House

What would you get if you combined the brains behind "The Usual Suspects" and "The X-Men" with the writer of "Quiz Show" and "Homicide: Life On the Streets"? Aside from a lotta smarts, you'd get House, the best new show since "Lost." [16 Nov 2004, p.91]

An engrossing new series with a fascinatingly unsympathetic character at its core. [14 Nov 2004, p.TV--5]

In place of the by-now clichés, House substitutes wit, taut writing and a performance by British actor Hugh Laurie that should put him immediately in the running for a best-actor Emmy. [16 Nov 2004, p.14E]

House is a rarity for TV: a true anti-hero, someone who's hard to embrace but easy to accept. [15 Nov 2004, p.2C]

Funny, probing and unsentimental, House may shock the systems of viewers used to sweetie M.D.s like ER's Dr. Carter. But as an honest look at techno-medicine and the prerogatives of genius, it's a tonic.

At turns funny, terrifying and moving. [16 Nov 2004, p.73]

Although the promising drama has its self-conscious moments when the offbeat stuff seems a trifle forced, Laurie delivers a consistently fascinating performance as the abrasive diagnostician. Even with the labored interludes, the series stands as, to borrow an old rock lyric, “a very, very, very fine” House. [16 Nov 2004, p.E4]

Hugh Laurie is simply brilliant as the sarcastic, Vicodin-popping, cane-clutching healer in House. You want to see a heroic doctor? Go watch Matthew Fox save an island on "Lost." Want to see a terrific performance by a comedic actor who may singlehandedly save the medical drama? Here's your guy. [16 Nov 2004, p.E3]

Entertaining, genre-bending. [16 Nov 2004, p.C1]

Laurie is a wonder. His drawn face, scraggly beard, hollowed eyes and gaunt body add an offbeat distinction to his dignified performance. His is a sinister quirkiness. [15 Nov 2004, p.F-01]

He's rude, sarcastic, bitter, brilliant and, delightfully, the most compelling character of the fall TV season. [14 Nov 2004, p.11]

This is one House call worth making.

Between Laurie's more-great-than-good doctor and cases that encompass everything from bad ham to complete body meltdown, House preys on all that's wrong (and some of what's right) with modern medicine.

What a treat it is to find a medical show that doesn't turn its talented MDs into bedside saints in order to calm viewers' fears about mechanical HMO factories.

House stands out on the strength of its misanthropic main character.

Exceptional producers Paul Attanasio (Homicide: Life on the Street), David Shore (Hack), Katie Jacobs (Gideon's Crossing) and Bryan Singer (X-Men) have cast their lot with Laurie (Peter's Friends, Sense and Sensibility, Stuart Little), and it pays off handsomely. Despite House's peculiarities, he's a fully rounded character, and Laurie appears comfortable in his clothes. [16 Nov 2004, p.8]

Television always needs smart, quality shows. And with "ER" on creative life support after 10 years, this challenging new medical drama could be good entertainment therapy. But for many viewers, "House" could be a tough pill to swallow. [15 Nov 2004, p.1C]

Hugh Laurie is cranky, scathingly honest, brilliant Dr. Gregory House, whose amazing diagnostic abilities almost make up for his abrasive personality, in the Fox medical drama House. [16 Nov 2004, p.E06]

This kind of straight, no-chaser approach to patient care is what makes House a satisfying riff on any number of doctors I've seen on TV and know I will never have taking care of me. [16 Nov 2004, p.E1]

But if you watch this one at all - and Fox hasn't increased the odds by waiting so long to introduce it - it'll be for Laurie's fierce and funny exploration of the doctor in House. [16 Nov 2004, p.53]