Almost Breaking The Cycle Of "Repetitive Medical Theatre," "Season 4" Of House, M.D. Is Worthwhile.

The Good: Character elements are shaken up some, Hugh Laurie, Decent-enough DVD bonus features
The Bad: Still rather formulaic on the plot front, Secondary cast often neglected (especially on character!)
The Basics: Plot events force a return to form for House, M.D. as the show challenges Hugh Laurie when House must replace his diagnostic team!


It's hard not to love what the writer's strike of the 2007-2008 television series is doing for collectors of DVDs now. One might think that this would lower the cost of most DVD boxed sets and there has, to be fair, been some marginal savings on some DVD sets. Take the House, M.D. Season Four set. Unlike the prior seasons which had twenty-four episodes, the Season Four boxed set arrives with a scant sixteen episodes spread over four discs.

But over the four discs, the viewer is treated to the most original incarnation of House, M.D. since the first season and, for my money, it's about time. My pretty constant critique of House, M.D. has been that it is horribly repetitive. We get it: House is a curmudgeon and has an abrasive personality that often offends those he works with. Wow, that would be a problem, save that he is also brilliant and (almost) always comes up with the right diagnosis for a patient right before they die. Convenient, that. But from the first few episodes, the viewer gets it and by the time the show began its third season, I - for one - was ready for something more. After all, if there are any constants in House, M.D., they are that House will insult his staff and declare, "It's not Lupus" once per episode. Fortunately, that formula is shaken up some from the outset of the fourth season.

Picking up where the third season of House, M.D. ended, Dr. Gregory House finds himself without a staff. After discovering that the janitor at the hospital might not be the best diagnostician, Wilson assembles a pool of doctors from which House must choose a new staff of diagnostic specialists. These include Thirteen, whose mother died of a rare hereditary disease that she might have and Dr. Kutner, an ambitious doctor who seems able to put up with House's personal and ethnic insults.

Unlike the prior seasons, the search for the new diagnostic team shakes up the plots and allows for something other than just the medical mystery of the week that is being solved. Instead, the serialized elements of the whittling down and adapting to the new staff dominate much of the season. This is not to say that the show is without its obvious episodic aspects. Like the prior seasons, the show soon becomes a series where virtually every episode begins with a person suddenly suffering from an affliction - usually resulting in them bleeding or falling unconscious - which causes them to be brought to the Princeton-Plainboro Teaching Hospital. When no one else understands what is wrong with said character, Dr. Gregory House takes over the case with his team of diagnostic fellows. Usually, House has a clue, torments his staff until they guess what he suspects, the patient takes a nose-dive and an unrelated conversation sparks House into coming up with the correct diagnosis.

In following that pattern, this season, House's patients include: a fighter pilot, a wheelchair-bound man with his service dog, a woman who talks to the dead, a personality chameleon, and a CIA agent with no medical history. As well, there is a memorable teenager who has heart attacks and a bus crash that House himself is involved in. Almost all of these patients come to House and his team desperate and go through the formulaic plot of getting far worse through the trial-and-error methods of the medical staff before the right diagnosis is reached. Then, they usually have a miraculous and almost instantaneous recovery.

So, what it comes down to is the characters and for the most part, the characters are pretty much who they've been all along, though now they are given some new challenges which admittedly stretch them in new directions. For those unfamiliar with the series, the principle characters are:

Dr. Gregory House - Head of Diagnostic Medicine and a recovering Vicodin addict, he walks with a cane because of a prior medical condition. Having lost his prior team, he works to assemble a new one and discovers most of them want nothing to do with him. Soon, he begins to quietly pine for his old gang, though he does seem quite happy with Thirteen by his side,

Dr. Lisa Cuddy - House's boss and chief administrator of the hospital. She shows up and pushes House toward picking a new team,

Dr. Foreman - Having quit House's team to try to retain his humanity, he soon finds himself at his new hospital diagnosing patients much the same way that House would. Fired from that position, he quietly returns to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital,

Dr. Cameron - Now working in the ER, she has minor run-ins with House, but otherwise finds herself betting with Chase on which of the interns will be axed next. As she has more and more run-ins with House, their sexual tension begins to resurface,

Dr. Chase - Having been fired by House, he now works elsewhere in the hospital and is largely a nonentity this season,

Drs. Kutner, Taub, and Hadley ("Thirteen") - Originally designated by numbers, they are the doctors who survive House's rigorous tests to join his team,

and Dr. Wilson - The only man who truly knows House, he pals around with his friend and tries to assist him when he can. Wilson establishes the pool of applicants from which House must choose his new team and he even strikes out on his own to date Nurse Amber.

The problem with continuing from the characters to the acting is that there is nothing tremendous with the acting in this season. Jennifer Morrison plays Dr. Cameron essentially as a bored doctor as she wrestles with being a part of the Emergency Room staff. Morrison is able to infuse enough disappointment into Cameron to make her character's desire to return to House's side realistic. Similarly, Omar Epps has always played Foreman with an intensity that makes him seem like the next natural House and he is given the opportunity to play with that some more this season and he makes it work.

