House, M.D. (www.the-usher.com)

"Everybody lies"

Dr. Gregory House

Whenever a patient that no one can diagnose comes into the Princeton University Hospital, Dr. Gregory House and his team are assigned the case. While he might be the most anti-social physician who actually hates interacting with patients, Dr House loves a good mystery.

Pilot
A young kindergarten teacher, Rebecca Adler, who suffers from seizures collapses in her classroom after uncontrolled gibberish slips out her mouth while she is about to teach her students. She is taken to Dr. House and his team of experts who identify it might be a tumour, and she might have only a week to live.

Paternity
A 16-year old high school student, Dan, starts suffering from nightmares and frequent hallucinations, and he reveals he was hit in the head while playing lacrosse at school. Dan is apparently suffering from MS, and risky brain surgery is needed. Meanwhile House must deal with a patient looking to set up a lawsuit and a mother who doesn't believe in vaccinations.

Occam's Razor
A college student collapses after rowdy sex with his girlfriend. While House and his team attempt to determine the cause, the student's condition continues to deteriorate and his symptoms multiply complicating the diagnosis. Maternity When a virus is spreading among the hospital, infecting six babies, House and his team must make decisions that could compromise the lives of the babies.

Damned
If You Do A nun whose hands are red, swollen and cracked is sent to House. The nun believes it is stigmata, but House suspects an allergic reaction. He gives her some pills, which cause her to become unable to breathe. As her condition worsens, her fellow sisters pray for her while House and his team work to discover the cause of her illness.

The Socratic Method
Dr. House is intrigued by the symptoms of a schizophrenic woman, who displays mixed symptoms, including a tumour, but soon realizes the source of her problems isn't the obvious. House confronts his birthday and Chase confronts his past when the mother's son tries to keep up with her condition.

Fidelity
Two men are out jogging -- one of them returns back to his wife and discovers her dead asleep and brings her to the clinic. The doctors are puzzled by her symptoms. They consider everything from tumours to breast cancer to rabbit fever. When all the treatments fail, House concludes she has African sleeping sickness. However, neither the woman nor her husband could possibly have ever been to Africa. The woman will die without the proper treatment, but neither one will admit to having an affair.

Poison
When a high school student falls victim to a mysterious but lethal poisoning, House and his team jump in to find out what is killing the teen. Given a low heart rate and a clean tox screen, House sends Cameron and Chase to the teen's home to find the hot new drug House is sure he's taking. They don't find any drugs, but think they've come up with the answers, until a second unrelated student is admitted with identical symptoms. With the boys' lives hanging in the balance, House and the team have to connect the dots - fast.

DNR
Legendary jazz musician John Henry Giles is checked into the clinic and when he's told he's dying from ALS, he signs a DNR to avoid a slow death. House disagrees with the diagnosis and goes against everyone's wishes when he violates the DNR to save Giles' life. The decision lands House in court, drives Foreman to consider taking another job, and results in Giles' paralysis worsening. But when the patient inexplicably starts getting better, the team has to figure out the mystery in reverse and find out why his condition is improving.

Histories
Dr. Foreman believes an uncooperative homeless woman is faking seizures to get a meal ticket at the teaching hospital. But her homelessness strikes a personal chord with Dr. Wilson and he grows determined to keep her from falling between the cracks. Her worsening symptoms prove to be a complex mystery for House and his team, but the mystery of her identity and medical history may hold the answers to saving her life.

Detox
While trying to figure out why a young patient won't stop bleeding after a car wreck, House takes Cuddy's challenge and goes off Vicodin for a week in exchange for no clinic duty for a month. If House and his team can't determine the source of his patient's blood loss, the 16-year-old car victim will die in a matter of days. As House's withdrawal symptoms become more and more severe, his patient directives for his patient are more harsh and risky than usual, and Foreman and Cameron are afraid he may not be thinking clearly enough to save the patient's life.

Sports Medicine
A severely broken arm reveals a bizarre case of bone loss and ends the comeback plans of major league pitcher Hank Wiggen. House suspects Hank - with a history of drug abuse - is lying about using steroids, as his condition worsens. When Hank's kidneys start to fail, his wife offers to donate hers, but she would have to abort her early pregnancy. Forced into an impossible solution, and admitting failure as an addict, Hank tries to take his own life. House and his team must isolate and fix the problem soon if this pitcher's life, as well his career, can be saved.

