Press: The Season of Second Chances - NYT [Media: TV - House]

The Season of Second Chances - New York Times: "The pilot of 'House' relied too much on gimmicks from other networks' hits. It crammed the repellent 'CSI'-style close-ups of cells and internal organs alongside both the melodrama of 'E.R.' and the clowning of 'Scrubs.' But the series calmed down and quickly found its footing, mainly by focusing on the maimed foot of the hero, Dr. Gregory House. Played by the English actor Hugh Laurie, House is bitter, wickedly irreverent and lame - a damaged romantic hero in the tradition of Lord Byron, Cyrano de Bergerac, James Mason in the 1946 movie 'The Seventh Veil' and the soul-battered Philip Marlowe (though Raymond Chandler's P.I. also took more than his fair share of kicks and punches).

"House is bracingly rude and sarcastic as he seeks a cure for patients' mysterious symptoms, which is entertaining in itself - a Mad Magazine take on Dr. Marcus Welby. But the archetype of the wounded male is most appealing to women for its romance: masculinity tempered by need or perhaps just crankiness with a justifiable cause. "