Sadly, Lisa Edlestein and Jesse Spencer are almost entirely neglected as Cuddy and Chase. As well, Robert Sean Leonard is only given the chance to shine in the last few episodes as Dr. Wilson. His character's desire to have a personal life plays out well and gives him the chance to be something other than the milquetoast to House's curmudgeon. Of the new recruits, Olivia Wilde takes the natural lead as Thirteen and she plays off actor Hugh Laurie quite well.

As for the perpetually award-nominated Hugh Laurie, he finally returns to a caliber of acting that makes one think he deserves the accolades. Don't get me wrong; Laurie has been wonderful at establishing Dr. House from the first moments of the first season. The problem as far as acting goes is that he's seldom given the opportunity to DO anything with that. Instead, it's more of the same, over and over; House makes quips and never grows. In the fourth season, House grows and Laurie is given the task of making his transformation both gradual and realistic. On his own, Laurie forced House to slowly evolve into someone who is weakened by the changes forced upon him by his own bad behavior. And Laurie makes it work.

As for the DVD presentation itself, the show looks fine, but is quite light on extras. There is a lone commentary track on the penultimate episode of the season. As well, there's a featurette on the writers and the new characters brought on to shake things up. As well, there is an Anatomy Of A Scene featurette on the all-important bus crash and one that looks back at cast favorite episodes. For a four-disc set that only has sixteen episodes, FOX does seem to be trying to give the fans of House, M.D. their money's worth.

"Season Four" becomes the first season I can enthusiastically review since the first, even if it is shorter than the others.

For other works featuring Olivia Wilde, please check out my reviews of:
In Time
The Change-Up
Cowboys And Aliens
Tron: Legacy
The Next Three Days
Year One

7.5/10

For other television reviews, be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Repetitive Medical Theatre, Vol. 3 - House, M.D. - Season 3 Falls Down

The Good: Moments of character, Mysteries are interesting, Moments of acting
The Bad: It's ALL been done before! Lame DVD extras.
The Basics: In a dismally repetitive season for anyone who has been watching the show, House, M.D. Season 3 on DVD fails to impress and live up to the greatness of the medium.


Do you ever sit and watch something and find yourself asking, "Why am I still watching this?" I can't remember the last film I did not sit through to its end in order to be able to write a true and fair review of it, but when it comes to boxed set DVDs, the time commitment is so much greater and I've begun to feel like sometimes I'm taking one for the team with some of the sets I'm reviewing. Fortunately, in the case of House, M.D. Season Three, the torment of sitting through the entire five-disc, twenty-four episode set on DVD will help benefit the fight against breast cancer, so I suppose it was worth it.

For those who might not understand my gripe against one of the most acclaimed shows on television, House, M.D., in its third season, has degenerated into one of the most repetitive and formulaic shows on television. The actors are not so much required to act by growing and changing their characters as much as they are compelled to repeat the same performance over and over and over again. Rewatching the episodes on DVD, the problem becomes more than evident and the repetitive nature of the show, especially for those who watched the prior two seasons, is overwhelming.

Picking up where House, M.D. - Season Two (reviewed here!) left off, with Dr. Gregory House recovering from being shot, House returns to work apparently cured of his crippled leg. He resumes barking orders at his three diagnostic assistants and treating ailments both macabre and grotesque. As he goes through his daily routine, it soon becomes evident that he is not cured and he is once more addicted to pain medication. While House continues to isolate himself, his staff begins to strain, though Drs. Cameron and Chase begin to hook up. While House is investigated by police Detective Tritter, the loyalties of House's staff members are put to the test.

Like both season one (reviewed here!) and season two before it, House, M.D. Season 3 on DVD is a mostly episodic show with character elements that are serialized. For those who have not seen the show, virtually every episode begins with a person suddenly suffering from an affliction - usually resulting in them bleeding or falling unconscious - which causes them to be brought to the Princeton-Plainboro Teaching Hospital. When no one else understands what is wrong with said character, Dr. Gregory House takes over the case with his team of three diagnostic fellows. Usually, House has a clue, torments his staff until they guess what he suspects, the patient takes a nose-dive and an unrelated conversation sparks House into coming up with the correct diagnosis.

Over and over and over and over and over again . . . In this season, House's patients include: a child with rectal bleeding, a morbidly obese man, a screaming autistic kid, a comatose patient, a girl who cannot feel pain (hmm . . . didn't they do that in an earlier season, no, wait, that was Grey's Anatomy) and an outbreak of a plague on an airplane. As I've said in earlier reviews of House, M.D. seasons, the medical mysteries are interesting, but for the most part they are unsolvable save by those with an advanced medical degree. So, unlike a murder mystery where one can spout off suspects, House, M.D. is a mystery that has to spell out its killers without most people having a real chance of getting there first. And given the way facts are presented in most episodes, most viewers with a medical background wouldn't be able to get there anyway as usually there is a crucial test run at the last minute that turns the whole diagnosis.

