Both to21be and extra_cat have made excellent points about the show and I find myself agreeing with both of them. House is the only TV show I watch on a regular basis and the only one I have posted about. It was a brilliant show before. Now, it's a good show with some brilliant moments*. I continue watching for those moments and hold out hope that it will go back to being brilliant. * I believe the poorly written and poorly acted 13/14 arc along with the unprecedented amount of screen time it's been given is to blame for the fall in quality.

Sorry, but I still don't see this so-called "drop in quality." Every season has had its clunkers. Vogler was an embarrassment to me -- and was still the worst arc they've done from my point of view. But do people remember the first season for that? Or for "Three Stories" or "Damned If You Do?" They remember their favorites. Everything is going to suffer in comparison to your favorite episodes. Do they judge Cameron solely on the basis of her crush from the first season? (God help me, the "do you like me?" speech.) Or do they see her as her character developed over more than four full seasons? It's hard to make a quality judgment based on a moving target. The season's themes are still in play. We don't know where it's leading. It simply isn't a fair comparison at this time. And guess what ... next season I'll be saying the same thing, that you can't compare season Six halfway through it to past seasons.

I have to say I don't see a drop in quality this season at all. I am more excited by the complexity of the character reveals and development this year than in past seasons. I have been watching "House" since the premiere and it is the only show I watch regularly (except for Law & Order reruns, can't give up those). I record each episode and watch it a minimum of two times after the initial broadcast. Of course, I replay favorite scenes many more times than that. I have done this without fail for all the seasons and my interest is unflagging. After three years I was disillusioned by "West Wing" and bored by "X-files," but I have been amazed to find that in its fifth season "House" keeps coming on stronger and stronger, with episodes that spark my imagination and thrill my heart. I am not quite sure of where "House" is going to take me and I love that feeling of hurtling toward the unexpected. Now when I look at some of the episodes from the earlier seasons of "House" I am struck by how slowly the plots moved, how simply themes were presented, how obvious and repetitive the dialogue was, how underdeveloped the secondary characters were then, and how excrutiatingly painful the Vogler arc was to sit through. I like the zip and dash of the plotlines and the energy and nuance of the dialogue now that I have grown to know and understand the characters much better. I remain smitten and immensely entertained after all these years.

Sorry, but I still don't see this so-called "drop in quality." I have to say I don't see a drop in quality this season at all. I didn't go into the details of why I think the the 13/14 arc has taken away from the quality of the show because I didn't want to repeat myself. I have already written a mile long post on the subject. It's on this very thread, page 14. If you have the time and the inclination to read it, that is. :)

:lol: I liked the Vogler arc… I wonder what it says about me… I didn’t like the character – yes, a cartoon villain – but I liked what we learned about the others, what was meaningful to them, what they were able to sacrifice or sold during that time. The same with Stacy and Tritter - though I liked Stacy in a twisted, unusual way. I hated the Cam’s crush, but there was something about her behaviour that definitely pushed my buttons. I’m still not sure if it was because I feared to have behaved like her at some point of my life, or just because I was embarrassed on her behalf. But this season, more than the previous ones, I just can’t relate with the ‘dramas’ they are trying to sell me. I can barely remember the patients or even the episodes names! At the end it’s a matter of personal view – and taste. I like slow developments, I like the subtle hints about each character and how it’s reflected on House. But mainly, I'm not a fan of anvils... This season seems too contrived, too hurried, too crowded, in other words, too much! There’s an exaggeration, an overdramatic view that bothers me. But I will give them time to recover, I’m quite sure that nothing can be gold forever, but I do hope to see a more smart show at some point in the future, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.

Here's the thing: You use a term like "drop in quality," and it makes it sound as if it's a verifiable and generally accepted fact, rather than an opinion. Furthermore, the implication is that for people who don't perceive this "drop in quality", they must be idiots or willingly deluded. That puts everyone into their corners with their fists up ready to fight. (Not literally, but all of a sudden you're felt as if you have to defend your honor.) (I'm using the word "you" in the general sense, not in terms of any specific person.) Perhaps it's best to stick to the "I" statements. "I'm not enjoying this season as much," or "I'm not enjoying this storyline" rather than "what a stupid storyline." As to 13/14 ... Yeah, that story line isn't that good for me. I see it as too long and drawn out ... but then that's a continual issue with David Shore and his arcs. He falls in love with a concept or a character and then has problems dropping it. The Survivor arc was too long. The Tritter arc was too long. The Stacy arc was too long ... (And yes, I see 13's story as part of an arc.) So to me, that's not a "quality" issue, but a persistent David Shore issue. I also think that after spending too long on it previously, her character and her story is really gaining traction now. It's intriguing to me to see the way that her character has evolved from this person who was shut off about her future to the point where's she's now making these connections and even talking about kids. Is it my favorite story line? No. But I've found in the past that there are interesting things that come out of story lines I dislike (see also Cameron Crush.)

