Blogcritics

Home to House: An Interview With Returning Writer Lawrence Kaplow

Diane Kristine — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:21:44 EDT

This week's "Not Cancer" episode marks the series return for the writer/co-executive producer.
Tuesday’s "Not Cancer" episode of House, co-written by series creator David Shore, marks the return of Lawrence Kaplow to the writing credits after a season away. Because I've interviewed him twice before, and because he’s one of my favourite writers on one of my all-time favourite shows, House fans might understand why I...

Don't Mess With The Iconic Moment: An Interview With House Writer Doris Egan

Diane Kristine — Tue, 2 Sep 2008 00:43:46 EDT

House and Wilson will reunite - but when? A writer/producer gives the answer, sort of.
House star Hugh Laurie and creator David Shore have already let it slip: in the aftermath of Amber's death, House and Wilson eventually patch things up. "I don't think it's a shock that the lovers are reunited," House writer Doris Egan said archly. Nearly as unsurprising might be that Egan helped orchestrate the reunion, since...

Anatomy Of A House Episode: "Airborne"

Diane Kristine — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:32:53 EDT

Writer David Hoselton dissects his mutated "baby."
The teaser writer David Hoselton envisioned for "Airborne," his third-season episode of House, involved a suspected terrorist -- obviously sick, possibly part of a sinister biological warfare plan -- entering an airplane at the Singapore airport. Then, House (Hugh Laurie) and Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) enter the scene and the airplane. Cut to...

TV Review: House - "House's Head"/"Wilson's Heart"

Diane Kristine — Tue, 20 May 2008 09:43:10 EDT

The fourth season finale sets up the possibility for profound change.
Forget House's head and Wilson's heart – my head is swirling and my heart is breaking after the House two-part season finale. Enough so that some entreaties to share my thoughts and feelings were enough to bring me temporarily out of review retirement.We get inside House's head every week, when his thinking processes are made...

The Metaphorical Medicine of House

Diane Kristine — Sun, 6 Jan 2008 23:32:11 EST

Doctors weigh in on the accuracy of the show's science.
He paces hospital corridors, juggles office implements, twirls his cane, fidgets with elastic bands, plays with that oversized ball, pops another Vicodin, interrogates his team, writes on his white board, sometimes even visits a patient. Dr. Gregory House brings the act of thinking to kinetic life each week, a remarkable achievement for a visual...

The Church of House

Diane Kristine — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:10:04 EST

Even Dr. Gregory House can't be rational about religion.
"Choosing agnosticism as a means of faith is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."So said narrator Piscine Molitor Patel in Yann Martel’s engrossing novel Life of Pi. It’s a crankily accurate sentiment worthy of Dr. Gregory House … except the self-professed atheist often comes across as more of an...

TV Review: House Gets a Transplant

Diane Kristine — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:59:54 EDT

Creator David Shore tries experimental surgery on a healthy show.
What's the differential diagnosis for a TV show that ended its third season with spectacular ratings, having earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama as well as positive reviews from critics and fans? Sounds healthy to me. Even Dr. Gregory House wouldn't try experimental treatment on a healthy patient, would he?David Shore would. In...

Dr. House: Honorary Canadian?

Diane Kristine — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 10:50:33 EDT

Why are the ratings for House proportionally so much higher in the Great White North?
Ask any Canadian, any American, and we’d agree that our national characters are different. How? Well, that’s where we shrug and resort to stereotypes. Sure, I might apologize to the lamppost when I run into it, but that’s just habit. My American friends might talk a little loud and break stemware in restaurants, but I’m sure...

How House Changed My Life

Diane Kristine — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:15:13 EDT

Maybe House really was the initial condition that led to my life being filled with new people and experiences.
Did a television show really change my life? If I want to get philosophical about it — and why not get pretentious about something as supposedly trivial as television? — I can look at the question in a couple of different ways. With predestination, there is only one possible outcome. So maybe some other show or some other sequence of...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Vanguard Nettwerk Records to Release House Soundtrack

