I have been a faithful viewer of House M.D. since the very first episode.  It’s unique approach to medical mystery and the always entertaining antics of Gregory House (portrayed by the ever-outstanding Hugh Laurie) have kept me coming back for more. 

Until this season. 

I have watched every episode of this season, but rarely on time.  Quite simply, I usually forget it’s on.  If I didn’t have Media Center, I might not watch it at all. 

In past seasons, I have tolerated the more dramatic themes in House:  Cameron and Chase, Cameron and House, Cameron and Chase and House, House and Ex-wife, Wilson and Amber,  House and Cuddy, etc.   They have primarily been side stories that, at best, give the characters more depth, and at worst are mildly annoying. 

Lately, these side stories have vaulted to center stage. Not only are we exploring the mundane personal stories of each character, we are also forced to endure a never-ending exploration of House’s psyche. The writers seem to be forgetting that we like House as he is.  We don’t want him to change.  It’s enough that he is a complex character–does every episode really have to find some way to ask the same old questions? What if House was different? Why is House so mean?  

It’s not only annoying, it’s repetitious.  Themes aren’t being touched on they are being tortured.   It’s one thing to tease ideas, it’s another to make us readdress them endlessly.  A perfect example:  the teaser for next week’s episode has Cuddy grilling Cameron Are you still in love with House?  Must we really exume that horse and continue maliciously beating him?

Add to that the stilted, unlikely, and uncomfortable “romantic” relationship between Foreman and 13, sprinkle in the “but she’s going to die” dilemma every third episode, and the whole thing is just getting ridiculous.  

Not only have the medical mysteries lost the center stage, they are also losing muster.  It is almost a requirement that every patient have some personal secret they have kept from their spouse.  Additionally, every new patient seems a thinly veiled way to get back to House’s atheism.  We get it…House thinks everyone lies.  He thinks there is no God. Not every marriage is great.  People have secrets. Yadda yadda yadda.

You get the point.

It’s time for the writers to let House be House again.  They need to let House solve medical mysteries and keep everything else in the peripheral. 

If they don’t, I’m not sure how much longer I’ll make an effort to keep up with it.

I was having a discussion today about the vocal dubbing in West Side Story and Singin’ in the Rain. This prompted me to do some research while yielded this interesting tidbit:

“If the subject of movie dubbing is confusing to some trying to connect who is who, then what about the strange set-up connected with the classic MGM musical Singin’ in the Rain (1952)? This merry mix-up of real life dubbing was addressed in Ray Hagen’s article on Jean Hagen in Film Fan Monthly (December 1968): “In the film, Debbie Reynolds has been hired to re-dub [Jean] Hagen’s dialogue and songs in the latter’s first talking picture. We see the process being done in a shot of Reynolds … matching her dialogue to Hagen’s and synchronizing it while watching a scene from the film. But the voice that is used to replace Hagen’s shrill, piercing one is not Reynolds’ but Hagen’s own quite lovely natural voice—meaning that Jean Hagen dubs Debbie Reynolds’ dubbing Jean Hagen! To further confuse matters, the voice we hear as Hagen mimes “Would You?”, supposedly supplied by Reynolds, is that of yet a third girl … [Betty Royce]“. Confusing? Well, there’s more. Although Debbie sang in the movie, notably the title tune (dubbing Hagen!), Debbie herself is dubbed again by Betty Royce in her duet with Gene Kelly “You Are My Lucky Star.”"

To read the whole article, go here:
http://www.classicimages.com/past_issues/view/?x=/1998/november98/idibthee.html