I could be mistaken, but it appears to me that pretty much everyone on this thread has stated that their opinions are their opinions and no one is trying to push any agenda as "fact" past other posters here.

So I certainly don't find House as entertaining as I used to, but being an optimist (or maybe being an idiot) I hold out hope and keep watching. Maybe I'm not the right person to answer because I am partially entertained, but I'm not consistently blown away like I used to be either. That was my long way of saying that I think the answer to the question is "hope." That pretty much sums up why I still watch, too, although I'm finding that I'm watching these days being half entertained and half apprehensive, and I realize that I am apprehensive because I no longer have faith in the writers and TPTB. On another forum, we were discussing possible scenarios for the season finale, and things that I would have never thought possible in the first couple of seasons are now something that I feel could be possible. (No spoilers, just speculation.) The cheesiness of Stacy coming back with a blue-eyed toddler would have seemed ridiculous in earlier seasons, but it wouldn't surprise me now. Thirteen being House's long-lost daughter wouldn't surprise me now. I would HATE it, but it wouldn't surprise me. Cuddy being pregnant with House's child would no longer surprise me, but I would HATE it. I didn't mind the Vogler arc. We knew he would only be in for five episodes and that House would win, and there were some excellent episodes during that span. I didn't mind the Stacy arc except I thought it went on too long and was repetitious at times. It served its purpose, I thought. Even the Tritter arc was OK with me because there were some fantastic episodes/scenes in each one of those shows, and we also learned a lot about the strength and loyalty of those around him. The arc was mainly about House, but everyone was important. My big complaint about the Tritter arc was that even though it dragged on far too long, it ended abruptly with Cuddy's pathetic lie on the stand that made no sense, and nothing actually came out of the whole ordeal. That's when the show started sliding downhill for me. The Dr. House of Season 4 is summed up in one mental image for me: House in a do-rag. It all felt so dumbed-down to me. The medicine was nearly non-existent, as were the clinic patients; characters that I liked vanished from the screen, while others (like Cuddy) lost all resemblance to their early season characters. The season ended in a two-part episode that was crammed full of over-the-top drama that would have been too much for one SEASON, let alone one episode, in my opinion. House "died" at least twice, a bus crash, deep-brain scan, Amber's death, Thirteen finding out she had Huntington's Disease, Wilson's anger at House, House's amnesia, heart attack, etc. (And let's not forget that he stuck a knife in an electrical outlet and "died" already that season.) So, here we are in Season 5 and it has gotten even more melodramatic and over-the-top. The House/Cuddy "romance" has been so silly and contrived that it is barely watchable to me. Even Washington Post writer Lisa De Moraes, who used to be a huge House fan, mocked the writing earlier in the season by saying "I think they're letting the kids write the show this season." Thirteen has been pushed front and center to the point that I now LOATHE her character. I am THAT sick of her. Now she's dragging Foreman down with her. All the Thirteen focus is the main reason Mo Ryan threw in the towel and no longer watches. She used to be a HUGE fan. I guess Mo is an example of someone who is no longer entertained and stopped watching, which was the original question, I think. I've given myself until the end of this season. If I dislike the end as much as I've disliked the beginning and the middle, I'm done. If Thirteen is still a huge focus at the end of the season, I'm done. She doesn't entertain me, and I will refuse to be dragged along through another season of her all-consuming drama. Namaste, I'll take the good old days of over-caring Cameron lobbying for Cindy Lou Who's treatment ANY day over a sleazy Thirteen sex scene or Thirteen worrying over what shoes she'll wear to work that day, or Thirteen's flashback to her childhood, or Thirteen's brain tumor, blindness, and absurd hostage crisis. It will take the Hubble Telescope to be powerful enough for me to see a decent connection between Thirteen's story and House's.