Cursed
A 12-year-old boy believes he's cursed after a Ouija board tells him he's going to die, and his father makes increasing demands on House as they try to diagnose the boy's pneumonia-like symptoms and incongruous rash. Meanwhile, Chase's estranged father, a renowned doctor from Australia, visits and House invites him to sit in, much to Chase's discomfort. When House diagnoses the boy's illness, the young patient is forced to face the idea that his father may not be everything he believes.

Control
Billionaire entrepreneur Edward Vogler spends $100 million on the clinic and becomes the new Chairman of the Board. As a businessman, Vogler intends to turn the clinic into a profitable venture for his biotech venture and plans to eliminate the financially draining services of Dr. House. Meanwhile, a businesswoman who has it all - perfect life, perfect body and perfect job - finds herself inexplicably paralysed. When he diagnoses her secret, House must risk his job and his medical license to get her a necessary transplant.

Mob Rules
Just before mobster Joey Arnello spills the beans in federal court and enters witness protection, he collapses. Is he faking? A court order instructs House to find out - and fast. House and his team struggle to diagnose and cure Joey while Joey's brother Bill tries to slow things down and keep Joey from testifying. Meanwhile, Cuddy struggles to convince Vogler that House is an essential part of the hospital.

Heavy
House must fire one of his doctors and leaves them to think about it while they deal with an overweight 10-year old child who suffered a heart attack as the result of taking diet pills. House is also faced with a woman who won't accept surgery for a 30 lb. tumour because she wants to remain overweight.

Role Model
At a high-level campaign fundraiser, a senator becomes violently ill. Vogler forces House to take the senator's case and offers to let off the hook on firing a team member if he'll deliver a speech on behalf of Vogler's pharmaceutical company. It looks like the senator has AIDS but House refuses to settle for the easy answer. And House ends up giving the speech, but it doesn't go quite as Vogler planned.

Babies & Bathwater
While House and his team scramble to discover what's causing brain and kidney dysfunction in a pregnant woman, Vogler is working to get House fired after House's pharmaceutical speech. House determines the illness, but the woman and her husband must struggle with an emotional and heartbreaking choice: choose between her or her unborn child.

Kids
During a meningitis outbreak that overwhelms the clinic, House is drawn to a single patient: a 12-year-old whose symptoms don't quite match everyone else's. House, Foreman, and Chase must devise ingenious ways and locations to treat the girl's delicate condition in the middle of the chaos, and make an unexpected discovery.

Love Hurts
House apparently triggers a stroke in a clinic patient, but the major topic of discussion is House's imminent date with Cameron, The team must deal with the patient's odd lifestyle, overbearing "friend" and reluctant parents in order to stop the strokes and try to save his life.

Three Stories
House's ex-girlfriend Stacy Warner returns - not for House but to get help for her ailing husband. While House decides whether or not to take her case, Cuddy forces him to present a lecture to a class of medical students. As he weaves the stories of three patients who all present with a similar symptom, House gives a lecture the students will never forget.

The Honeymoon
When Stacy insists her husband Mark get tests, House insists he can handle things. But despite the fact Mark's tests prove negative, his steadily growing symptoms indicate he is dying. While House struggles with the mystery and make increasing demands on his staff, Wilson worries about House's emotional well-being, and Cuddy considers adding a new employee to the clinic.

Once in a while a TV programme comes along that really hits a cord with the audience, 'House, M.D.' is one of those series.

Medical dramas have been a stalwart part of the TV schedules since television began but 'House, M.D.' is something slightly different. The premise for the show revolves around medical investigation. When a patient comes into Princeton Teaching Hospital with an illness that no one can diagnose, Dr. Gregory House and his team take on the case. This is nothing new and is just really a twist on the criminal investigation series that are taking the rating by storm at the most but what makes this show standout from the rest is its characters.

While hit series like C.S.I. concentrate mainly on the case at the determent of revealing any real background of the characters, 'House, M.D.' gets the mix just right. Each show is driven by the case but the B-Story tends to deal with the interaction of House, his team, his best friend and fellow doctor James Wilson and House's constant battles with head of medicine Dr. Lisa Cuddy. This allows you to invest more in the lead characters, making you care more about their personal and professional predicaments dilemmas.