So, what it comes down to is the characters and for the most part, the characters are pretty much who they've been all along - until the last few episodes. For those unfamiliar with the series, the principle characters are:

Dr. Gregory House - Head of Diagnostic Medicine and a Vicodin addict, he walks with a cane because of a prior medical condition. While he appears healed at the outset of the season, amid his self-doubt over his diagnosis's, he soon becomes drug-addicted again. This results in his continued superior attitude and lack of genuine caring for anyone around him. As the season goes on, a vindictive police detective works to get House out of the hospital and thrown in jail,

Dr. Lisa Cuddy - House's boss and chief administrator of the hospital. She works to keep the diagnostic team together and Dr. House in his place. Her big moment comes from sharing a plane ride with House overseas,

Dr. Foreman - The doctor who takes the brunt of much of House's abuse, he becomes the member of the team Detective Tritter thinks he can flip to use against House. Deeply human, he begins to question what working for House is doing to him as a person,

Dr. Cameron - No longer possessing a crush on House, she nevertheless stands by him during his legal troubles. She begins seeing Dr. Chase, but leaves him when he wants more than a casual relationship. She is competent and in this season she becomes more assertive,

Dr. Chase - The good-looking doctor continues to work to earn House's respect and falls short. He turns to Cameron, but when she rejects him, this causes tensions in the team and leads him to make professional mistakes,

and Dr. Wilson - The only man who truly knows House, he pals around with his friend and tries to assist him when he can. He counterbalances House's acerbic nature with his deep humanity and kindness.

The problem with continuing from the characters to the acting is that there is nothing tremendous with the acting in this season. Hugh Laurie, Omar Epps, and Lisa Edelstein are all great, but they aren't giving viewers anything new by way of their performances. They are as static in their acting as their characters are in their routines. Indeed, Robert Sean Leonard (Wilson) becomes so annoying in his flawless portrayal of Dr. Wilson as a nice and decent guy that the viewer is left wondering why the character has anything to do with House.

The closest to growth on the acting level comes from Jennifer Morrison (Cameron) and Jesse Spencer (Chase), though how much acting growth there actually is is somewhat up in the air. That is to say the characters Morrison and Spencer play are the ones most altered during the course of the season and the actors simply adapt to suit the scripts. That said, Morrison plays Cameron as assertive with a convincing amount of force and spine. Similarly, when Spencer is called upon to play Chase as wounded, he proves he is not just the generically good-looking guy on the show. He pulls off the more angsty edge he is supposed to.

As for the DVD presentation itself, the show looks fine, but is quite light on extras. There is a lone commentary track on one episode featuring one of the writer-producers and it's not terribly exciting. There's a featurette on the music and the blooper reel which is fine. In other words, casual fans of the series will not get their money's worth out of this boxed set. Instead, the viewer is likely to feel cheated of something that could be far more original than this set pretends to be.

For other repetitive shows, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Six Feet Under
Wonderfalls
Homicide: Life On The Street

5/10

For other television reviews, be sure to visit my Movie Review Index Page.

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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The Razor Decision On Repetitive Medical Theatre, Season Two Of House, M.D.

The Good: Excellent character development and acting
The Bad: Very repetitive plots, DVD bonuses are good, but not stellar
The Basics: In a close call, the second season of House, M.D. fails to impress on the story front, though the characters and dialogue are still fun to experience once.


Some years ago, a friend of mine was obsessed with a comedy show that was supposed to be cutting edge, clever and funnier than anything on television. She had me sit down and watch marathons of the show and as they plodded on, she seemed to get personally annoyed that I was not enjoying them as much as she was. The series was Strangers With Candy (reviewed here!) and my main gripe with the series was that the show was a one-trick pony. The protagonist basically went through her day at school, picked up an issue that might be focused on in an afterschool special and then satirized it. There was no real growth and by the time I sat through the third season of the show, I wasn't even amused; I was calling jokes before they were told. Sitting through the second season of House, M.D. brings that experience vividly to my mind.

Picking up where House, M.D. - The Complete First Season (reviewed here!) ended, "The Complete Second Season" offers mostly just more of the same. With twenty-four new episodes, the series progresses as a strange combination of episodic medical mysteries and serialized character arcs where virtually everyone but the protagonist grows and changes.

In the second season, the sarcastic and angry Dr. Gregory House continues to limp around as chief diagnostic doctor of a New Jersey hospital., doing his best to cure those who arrive in pain, even though he believes all of them are lying for the most part. Accompanied by his team of diagnostic doctors - Foreman, Chase and Cameron - House finds himself wrestling with feelings for his ex-wife, Stacy. While Dr. Wilson's marriage falls apart, hospital administrator Dr. Cuddy begins to explore her own future.

The problem with season two is that all of the weaknesses of season one are present and because they persist, the problems are getting worse. In short, House, M.D. is a very predictable set of medical mysteries that forms a rather solid patterns. Dr. House angrily snipes at everyone he works with and maintains an affect of indifference while becoming engaged in a medical mystery. The medical mysteries force him to engage with patients, a practice he hates, and his colleagues seem shocked every week when he meets with a new patient, despite the fact that he continues to do that.