Lully, I liked the Vogler arc too. It went on too long as all the arcs on this show do but unlike the current arcs, it revealed something new and different about all of the 6 characters. Do they judge Cameron solely on the basis of her crush from the first season? (God help me, the "do you like me?" speech.) Or Cuddy asking the same question this season. The difference to me is that Cameron was relatively young had known House less than a year at that point while Cuddy has known him for over 20 and had a previous sexual relationship with him. So while it was cringe-worthy seeing Cameron's crush, it was realistic given who she was. I can't get from who House and Cuddy were in season 1 to how they are acting this season. Cuddy especially is like a wholly different character. (As a side note, I think Raising The Bar is overall a very badly written show but they are doing a good job of 'employee having a crush on the boss'.) how underdeveloped the secondary characters were then I find the opposite. In terms of how long we had known them, I knew much more about Chase, Cameron and Foreman as people than I know about Taub or Kutner. I have facts about Taub's marriage and what he did but as a person, I don't really know him after 30 episodes, unlike how well I know CCF by Christmas of season 2. Since we've had Wilson and Cuddy around for 5 seasons, naturally we know more about them now than we did in the first seasons. Thirteen I know more about than I ever wanted to. Or care about. I think there was a better balance among the characters and plot lines in the first seasons. In the early episodes, each member of the team had some small plot. This season has been dominated by Thirteen/Foreteen and Huddy. We've had a bit of Taub's marriage but Kutner is still a blank slate. We know so little about Chase and Cameron, we're still arguing about what exactly their jobs have been over the past two seasons. And since Wilson and House made up in the fourth episode, all Wilson has really done is act as Cupid to House and Cuddy. That's ironic, considering that it was in season 2 while House was involved with Stacy that we learned the most about Wilson's non-House life. Finally, it's bad enough that Thirteen is constantly in peril of dying or getting fired and yet nothing ever touches her. (It's become a running joke.) But getting a brain tumor almost immediately from the drug when no one else got one, going blind and then being cured by the end of the episode with no cognitive impairments (unlike Foreman in season 2) and not a lock of her hair missing, would be considered too much even for the Sci Fi Channel.

Fantastic discussion, this one. I have to agree with extra_cat, Ariadne, Poeia and a bunch of others about expecting more from House. Bear with me on a tiny disjointed recap about S1-4 and I'll get back on track. I must say I have liked the Vogler arc. Babies and Bathwater was one of my favourite eps because I enjoyed the lose-lose situation of the hospital. Actually the only problem I have in the earlier seasons is with tritter. To be more precise, Words and Deeds. Shocking a fireman to induce memory loss and a judge who had to have the hots for House to let him go so easily were pathetic. Maybe that's why I like ODOR - after WaD, I'd probably be glad to see Grey's Anatomy. Anyway, from there it was pretty much ok, if we forgive Airborne and a few other mistakes. The ending I thought particularly good - Chase's firing was a bold move. Then the whole team was tossed. Cool. Enter S4. It started well. Alone had a very dumb resolution to the POTW, but it was a good episode nonetheless. The Survivor idea was good. But then came the bad: they brought back the old team, crippling S3 ending. I felt cheated by that half-assed attempt of keeping the old team as extras. Felt too much like a "plan B". The Survivor arc overstayed its welcome, Cuddy lost her spunk for good (arguably she became somewhat of a wuss in S3, but she did still have some moments, gone post-S3). What the hell was that with Big Love and Cuddy's underwear? That wasn't even embarrassing, it was just weird. After the bad we had the Ugly, which was the good. Frozen was good, too, and I actually liked House's Head and Wilson's Heart. It's ok to go deep sometimes. It's not ok to try to go deep every single time and keep missing the spot. That's S5. Wilson comes and goes for stupid reasons, House is completely changed, there's Huddy, Foreteen and probably, the way things are going, soon there'll be Taubner or Wiltner. There's plenty more reasons why S5 is no go for me and, as you all have put it wonderfully, why we still watch it. We see how it could be great. Instead it's being "meh". I can't stop comparing House to Lost. Both shows had interesting characters and good shock value from the start, and that's why I was hooked. Up to now they are the only shows I still follow. Both of them had the urge to up the shock value and the "interestingness" of the characters and I feel they have gone in two opposite directions. I'm not trying to be dichotomic here, but one got it right and the other got it wrong. House went with screwing around with the characters to put them in interesting plots, and Lost went with putting the characters in interesting plots apparently to screw with them. Yes, Lost is ludicrous. but it has been consistently ludicrous since the beginning. House was a lot more believable and now feels repetitive, shallow and random. I know shows tend to deteriorate and usually I accept it, but if Lost could keep it at an acceptable level, why can't House?