It is the character of Gregory House that drives the series however. Anyone who has lived in the UK will already know the name Hugh Laurie. A comedic actor extraordinaire, Laurie has been entertaining the British public for decades in shows like 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie' and 'Blackadder' but over the years he has caught the attention of Hollywood. With parts in the 'Stuart Little' movies and the 'Flight of the Phoenix' remake, he gained the attention of executive producer Bryan Singer, who suggested him for the role. He might be know more for his comedic roles but Hugh Laurie is a talented actor how can excel in any field and the character of House proves this. House is a complex character. He is totally devoid of bedside manner and doesn't even like talking to patients if he can avoid it. Cranky, sarcastic and far too brutally honest for his own good, House let's diagnosis skills do his talking but this hasn't made him many friends. Hugh Laurie expertly breathes life into this character and creates someone who you shouldn't really like but you can't help doing so, making House a classic TV character in the making.

Supporting Hugh Laurie is an excellent ensemble cast that brings just as much to the series as the lead actor does. First we have House's three young doctors that make up his diagnosis team. Omar Epps continues to show his promise as Dr. Eric Foreman. Foreman is the logic of the group, always going by the book and pushing the root of least risk. Aussie actor Jesse Spencer continues to make inroads into Hollywood after leaving Ramsey Street (where Australian soap 'Neighbours' is set) as Dr. Robert Chase. Chase brings innovation and risk to the team, as he doesn't mind making suggestions that are outside the box. Lastly we have Jennifer Morrison as Dr. Allison Cameron. Cameron is the heart of the team who sees the patients as human beings and not just a puzzle to be solved. Also we have Robert Sean Leonard as House' best and only friend Dr. James Wilson and Lisa Edelstein as House's boss and nemesis Dr. Lisa Cuddy, who thinks that he should interact more with patients so constantly assigns him clinic duty.

With an interesting case every week and characters that you quickly start to care about, the first season of 'House, M.D.' is absolutely superb. While medical dramas are ten a penny on TV, this shows stands out because of the superb cast and writing that draws you in from the off and doesn't let go until go until you receive the diagnosis. This is one of the best new shows to hit TV and you would have to be seriously ill to miss it.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in 16x9 Widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, 'House, M.D.' has never looked or sounded so good.

BONUS FEATURES

The Concept (4.48 mins)
Executive producers David Shore, Bryan Singer and Katie Jacobs are joined by star Hugh Laurie to talk about the concept behind the show. Bryan Singer reveals how he became involved and how the programme evolved from a medical investigation show in the same ilk as CSI into what 'House' is due to presence of Hugh Laurie.

Casting Session with Hugh Laurie (1.24 mins)
The original casting recording that drew director Bryan Singer into the show and got Hugh Laurie the part.

Medical Cases (4.24 mins)
Medical consultant/writer David Foster, executive producer David Shore and stars Hugh Laurie, Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer talk about the medical cases written for the series. Foster reveals where he gets the illnesses from and the cast talk about what it is like to portray a doctor.

Set Tour (5.37 mins)
Jennifer Morrison and Lisa Edelstein take you on a tour of the 'House' set as they show you the full hospital stage including the operating room, pathology lab, the exam room, the clinic and House's office.

House-isms (4.02 mins)
Executive producer David Shore and stars Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Jennifer Morrison, Omar Epps and Jesse Spencer talk about the sarcastic one-liners that make Gregory House such a unique doctor and character. Each of them reveals their favourite House line from the season.

Dr House (6.36 mins)
Executive producers David Shore, Bryan Singer and Katie Jacobs and stars Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Jennifer Morrison, Sela Ward and Jesse Spencer talk about the character of Gregory House and what Hugh Laurie brings to the role.

OVERALL

While the featurettes may be short, this is still a good DVD package for the first season of 'House, M.D.'. The inclusion of a commentary track on some of the episodes would have increased the value but there is still a lot to enjoy here. This is a series that you might not have discovered yet and this good DVD package allows you to get into the world of Gregory House and his team.

DVD

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