On the character front, then, one of the primary weaknesses of House, M.D. - The Complete Second Season is that the characters react to the first season characterization of Dr. House as opposed to the reality of who he has become. In season one, there were several episodes early on where House did not interact with patients (other than to confront them, call them liars and move on), but that eroded as the season progressed and his colleagues and subordinates were legitimately shocked. In season two, that's no longer a big stretch, but every episodes, the characters act like it is.

In this season, House and his team take to treating patients who have various medical problems that are either compelling for the medical mystery or interesting for who the person is. So, for example, the season opens with House treating a death row inmate who killed four people. The team treats a cancer patient who is hallucinating, Dr. Cuddy's roof worker who falls and shatters his spine, a doctor who has been working in Africa to eliminate tuberculosis, drug using teen-agers and athletes, an AIDS patient, an aphasic journalist, a mentally ill hypochondriac, a burn victim, a transplant patient, a 15 year-old supermodel, and a corrupt cop who infects Dr. Foreman with something lethal.

As interesting as any of the cases might be, the series is much stronger as any individual episode as opposed to the actual season. Why? The plots are almost all told the same way (there are two notable exceptions). Usually, the episode goes exactly like this: there are two people in the teaser, one begins to appear weak, the other collapses completely, usually bleeding or convulsing (there are only so many times this bait and switch works with us, producers!!!), House and his team get the case, form an initial diagnosis which makes the problem worse. House, juggling between the clinic duties he is trying to avoid and the actual main case, figures out a solution to the main case from an offhanded remark or coincidental circumstance in the clinic case, the patient lives.

The narrative technique is especially repetitive and the whole medical aspect of this becomes rather dull rather quickly. There are two notable exceptions to this formula. In "The Mistake," the episode it told via flashbacks that reconstruct a failure the team had and the legal consequences of it. The season finale, wherein Dr. House is shot by a former patient's husband, is also told in a very different way. House begins to hallucinate while working on the case, even as he diagnosis it from his bed and he soon realizes that he is losing his mind. "No Reason" ends the season on a note that is very curious; many shows would do a reality-bending episode as a season premiere to open the season in a new way, ending the season with the shooting instead. The solely unique plot aspect in the otherwise formulaic House, M.D. up until this point is to defy television conventions and create something that might not be surprising, but is certainly more about creating good art (good television) as opposed to good business (hooking viewers with a last minute shooting to get them to come back the next season).

The problem is, with all of the formulaic plot concepts utilized in House, M.D. - The Complete Second Season, the character aspects begin to suffer in very serious ways. So, for example, in "Euphoria - Parts 1 and 2," Dr. Foreman contracts a condition from a corrupt cop that forces him to share an isolated hospital room with the other party. The resolution to this problem leaves an intriguing mess that deeply affects Dr. Foreman's ability to perform as a diagnostician. The problem here is that by the end of the next episode after that, the complications are all gone and by the finale, his ordeal is almost completely forgotten. That is to say that the end of "Euphoria - Part 2" creates a new, compelling problem for Foreman, but that problem is so quickly resolved by and within the next episode that the viewer feels a bit cheated. In short, there are so few consequences that the series seems rather stagnant.

The character aspects are where there is any potential for growth or change, but here things are largely stagnant as well. As a result of the events in "The Mistake," Foreman takes over the department and he becomes House's boss. While Cuddy delights in the effect this has on such things as getting paperwork in, the dynamic between the team members does not significantly shift. Instead, House is equally annoying and dismissive of Foreman and Cuddy, while still being as right as he usually is. The result is, effectively, no change.

In short, Foreman is given the opportunity to grow and change and he fails utterly, merely taking abuse from House from a slightly different position. In order to fully understand who the characters are and how little they grow in the season, it's important to see how they enter the season. The essential characters of House, M.D. - The Complete Second Season are:

Dr. Gregory House - A brilliant doctor, low on the social skills. Years ago, part of his thigh muscle was removed, so he limps around now with a cane, sarcastic, hating everyone and addicted to Vicodin. He is now agitated and tempted by the presence of his ex-wife, Stacy, who is the hospital's new legal counsel. House leads the diagnostic team and he is smart, but acerbic. His big growth this season is buying a motorcycle (I don't count Wilson moving in with him as growth as he continues to manipulate and torment his one friend in the world from the benefit of his own home),

Dr. Lisa Cuddy - Chief administrator of the hospital, she is responsible for keeping House employed. She is responsible for hiring Stacy, promoting Foreman and basically quips at House most of the season. Her big growth comes late in the season when she decides she might want to be a mother,

Dr. Eric Foreman - One of three fellows working under House, Foreman is a neurologist who is put in charge of the team when Chase and House accidentally kill a patient. He runs the department with efficiency, writes a paper - that Cameron argues he stole from her - and contracts a nearly lethal condition,

Dr. Robert Chase - An Australian fellow working under Dr. House, he finds himself overwhelmed this season and seldom in the right. He escapes to another department for a brief time, finds himself attracted to Dr. Cameron and otherwise continues on as House's whipping boy,