Diane Kristine — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:10:07 EDT

Vancouver's Nettwerk Records are the little guys known for doing big things in the recording industry. The management company, record label, and publisher headed by Terry McBride has a business model that gives more rights, more control, and more per-CD earnings to their artists, and embraces other ways to earn money from music. From Wired's No Suit Required: "More important, he says, the new model frees him and his artists from the overgrown bureaucracy of the music industry, and that means more money for everyone. He can book tours, sell ringtones, peddle songs to advertising agencies and, yes, give away free downloads without any of the complex, multiparty negotiations that once gummed up the works. 'It used to take months to sell a frickin' ringtone to Bell Canada,' McBride says. 'With BNL [Barenaked Ladies], one phone call gets the job done.'"The article goes on to say, "McBride's success will depend on what he calls 'collapsed copyright.' Nettwerk will represent artists like BNL, but the bands will record under their own labels and retain ownership of all their intellectual property, an anomaly in the industry. The bands, in turn, can expect to earn considerably more money – say, $5 to $6 from the sale of each CD instead of the standard dollar or two." Nettwerk made headlines last year with the announcement that they would pay the legal fees of a Texas family being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America. They launched the non-profit Save the Music Fan to raise money to fight RIAA lawsuits, and, as that website demonstrates, McBride is an outspoken advocate of the recording industry embracing peer-to-peer technologies instead of trying to sue them out of existence. Less philosophically and more practically, I love Nettwerk because they sell DRM-free MP3s or the higher-quality FLAC from their online store. And now, they've cemented their high position in my esteem by releasing the official soundtrack to House on September 18. The FOX website, where you can listen to samples and download a free track, has the official announcement and track listing:Massive Attack - Teardrop *Gomez - See The WorldJon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentleman - Got To Be More CarefulBen Harper - Waiting On An AngelMichael Penn - Walter ReedElvis Costello - Beautiful **Joe Cocker - Feelin' AlrightSarah McLachlan - Dear GodJosh Rouse - God, Please Let Me Go BackLucinda Williams - Are You Alright?Josh Ritter - Good ManBand From TV - You Can't Always Get What You Want ** *North American release only**Previously unreleasedThe inclusion of the elusive Elvis Costello track, the cover of Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful," from "Autopsy," is worth the cost of the album (she says before knowing what the cost will be). The soundtrack would be seriously lacking if it omitted "You Can't Always Get What You Want," which humorously and then poignantly bookended season one. And if you can't get the Rolling Stones, what better than the curiosity factor of listening to Band From TV -- that's Hugh Laurie, Greg Grunberg of Heroes, James Denton of Desperate Housewives, and other actor/musicians. There are so many sad omissions here that it would be ungrateful to whine about them. There have been, what, 70 episodes, with at least one memorable song in most? That's not going to boil down into one CD, even if you imagine the show could get the rights to put them all on their soundtrack. Within those limits, they've done a good job of picking some emotion-laden tracks that evoke memorable scenes or character moments. "Got to Be More Careful" by Jon Cleary is what I think of as the anthem of the Vogler arc (great song, not such a great arc, but an important one). Ben Harper's "Waiting on an Angel" was used in "Lines in the Sand," when House made a connection with the autistic boy. Who could forget "Feelin' Alright" by Joe Cocker playing in the priceless final moments of "Detox," when House was on a long-awaited high after admitting he's an addict but insisting that isn't a problem. Lucinda Williams' gorgeous "Are You Alright?" ends "Fetal Position," when House sits at home alone in his own version of the fetal position. And Josh Ritter's "Good Man" rounds out the season in "Human Error," with House alone in a very different way, having pushed out or fired all his staff.Since I have at least most of the missing tracks already, I'm not sure why I care if they're on the official release, but Grant Lee Buffalo's "Happiness" reminds me of House himself every time I hear it, as does Ryan Adam's "Desire" to a lesser extent. And including Dave Matthew's "Some Devil" would have seemed fitting since the man himself eventually appeared on the show. That free download, Josh Rouse's "God, Please Let Me Go Back," and the Sarah McLachlan cover of XTC's "Dear God" have, as far as I and the comprehensive Play House site know, never appeared on the show. Coincidentally, Rouse and McLachlan are Nettwerk artists. I prefer to think the tracks are coming soon to the show, or that complicated rights issues meant there was extra space to fill on the CD; otherwise I will whine a little without feeling too ungrateful. However, I know I'm a tragic nerd for remembering this, at least McLachlan has appeared on the show, in a manner of speaking. When our favourite jerk is talking to his bulimic patient in need of a heart transplant: "You cut yourself. Probably highly ritualized. You play the same Sarah McLachlan song over and over while you do it. Probably works better than anti-depressants." The soundtrack sounds like it will be as well. Great show meets great music meets great label: I'll be downloading – legally – on September 18.

Diane is a publications manager who's addicted to television, movies, and books and justifies her pop culture obsessions by writing about them for Blogcritics. She also runs the TV, Eh? website, a compilation of news and information about Canadian television series.