House, M.D.: Season One

No one can argue that there's been a surfeit of doctors in TV dramas over the past 10 years, but none are quite like the protagonist of this edgy series, one of last season's few genuine sleepers. Working at a New Jersey teaching hospital, Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) is a brilliant diagnostician who is also acerbic and irascible, partially because he endures pain himself and takes Vicodin to get through the day. House works with many fine doctors, among them Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), Eric Foreman (Omar Epps), and James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), and he's renowned for his ability to “think outside the box.” Much of the show's effectiveness is attributable to co-producer Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects), who directed several early episodes and got the series—which sometimes plays like a mystery, as House and his team try to diagnose and treat diseases that often have bewildering symptoms—off to a flying start. Highlights from the 22-episode first season include “Detox,” in which House sets out to determine why a 16-year-old car-crash victim continues to bleed (House's mind is a bit clouded because he's just accepted a challenge to stay off painkillers for a week), as well as a midseason cluster of episodes featuring Chi McBride as Ed Vogler, a billionaire businessman who literally buys his way onto the hospital's Board of Directors and plans on making big changes—including the dismissal of House and his team. Another terrific installment is “Three Stories,” which finds House's ex-girlfriend imploring him to help her ailing husband, as well as House challenging students to diagnose three patients with similar symptoms. Another fascinating example of detective-story technique brought to bear in a medical series, House, M.D. bows on DVD in a letterboxed widescreen (rather than anamorphic, unfortunately) set that includes six bonus featurettes with peeks behind-the-scenes and interviews with cast and crew. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)