Hugh Laurie is "House, M. D." in this eight-season show, also starring Robert Sean Leonard, Jesse Spencer, Omar Epps, Lisa Edelstein, and, at various times, Jennifer Morrison, Peter Jacobson, Olivia Wilde, Amber Tamblyn, Charlyne Yi, Anne Dudek, and Odette Annable.
The setting is a New Jersey hospital where Gregory House, M. D., (Hugh Laurie) the brilliant, infantile, inappropriate, rude, and often downright mean physician is the head of Diagnostic Medicine. The character, like the Vincent D'Onofrio character on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, is based on Sherlock Holmes, and House can certainly diagnose the most obscure disease. His staff is his sounding board and also make suggestions, despite having the gamut of emotions toward him, ranging from fear to sexual attraction.
In his eight years on the air, House stalks and later romances the head of the hospital (Edelstein), pranks Wilson (Leonard), the only person who can tolerate him, is himself hounded by a police detective who hates him, goes into rehab for his Vicodin addiction, and goes to prison, all the time suffering intractable pain in his nearly-destroyed leg. He also forges prescriptions, hires actors for various reasons, gives himself as the name of everyone's Secret Santa, steals food off of cafeteria trays as they go by, and various other things that do not endear him to many. And his interest in the diagnostic puzzle enables him to save many lives -- but for House, that's just a byproduct.
House is played to perfection by British actor Hugh Laurie. For everyone who complained about his accent, I usually can spot a British actor speaking with an American accent right away. Laurie not only has an American accent but has lowered the timbre of his voice. When I first saw him in an interview speaking with his British accent, he seemed dubbed! In fact, even after seeing another series of his, the British accent coming out of his mouth is still the one that doesn't seem natural.
Laurie carries the show, but he has wonderful writers, directors, producers, and actors behind him that put the show on the highest level possible. The rest of the cast is terrific - the adorable Spencer, the underplayed Leonard (whom I have seen on Broadway twice), the beautiful Morrison, the troubled Taub, the elegant and sexy Edelstein -- the dynamics of House's staff change with the people, but every actor makes a strong contribution. And each character's story is interesting and fully developed.
I can't recommend this series highly enough. Some of the episodes are thought-provoking, like the one where House and his staff have to care for a third world dictator bent on genocide, some are gut-wrenching, others funny, tragic, or poignant, but they're always absorbing and beautifully done.
