House- The Complete Series Blu-ray Review
One of the most popular medical shows of all-time gets a complete series Blu-ray release.
Created by David Shore, 2004’s “House” (AKA “House, M.D.”) is a medical drama-comedy that ran 8 seasons. The series revolved around the grouchy disabled genius Dr. Gregory House who leads a diagnostician team at Princeton-Plainsboro teaching Hospital. His boss is Dr. Lisa Cuddy, his friend is Dr. James Wilson, and his team members include Dr. Eric Foreman, Dr. Robert Chase, Dr. Allison Cameron. Each episode essentially involves a case of the week (or multiple cases) in which House and company attempt to diagnose a patient’s often complex health scare.
Outside of the cases, plots involve Edward Vogler becoming Chairman of the Board and causing many headaches for House and his team, House’s dynamic with his ex-girlfriend Stacy (who becomes the hospital lawyer for a short time), legal troubles, House and James living together, new team members (Thirteen, Chris Taub, Lawrence Kutner and later Martha Masters, Chi Park, ), Wilson’s girlfriend Amber having a life threatening injury, Thirteen being diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, Cuddy’s foster baby, the death of a character, House’s vicodin addiction, House going to a psychiatric hospital to detox, House and Cuddy’s relationship, House ending up in prison, Chris Taub’s daughters, and Wilson getting diagnosed with cancer. In typical TV series fashion, “House” features a plethora of guest stars such as Robin Tunney, Amanda Seyfried, Joe Morton, John Cho, LL Cool J, Michelle Trachtenberg, Joel Grey, Dave Matthews, Jeremy Renner, Mira Sorvino, Jimmi Simpson, Mos Def, Meat Loaf, Lin-Manuel Miranda, James Earl Jones, Orlando Jones, David Strathairn, Jennifer Grey, Matthew Lillard, Candice Bergen, Melanie Lynskey, Jeffrey Wright, and Michael B. Jordan.
Before the streaming era took hold, Fox’s “House” was one of the last major network shows to earn gigantic ratings. Despite being formulaic to the max, viewers were drawn to the character of Dr. Gregory House and it’s not hard to see why. He’s a personable, sarcastic, blunt, stubborn, soap opera and Vicodin addict with a terrible bedside manner. He also happens to be a brilliant Doctor who frequently breaks the rules. Make no mistake about it, Hugh Laurie as House is the sole reason to not only the show’s success, but the reason to watch what is an otherwise generic medical show involving a diagnosis for a bizarre medical case of the week (with a whole lot of trial and error getting to the real diagnosis). Sure, Dr. House is a jerk who would have been fired quite quickly with his inappropriate and sexist remarks, but “House” isn’t exactly striving for realism.
In terms of the series itself, the first 6 seasons are undoubtedly the best. Seasons 7 and 8 definitely showed that the series was running out of creative steam particularly with the ridiculous Cuddy and House relationship. Season 4 really felt like the show found a fresh start with the addition of Olivia Wilde and Kal Penn and top tier episodes like “House’s Head” in which House has to piece together the mystery of what happened to him. In fact, “House” was at its best with episodes that went against the norm ala “Broken” in which House goes to a psychiatric hospital for his Vicodin addiction. It’s just a shame there wasn’t a huge chunk of episodes that went outside the standard formula.
If you’re looking for challenging and deep serialized storytelling, you won’t find that with “House.” If you’re looking for a repetitive turn your brain off medical show, “House” fits that bill. Again, the show is worth seeing for Hugh Laurie alone.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.78:1 1080p. How do the episodes look? Despite the weird coloring issues in season 1 (unrelated to this Blu-ray release), the episodes look impressive in hi-def. Granted, each season looks progressively better, but the earlier seasons look especially noteworthy given that the series debuted 21 years ago now.
Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How do the episodes sound? Viewers can expect a pleasant and crisp 5.1 track for the series.
Extras:
* Season 1- Six featurettes titled “Dr. House” (about the main character), “House-Isms” (about House’s attitude and remarks), “The Concept” (about the series concept), “Casting Sessions With Hugh Laurie” (Hugh Laurie’s audition tape), “Set Tour” (with Jennifer Morrison and Lisa Edelstein), and “Medical Cases” (about case ideas and information the cast learned).
* Season 2- Commentary on “Autopsy” by David Shore and Katie Jacobs, alternate Valley Girl takes from “Daddy’s Boy” and “Sleeping Dogs Lie,” Blooper reel, commentary on “No Reason” by David Shore and Katie Jacobs, “It Could Be Lupus” (clip reel), and “An Evening With House” (A Q&A with Elvis Mitchell, Bryan Singer, Hugh Laurie, Paul Attanasio, Robert Sean Leonard, David Shore, Lisa Edelstein, Katie Jacobs, Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer, and Omar Epps.
* Season 3- Valley Girl alternate take from “Cane And Able,” Blooper Reel, commentary on “Half-Wit” by David Shore and Katie Jacobs, “House Soundtrack Session With Band From TV” (a studio session of the Band From TV),”Anatomy Of An Episode “The Jerk” (a look at the production of the episode), “Blood, Needles, And Body Parts: The House Prop Department” (a look at some props), and “Open House: The Production Office” (a look at the production office).
* Season 4- Commentary on “House’s Head” by David Shore and Katie Jacobs, “House’s Soap: Prescription Passion” (clips from the fictional soap opera), “New Beginnings” (covers the 4th season’s cast), “Meet The Writers” (self-explanatory), “The Visual Effects Of House,” “Anatomy Of A Scene: The Bus Crash” (a look at the making of the sequence), and “My Favorite Episode So Far…” (cast and crew answer the question).
* Season 5- “House Meets A Milestone: The 100th Episode” (all about the 100th episode), commentary on “Locked In” by David Foster, Garrett Lerner and Russel Friend, “Keeping It Real: Accuracy In Writing” (about the authentic medical dialogue), “Dr. Mom: Cuddy’s Storyline” (about Cuddy’s story arc), “House Guests: Casting The Show” (about the guest stars in season 5), and “Anatomy Of A Teaser” (about the opening teaser creation).
* Season 6- “Before Broken” (an unscripted short), “A New House For House” (about the shooting location), “New Faces In A New House” (about the new patient characters), “Crazy Cool Episode “Epic Fail” (a featurette on the video game special effects), commentary on “Broken” by Katie Jacobs, Russel Friend and Garrett Lerner, commentary on”Wilson” by Robert Sean Leonard and David Foster, commentary on “5 to 9” by Lisa Edelstein and Thomas L. Moran, commentary on “Help Me” by Greg Yaitanes and Larry Collins and “A Different POV: Hugh Laurie Directs” (about the star taking on directing).
* Season 7- ”Meet Martha Masters” (a featurette on the new character), “Huddy Dissected” (about the relationship between House and Cuddy), commentary on “Bombshells” by Greg Yaitanes and Lisa Edelstein, commentary on “The Dig” by writers Sara Hess and David Hoselton, commentary on “Moving On” by David Shore and Greg Yaitanes, “Thirteen Returns” (about Dr. Remy’s return), and “Anatomy Of An Episode: Bombshells.”
* Season 8- “The Doctor Directs: Behind The Scenes With Hugh Laurie,” (a behind-the-scenes featurette) “House, M.D. Swan Song” (a retrospective) and “Everybody Dies: A Postmortem” (about the finale).
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