Dr. Allison Cameron - The final fellow under Dr. House, she claims that she is over House, but she still goes out on any number of limbs for the mean, crazy doctor at virtually every opportunity. When it appears she may be infected with HIV, she finds herself throwing herself at Chase. Deeply human, she is still crippled by the inability to tell patient's bad news, a fact that becomes complicated when she becomes Foreman's medical proxy,

Stacy - House's ex-wife and lawyer for the hospital. She finds herself working more and more in proximity with House and thus finds herself more and more tempted by him,

and Dr. James Wilson - House's one true friend in the world and an oncologist. When his affair with his wife is pre-empted by her cheating on him, he moves in with House, but finds that's not ideal for either of them. Wilson becomes deeply concerned with his friend as he exhibits a growing attraction for Stacy, remembering what happened the last time she broke his heart.

As with the first season, the acting is good in that the actors play their character quite well. There is very little in the way of acting in this season that is genuinely different or challenging to the actors. Hugh Laurie continues to play House with a flawless American accent, Lisa Edelstein plays Cuddy with dignity and distinction and recurring guest star Sela Ward presents Stacy as someone very different from her character of Lily from Once And Again (season one is reviewed here!).

The only two to show real acting depth this season, stretching from where they were in season one or from other points in season two are Jennifer Morrison as Dr. Cameron and Omar Epps as Foreman. Morrison is given the chance to play Cameron as out of control in a few scenes in two episodes and she rises to the challenge of playing the character as very different, but with the same feeling that the person on screen is the character we've seen before.

Epps is the real winner on the acting front in this boxed set. Epps plays Foreman as authoritative, dying, recovering with serious problems and as a medical professional who is establishing personal and professional barriers for himself. It is Epps who makes the series anything to shout at on the development of acting front as he radically alters his body language, vocal tones and even the way he looks at characters to express the character in new and different ways.

Perhaps the saddest commentary on the lack of acting challenges is illustrated in the bonus materials. Lisa Edelstein and Jennifer Morrison provide two alternate takes on scenes where they present their lines with Valley Girl accents and affects. Far from funny more than once, this is a sad commentary on the way their characters are treated. More than anything, Cuddy and Cameron are condemned on screen to complaining about other characters, setting a poor standard for women to emulate.

The Museum of Television and Radio footage of "An Evening With House, M.D." is as short and uninsightful as the similar outings on other DVD sets I've seen, with lame, obvious questions asked of cast and production staff that could be answered by checking out the commentary tracks.

Ultimately, that's why I let the razor fall on the side of "not recommend" for this boxed set. Despite the character threads which are interesting, there's not enough value in this boxed set to buy it and make it a part of your collection. If you've seen the episodes on television in first run or in syndication, you'll get the point. Sitting and watching this set on DVD rapidly becomes a tired, predictable experience that is less satisfying than it ought to be. To wit, almost every episode on discs three through six, I would find myself looking up at the counter on my DVD player, realizing that there was still fifteen minutes left in the episode and anticipating the next crash, that would come seconds later. That type of repetitive, formulaic television is - at best - the definition of average.

For other works with Jennifer Morrison, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Once Upon A Time - Season 1
Star Trek
Mr. And Mrs. Smith

5/10

For other television reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Medical Repetition Theatre, House, M.D. - The Complete First Season

The Good: Interesting characters, Good acting
The Bad: If you've seen one episode, you've seen most of them, Special effects, Repetitive plots
The Basics: While the curmudgeon Dr. House is fun to watch, the formulaic repetitions of the episodes of House, M.D. - The Complete First Season make the DVD a tough sell.


When I got my hands on House, M.D. - The Complete First Season I was excited. I've caught an episode or two on FOX and enjoyed the program. I sat down, if anything, biased for it. I was so eager that I cleared my viewing schedule and did a House, M.D. marathon. And you know what? Now that I've done the marathon, I can say with complete confidence that getting this series on DVD is a complete waste of money.

Dr. Gregory House is a diagnostic doctor, charged with finding out what is truly wrong with the patients who cross his path. He lives by the motto "Everyone lies" and tries to interact as little with patients as possible. He is a curmudgeon leading his team of diagnostic doctors who execute his treatments, often imperiling the life of the patient until they manage to get the diagnosis right. Because he is such a pain in the butt, House is also serving an extended sentence in the hospital's clinic to please the Chief of Staff, Dr. Cuddy. Dr. Cuddy finds herself alternately fighting and defending House from patients, doctors and a businessman willing to grant the hospital $100,000,000 . . . for a price.

