House's Foundation Begins to Crumble

I'm turning into a real couch potato. With the exception of Friday - and even Friday has something to tempt me with Ghost Whisperer - I'm glued to the TV every night of the week. Heroes on Monday. Ugly Betty on Thursday - while we tape Smallville at the same time. American Idol and, more importantly, LOST on Wednesday. And American Idol and House on Tuesday. Both of these shows have begun to lose their luster for me, but I continue to watch them faithfully, partly because it's an excuse for my friend Libbie and me to get together. House really fell into a stellar deal by ending up just after American Idol in the lineup. I'd never heard of it until the spring of its first season, when Idol came along behind it to massively boost viewership. Would it have made it otherwise? I have major doubts.

I keep watching House mainly because of the main character. Hugh Laurie makes a fantastically cantankerous curmudgeon, and we are extra alert whenever he is on screen, which is most of the time. Like Simon Cowell, House is a master maligner, flinging colorful insults at everyone he meets and scarcely letting a remark go by without a snappy sarcastic comeback. He's marvelously entertaining. Yet by the second season, I had rather hoped to be watching the show for more than just the weekly barrage of one-liners. There are a few story arcs and a bit of character development, but for the most part, the show is just as episodic and formulaic as before. In every episode, somebody shows up with some mysterious ailment, and after one or several incorrect diagnoses, House and his team hit upon the answer at the last minute, almost invariably leading to a full recovery.

While House remains by far the most commanding presence, with his arresting blue eyes and his barking voice with no trace of Laurie's British accent, all the other major players from season one return and add interest. I like the evolution of Dr. Chase (Jesse Spencer) the best. An arrogant young Australian, he's a real pain throughout much of the first season, but in season two he begins to soften up, becoming more of a decent guy and not stabbing people in the back as he did in the past. Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps), like House and Chase, has issues with his father, and we get some emotional scenes of them together toward the end of the season. I'm not sure what to think of his character; he's ambitious and aloof, and his attitude near the conclusion of the season really grates on me, and I think it has something to do with the unpleasant way in which Dr. Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) begins to change.

Back in season one, she was unassuming, quiet and gentle. In the second season, she begins her descent into the barely likable character we see in season three, by which she and Chase seem to have swapped dispositions. She becomes hard-edged, always fiercely looking out for herself and increasingly locking heads with the others. She also seems to pick up a major dose of hormones along the way - or maybe it's all pent-up frustration for the fact that she and House can't make a relationship work. Bad things do happen to her in season two. She gives up what little hope she may have harbored about winning House's affection when his old girlfriend Stacy (Sela Ward) pops up and starts working at the hospital. Foreman essentially steals a paper she wrote and then, rather than apologizing for it, informs her that they are merely colleagues and will never be friends. Oh, and she almost winds up with AIDS. So it's a bad year for her, but I still hate to see her turn away from the sweetness of the first season.

House's boss, Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), continues to rage against House for his defiant indiscretions, even as she defends his behavior as a necessary evil in the interest of helping hopeless cases. Easy-going Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) is my favorite of the side-liners, and the second season has some fun with him when he moves in with House and his patience with his obnoxious friend is sorely tested.

Despite the various problems facing the characters - including deadly diseases - I never really found myself saying, "Gee, I can't wait until next week so I can see how this turns out." It didn't infect my psyche the way more compelling shows like LOST and Smallville have, and just within the context of this show, none of the second-season arcs riveted me as much as the first-season ordeal with corrupt millionaire Ed Vogler (Chi McBride). The season finale is a definite cliff-hanger, but the first episode of the third season, while boasting an emotional and uplifting ending, doesn't really tie up the loose ends very well.

House really didn't improve with its second season, and if it weren't for American Idol, I have my doubts as to whether it would still be around. But as long as House keeps being an insufferable git with an impressive vocabulary and razor-sharp wit, something tells I'm going to keep watching.