Nowadays, Fox's "House M.D." almost feels like a relic of a different time in television history, in which a network show with over 20 episodes a year could still be essentially a prestige concoction, carried by smart, profound writing, heady themes, and ambitious character work, while still conforming enough to a cozy weekly formula to become a ratings hit -- one massive enough to cost Hugh Laurie his role in "Superman Returns," no less.

While some of the show's 177 episodes are so similar as to start blurring into each other in retrospect, many "House" episodes have stood the test of time as first-rate hours of television by any reasonable criteria -- installments in which Dr. Gregory House was not just one of the greatest detectives in TV history, but a catalyst for searching and creative storytelling that used medicine to reflect on the mysteries of the human soul. 

Here, we've compiled...