The thing is, for a serialized show - the characters develop over the course of the episodes - this show is remarkably repetitive. The average episode in the first season goes like this: Patient A is doing something, their vision gets blurry and they collapse to the ground (ROLL CREDITS). House and his team convene to evaluate what the problem with the patient is. House sits back and lets his three apprentices flounder for an answer while he waits, then declares what the proper course of action is or what test ought to be run. Tests are run. House moves on to Patient B in the clinic, who is usually suffering from something mundane, he blows Patient B off and returns to Patient A. Patient A is now suffering something more extreme and the staff returns to the whiteboard to re-evaluate. Usually there is a test here that can be run to make a definitive diagnosis, but it cannot be run for some specific reason (i.e. a metal plate in the jaw that is preventing x-rays, the location of a tumor, pregnancy, etc.) and House sends the staff out to look in a different way. This usually involves Dr. Foreman breaking and entering into the residence of the patient to gain information. A new course of action is prescribed and the patient takes a turn for the worse that will (usually) have them killed by the end of the day. House, resigned to this, returns to the clinic, to encounter Patient B with a new problem or a worsening of their earlier problem, which he solves easily and in doing so has an epiphany about how to better treat Patient A. Rushing back to Patient A, House exposes whatever lie they told (knowingly or unknowingly) that put them in a bad place, a proper diagnosis is given and the patient is cured.

Out of the twenty-two episodes in this boxed set, most follow that basic format. Sprinkled throughout, of course, are character moments where House is called a curmudgeon, insults someone, does something ethically problematic or otherwise interesting and the viewer is encouraged to stick around. Watching the show on DVD, though, it becomes clear that the strength of House, M.D. is in the fact that there is usually a week between episodes. Without that buffer, the episodes become quickly tiresome.

Part of the reason for this is one of the most esoteric uses of special effects ever for a television show. Bryan Singer, director of The Usual Suspects and the very popular X-Men (reviewed here!), is an executive producer of House, M.D. and the general special effect repeated through the first season is a rapid pan into an orifice or blood vessel to reveal what is going on within a patient at a microscopic - or close to it - level. We see a number of blood clots rushed into and obstructed blood vessels. We see nerves firing and by the third time it happens, the viewer realizes that the reason it seems so familiar is that this is essentially the same special effect that was used during the opening credits to X-Men. The problem with it in the first season is that it is essentially the same visual sequence used over and over again with minor tweaks. In short, it's anything but special.

What keeps the show from being completely tedious are the characters and the acting. The characters in House, M.D. are interesting and when their extra-patient storylines offer opportunities to develop them, the shows have a nice sense of flow and easily hook the viewer. When the show develops plotlines that arc over several episodes - never the medical cases - the show is rather interesting. For example, billionaire Edward Vogler comes to the hospital with a $100,000,000 grant and begins making administrative changes and shoving House and his staff around. For five episodes, House is plagued by the need to fire one of his team and Dr. Chase seizes on the opportunity to ally himself with Vogler. It's an interesting set of episodes. Unfortunately, they are some of the last episodes of the season and the viewer has almost (ALMOST!) tuned out by that point.

Because so much hinges on the characters, it's important to know who the primary characters of House, M.D. are in the first season. The characters are:

Dr. Gregory House - The leader of the diagnostic staff, he walks with a cane and a severe limp from a medical condition (it's a surprise revealed late in the season) and is asocial and almost always irritable. House has little in the way of people skills and often what comes out of his mouth is either racist, sexist or just plain mean. He cares about solving medical mysteries and he does it especially well,

Dr. Lisa Cuddy - Chief administrator of the hospital, she is responsible for keeping House employed. While she recognizes his genius, she also controls whether he stays employed or is fired and much of the season, she and House are at odds with one another,

Dr. Eric Foreman - One of three fellows working under House, Foreman was hired by House for his street skills and he often bears the brunt of House's acerbic remarks. Less eager than the other fellows to impress House, he is a competent doctor and perhaps the most emotionally balanced of the ensemble,

Dr. Robert Chase - An Australian fellow working under Dr. House, he resents House's style and seeks to learn in a more comfortable and nurturing environment. Chase is not particularly liked by anyone for his constant "I told you so" attitude when he is actually right. He suffers some from allying with a political enemy of House,

Dr. Allison Cameron - The final fellow under Dr. House, she harbors an attraction to the doctor that goes well beyond mentor/pupil. Cameron is smart, articulate and efficient, working at least as hard to prove herself on the team as any. As the season goes on, she gets her chance to impress House, despite her difficulties with delivering bad news,

and Dr. James Wilson - House's one true friend in the world and a surgeon outside the diagnostic team. Wilson's specialty is oncology and he humanizes House as much as he can, often offering a counterbalance to House's drug-addled rants.

House, M.D. is definitely intended for adults. House is, as a result of the pain in his leg, addicted to vicodin and between that and the clinic level of medical gore, this is clearly a show intended for adults. If it weren't so repetitive, it might ultimately satisfy them!

What does satisfy the viewer is the acting. Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. Wilson), Jesse Spencer (Chase), and Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Cameron) establish a fine base of actors to create the ensemble. All three overcome their Hollywood good looks to embody reasonable facsimiles of medical personnel. There's not a moment of watching them that the viewer is not convinced that these actors are not truly medical professionals.

