Best TV movie of the year: the House season premiere

There are lots of shows that tend to get into a groove, where the next season premiere doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises or changes from seasons past. In some cases, I’d call that more of a rut. We tune in to the season premieres of shows  — even those we love — and it’s more of the same. House has had the tendency to follow that unsurprising formula, but its sixth season premiere has done away with the formulaic and has given us two hours of some of the best dramedy of the year.

When last we left House, you may recall that he was checking himself into Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital. Things pick right up from there and … pretty much stay there. The entirety of the premiere of House is all about the title character and the months of treatment (and attempted treatment) he goes through in order to be fit to leave … and feel fit to leave, as he’s not held there against his will.

As part of House’s journey through mental rehabilitation we’re introduced to some new characters, some whom we’ll likely never see again after this episode. Some of the more notable are Curtis Armstrong as conspiracy theorist patient Richter, and Andre Braugher as Dr. Nolan, the man in charge of the facility (or at least ward Six, where House is holed up). They are notable more because they are recognizable, but the performances are top-notch all around.

The rest of the supporting cast within the hospital have their own personalities and pieces to the story, and you’re not going to want to see them go away. In fact, if I were a betting man, I’d say this isn’t the last we’ll see of all of them. I expect to see at least one of the patients or staff to make an appearance in a future episode of House, perhaps just to pay him a visit after being excused from treatment or, more than likely, as a medical patient.

What makes these two hours of House stand out from the rest is how it plays out like a movie. In many ways it feels very self-contained and only relies on the viewer knowing at least a little about House’s personality. Newcomers to the world of House could easily sit in on this episode and likely get sucked right in, understanding why this show has worked so well for five-plus years. From the completely new setting, to the new characters and awesome soundtrack (seriously), this episode is good-movie quality.

Something else stands out about the sixth season premiere of House. For so long it’s seemed that the show cannot survive without the same mean, pill-popping House that we’ve come to know and love. Without his meanness and pills, and without his ability to find true friendship and open up to those who’d allow him to, the show simply wouldn’t be the same and become uninteresting and unfunny. This episode proves that the show can not only survive without those familiar elements to House, but it can become reinvigorated and thrive.

Watch the season premiere of House, along with Hugh Laurie’s continued brilliance in his role, tonight at 8 PM on FOX.

Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Sep 21, 2009 @ 14:00 EST5EDT