team except for Thirteen (he asked her if it was fair that everyone was fired except the person who made the mistake when he saw her in the morgue). So the twins and the vet were dumped. Cutthroat Bitch was never on the women's team, so she stayed. The men's team, including the Ridiculous Old Fraud, were unfired when House that the original diagnosis (which turned out to be the correct diagnosis, but wasn't treated because of the failure to follow through on the meds) appeared to be wrong. So he went from 40 to 10 in the first week, then 10 to seven. This week was seven to six. Remember it's only been three weeks with the newbies, so they've actually been eliminating them fairly quickly.

Yes, you are absolutely right. It just somehow seems to have been a lot longer than that... :lol:

Remember it's only been three weeks with the newbies, so they've actually been eliminating them fairly quickly. It is hard to believe it's only been three weeks.... :shock:

I haven’t really liked or hated what I’ve been seeing in season four. Underwhelmed I think is the proper term. Then again, I hated the beginning of season two and three as well, so I’m still holding out hope for the rest of this one. My expectations were low coming into season four. I was one of the few that absolutely loved the season three finale and thought it was a great setup for this season. Then I read about a seven or eight episode arc for finding a new team and remembered this show’s disastrous history for long arcs (Vogler, Stacy, Tritter). The idea of a new team while the ducklings move on to new roles in the hospital was not a bad one. In fact, it made perfect sense and for me was a logical progression for the show. The execution of that idea has been mixed at best. At first it was too many people and hard to watch. Also, and I have the very same complaint with Lost and Heroes, is that as soon as I get attached to a character, they’re gone. The three that I liked the best are not the three that are staying (I won’t say who to risk giving away spoilers). I think that they’ve already squandered some huge opportunities by letting interesting people go (Scooter). Spoofs of Survivor, Charlie’s Angels and the Bachelor? I’m not at all impressed. This show is better than that. What I like is I have seen new things in House’s character by watching him with new people. He likes the damaged and imperfect ones better. That’s why Chase was never fired until he became a great diagnostician/doctor and that’s why he didn’t think Foreman should leave. He’s choosing people that need to be developed, not who are right all the time. The ones let go are the ones that don’t need him. An interesting way for selecting employees, isn’t it? I wish now we got to see this same process with Chase, Cameron and Foreman. My criticism of House’s character is the same one from season three, in the first two seasons he was a loose cannon, but a brilliant loose cannon that was always right. Now he’s just looking pathetic at times (knife in a light socket?). The bright side, House and Wilson are better than ever. I love how Chase has evolved, and can’t wait to see him and House interact more now that Chase will no longer take his crap. Cameron isn’t annoying me, and I like how she’s showing her fun side, but she’s still a little too flighty for my liking. There’s something that still isn’t right about her character, and I’d love to see more of her and Chase’s relationship. Foreman could go away for all I care, although I do love that he’s back humiliated as “House lite”. And poor Cuddy, her character assassination continues. They’ve really messed up her character. I’d love to see an arc where she has a relationship with Wilson and causes a rift in the House/Wilson friendship. That’s about the only thing I could think of to make her interesting. Then again, that does sound too Grey's Anatomy, doesn't it? I don't know what they can do with her then. I’m anxious for the whole new team plot to be resolved and show everyone working in a dynamic again. It’s still too scattered and uneven for my liking and I think it kills the rhythm of the show. I’m glad to see the process, but it could have been done in less episodes, not a third of the season.

I have enjoyed the renewed energy, drive, and sheer fun that the Survivor arc has brought to the show for the start of this new season. I was quite ready to see CCF move on and I am delighted with the limited amount of screen time devoted to them so far. The soaring intellect, enormously broad scope of gifts, general wierdness, and emotional isolation of House have continued in intriguing new ways during these early episodes and I am particularly glad for that. In the New Kids thread I commented at length on the many possibilities I see in the remaining candidates and in particular how much we can learn about House's character through exploration of his interactions with each of them. I like the direction in which all of this seems to be going and I can't wait to peel back even more layers from House's fascinating psyche. The restoration of Wilson as the slightly aggravating but supportive friend to House is well underway; Wilson's imperfections highlight the greater mess that is House and that is just fine for me. I am also delighted with the injection of real anger and a hard-edged tension into the relationship of House and Cuddy. I was so over the one-note Cuddy as "kick-ass boss" routinue that got tired before the end of season one. Now we are seeing her as a complex individual with multiple and even competing motivations, riding the back of House the unconquerable tiger as she tries to maintain her hospital and her reason without getting eaten alive. I have absolutely no idea how this will end up and I like that the road ahead will surely be twisted, unsettling, and perhaps even ocassionally grim. Good times indeed, as Wilson would say.

MSNBC column on the changes to House. Their conclusion? It's worth it and not a "jump the shark moment,"although the process hasn't been perfect. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21532114/ Pulling this over from the media thread. For what it's worth, I don't think "House" has jumped the shark this year, either. None of the decisions made by TPTB have been shark-jump worthy; in fact they seem to actively be trying to avoid jumping the shark. But I am finding the unfolding of this adventure awfully jerky. As usual, it's an interesting idea whose execution lasts way too long with far little pay-off in terms of moving the narrative forward. More annoying--in retrospect, none of these episodes are truly going to stand well on their own. The Tritter arc is definitely better when viewed as a whole, but if it's a storyline that didn't appeal, then it's 7-8 episodes out of an entire season to avoid re-watching. I'm pretty sure the Survivor concept is going to wear that way for me.