Lisa Edelstein, who plays Dr. Cuddy, is wonderful in the role. Edelstein was instantly recognizable to me as a fan of The West Wing, where she played a call girl in the first season (reviewed here!). Unlike her other roles, she plays a distinctly different character here. Cuddy is in control and Edelstein embodies her with a sense of education and presence that is uncanny, but completely necessary to sell the viewer on the role. Edelstein illustrates that she can hold her own completely in the role, often going head to head Hugh Laurie (who plays House) and realistically expressing and enforcing her character's will.

Omar Epps is wonderful as Dr. Foreman. Foreman is scripted as a cool, collected character working in an environment that is often insulting and/or challenging. Epps embodies the character perfectly with a body language that connotes tension perfectly when in the presence of Hugh Laurie, but ease when dealing with patience. Epps has wonderful body language and control and he makes the viewer believe and trust his character.

But no one rocks House, M.D. more than Hugh Laurie, with his perfect American accent and consistent limp. I first saw Laurie on the British comedy Black Adder (reviewed here!), where he was absolutely brilliant as a comedy actor. There is no trace of humor in Laurie's performance as the sarcastic and angry Dr. House. Laurie makes even the most outrageous and offensive lines seem natural and easy. He dominates every scene he is in with his casual command of the screen and easy delivery of even the most complicated of medical jargon.

But after all that, the three discs that comprise this boxed set (usually four episodes per side, front and back) are somewhat disappointing. The bonus features are all featurettes that have little real insight (there are no commentaries on any of the episodes) into the episodes and merely repeat the better moments of the season for the fans to see again, out of context.

Were it not for the strength of the character of Dr. House and the acting by this ensemble cast, House, M.D. would be too repetitive to watch, much less recommend. Ultimately, this came down to a razor decision with me "recommending" based on the idea that if one has never seen House, M.D. it's an enjoyable show and if you can get it out via Netflix or your local library, it's certainly worth a viewing.

As for owning, it's hard to justify the purchase, even to fans of medical dramas. This one is terribly formulaic and given its relative quality, that's a disappointment.

For other works with Hugh Laurie, please visit my reviews of:
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Fortysomething
Friends - Season 4

6/10

For other television shows, be sure to visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing.

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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With Only Six Episodes, It's Tough To Get Excited About Fortysomething - The Complete Series!

The Good: Acting, Moments of humor.
The Bad: Largely unfunny, Characters are hardly interesting, Lack of DVD bonus footage
The Basics: With only six episodes, Fortysomething does very little other than talk a lot about sex and present Hugh Laurie as a different doctor than House.


The year before he became Dr. House, actor Hugh Laurie was over playing a doctor for the BBC. I had been acquainted with Laurie's work from the British comedy Black Adder (reviewed here!) and when he began House, M.D. I watched for him. As the show became more and more formulaic and repetitive, my interest waned (though I managed to suffer through and review the DVDs). So, when a copy of Fortysomething - The Complete Series landed on my desk, I decided to try to renew my love of Hugh Laurie.

Laurie stars in Fortysomething as Dr. Paul Slippery, a middle aged man who begins to hallucinate and question his sanity when his wife re-enters the workforce and his sexually active children leave home. It's a Bristish comedy and . . . largely it is not funny. In fact, the best moments in the six-episode series involve Paul fantasizing over his fellow doctor, Surinder. The sexual tension in those scenes is wonderful, realistic and compelling. But, of course, the series instead aims for the cheap laughs as opposed to making a conflicted dramatic piece.

Because the series is so short, it's easiest to describe the plot of the show in terms of the actual episodes. As a result, Fortysomething - The Complete Series involves:

Episode 1 - Paul Slippery hunts for a patient and friend, fearing he might take a lethal dose of Viagra. His wife, in the meantime, gets a new job when she loses her old one. Their son, Daniel, steals Rory's (his older brother) girlfriend, despite having a girlfriend of his own.

Episode 2 - While Paul plans a romantic dinner with his wife, Daniel's girlfriend arrives and Paul becomes involved with trying to keep the two girls from finding out about one another. As well, Paul's coworker, Dr. Pilfrey begins to romantically pursue Paul's wife, Estelle.

Episode 3 - Pilfrey literally goes insane trying to get it on with Estelle, which happens when the National Health Service arrives to do an inspection. Paul helps speed his mental demise along by allowing Pilfrey to believe that his youngest son, Edwin, is actually the health inspector and is in league with him.

Episode 4 - Estelle delivers a speech at a conference for women only. Feeling jealous and left out, Paul dons a burka and sneaks in to listen and offer his own brand of moral support. This is set against the youth of the house convincing Paul that an herbal supplement he thinks is fake, Erogin-8, actually works.

Episode 5 - Paul mistakes Estelle's attempts to keep a surprise party for him secret for her having an affair, which he soon comes to believe is a series of affairs with about twenty old friends. This is exacerbated by Paul meeting up with one of his old friends at an A.A. meeting and taking everything he says entirely the wrong way.

and Episode 6- Paul and Estelle's sons Rory and Daniel move out after both of Daniel's girlfriends leave him. While they get into a drunken stupor in their own flat, Paul allows Dr. Pilfrey, who has returned from his state-mandated vacation, hypnotize him - with disastrous results.

