TV: You're my only friend. And I hate you.

[sigma7]

Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of one of your favorite shows
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of one of your favorite TV shows
Day 08 - A show that's had a significant effect on who you are today
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death

"People don't get what they deserve. They just get what they get. There`s nothing any of us can do about it."

Had you asked me a few decades ago, it would've been Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard, undoubtedly. Maybe Matt Frewer's Edison Carter. In the late '90s? I don't think anything would've changed. BSG changed things slightly, bringing Edward James Olmos's Bill Adama into the equation, but lest you think that it's always the paragon alpha male, James Callis turns up with his neurotic, desperately-scrambling-for-redemption (or at least absolution) Gaius Baltar, who was a lot more engaging and sympathetic than you'd imagine the one person most directly responsible for the near-extinction of the human race to be. You'd have to be pretty up on your game to top that.

OH, COME ON! WHO ELSE WAS IT GOING TO BE?

Of course it's House. I've always liked the amusing yet straight-up asshole doctor archetype. If Paul McCrane'd gotten an Dr. Robert Romano spinoff instead of being showered in helicopters while ER morphed into The Abby Show (God, what a contender for "worst evolution of a series"), I'd probably be putting his name up. But instead we got House, which is even better, because it's the Goddamn Hugh Laurie, who can play...pretty much anything. The character's one thing -- less damaged than he used to be, he's lost quite a bit in the last few years, but he's also healed considerably through the grace of his only friend and sparring-partner-turned-love-interest-finally. And the character's extended assholery might seem tedious, but it highlights the moments when his fanatically-repressed empathy shines through (Mira Sorvino in Antarctica -- good times). But it takes a refined and skilled actor to allow the often seemingly-unforgivable actions House commits (frequently) in such a way that his undercurrent of humanity is ever-present. (And, as one of my former coworkers dreamily noted, those eyes help.)

Yes, he says often intolerable, infuriating things. Yes, he's routinely dismissive and disrespectful of anything vaguely resembling authority. Yes, he flouts ethical boundaries to gain the smallest possible advantages or insights. Yes, he's condescending and insists on inflicting moments of enlightenment of the philosophies he champions to those he believes deserve it. Yes, he treats his friend(s?) worse than most people treat their enemies (but, in the clip below, not unprecedentedly so):

He'd be an impossible friend to keep, a grueling doctor to have (though odds are you'd at least live to tell the tale), but he's too much fun to stop watching.

Comments

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

I can see how House's only friend is an oncologist, cause only House can make visiting innocent people suffering in horrible agony seem like not such a bad gig.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

To House's merit, he is steadfast and loyal to Wilson (between sedations), insistent on protecting him from those things House thinks will end up hurting him, though those typically turn out to be the very people Wilson's, er, dating. Wilson's devotion to House is superhuman, House's to Wilson is merely uncharacteristic. But that's the kind of man Wilson is, and the kind of man House never will be.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

There is something wrong about Wilson though in his inability to distrust House for any length of time, despite House's constantly bringing the butt-monkeydom on him.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it's the same phenomenon that's led him to three ex-wives (including one almost ex-ex-wife) and one dead girlfriend, some sort of quixotic belief that this time is the one time Lucy doesn't pull the football away.... But like you said, it's probably the same thing that makes him a good oncologist, being able to play with very small percentages of success on a consistent basis.

House may be in more pain and more angry, but Wilson's got to have more accumulated misery.

of course

[kcopeland82.livejournal.com]

Of course you're House! I wrote him and told him that which is why we got his autograph.

Re: of course

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Oh, I lack the deductive/diagnostic skills to be an efficient House (and couldn't go through med school to save my -- or anyone else's -- life). I do appreciate that he's the first character since Sonny Crockett to make stubble fashionable, though.



Though, yes, the picture is goddamn awesome. Danke again.