Fortysomething is, at best, entirely average. Indeed, the show is surprisingly slow for a comedy and predictable in the worst possible ways a comedy can be. So, for example, in Episode 6, Pilfrey abusing Dr. Slippery using hypnotherapy techniques is one of the most obvious potential plots ever to hit comedy. In fact, the only thing that saves that whole aspect of the episode is Hugh Laurie's acting. While the plot is dull and the character development is completely stale (that Dr. Slippery so readily trusts Pilfrey after despising him so much in the first few episodes is utterly unrealistic), Hugh Laurie's ability to enthusiastically cluck like a chicken is marvelously played.

And to his credit, Hugh Laurie has moments where we are reminded just how funny he can be. He has a pretty amazing sense of comic timing and he plays off costars Anna Chancellor and Lolita Chakrabarti expertly. Chancellor, for her part, illustrates that she can play a character who has some expressions of inner turmoil, unlike her monolithic character in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. She plays the straightwoman to Laurie's often outrageous facial expressions and in Episodes 4 and 6 she illustrates some real gravitas when expressing her character's feelings about the direction her life has gone in.

The supporting cast is not nearly as good, though Chakrabarti is consistently good in her role as Surinder. Unfortunately, her character is brought in to play the straightwoman to Dr. Slippery in the professional setting scenes. Unlike Chakrabarti, Peter Capaldi illustrates no talent for making the viewer care about Pilfrey at all. His entire time on screen, he appears only to do schtick acting and, frankly, it's not terribly funny from the outset. He keeps trying, though and during Pilfrey's absence from the series, he goes largely unmissed.

The rest of the cast is young actors and they are pretty universally bland. This is a tough distinction to make, though because the bulk of their time on screen, they are lounging around talking about sex. Fortysomething is largely about a middle aged man who wants sex (and a good sandwich) sitting around watching young people swapping sexual partners and wondering what happened to the vigor in his life.

But more than that, the characters never truly develop and instead, this seems like a very average, very British comedy, absent the wit. Usually, British comedy at least has wit. This . . . this has a few moments where the viewer might smile, but largely it's a chance to see Hugh Laurie play a different doctor.

For me, that's not quite enough.

For other one-season comedies, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Wonderfalls
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr.

4.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to check out my Television Reviews Index page for an organized listing of all the television DVD sets I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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As Much As I Love Blackadder, Blackadder Back And Forth Is A Tough Sell To Non-fans!

The Good: Moments of humor, Some decent acting, Good-enough DVD bonus features.
The Bad: Repetitive humor from the series, Requires a lot of information not in episode, SHORT!
The Basics: A curtain call made for the fans, Blackadder Back And Forth is a Blackadder time travel adventure that puts the series to rest well!


For those who might not follow my reviews regularly, with this review, I have now finished my review of all things Blackadder, but do not despair! Coming this month and until I am done with them will be reviews of the episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus! Yes, I cater to geek culture! The truth is, the two collections of British comedies are truly great and worthwhile ones and while I ultimately "recommend" Blackadder Back And Forth, my real recommendation is always going to be that people go out and buy The Complete Blackadder (reviewed here!) instead, as the complete collection is a far better overall value.

But on its own, Blackadder Back And Forth reunites the principle players in the Blackadder saga for one last go-around. It is more an homage to the series Blackadder than it is a standalone episode, but at a little over the thirty minute mark, Blackadder Back And Forth caps off the franchise in a way that has the distinction of not being as depressing as the episode "Goodbyeee" (reviewed here!) did. Fans of the franchise are likely to enjoy that as there was such melancholy in the last moments of that other episode. And while several of the performers are showing their age and while many of the jokes are so similar to those from the television series, Blackadder Back And Forth makes for a decent addition to the franchise and sends it out on a high note.

Edmund Blackadder is throwing a party for his friends on the eve of the Millennium changeover, December 31, 1999. As his witless friend friend George goes on about an optimistic future and his religious comrades Melchard and Darling back him up, Edmund finds himself disagreeing. Instead, he takes the much more bleak view that humanity is filled with wars, pestilence and horror that shall not simply be overturned with the changing of the date. The point becomes moot when the party begins to break up because of the cooking of Edmund's septic tank cleaner, Baldrick. To scam his friends - which seems pretty easy in the case of the lushy Elizabeth - Edmund introduces his friends to his newly-built time machine with which he wagers he can retrieve objects from the past in order to win bets with each.

Much to the surprise of Blackadder and Baldrick, the time machine Baldrick has built from one of DaVinci's notebook's plans actually works! Instead of having to scam his friends, Edmund and Baldrick kill off the dinosaurs using Baldrick's trousers before acquiring the authentic items Edmund promised his friends, plus a Shakespeare autograph! Upon returning to the present, though - after discovering themselves lost in time for a period - Blackadder and Baldrick discover their meddling with time has irrevocably changed history and they must attempt to undo some of their temporal infractions!

Because this is a comedy, things are hardly ever as dire as they might seem. So, for example, upon returning to the present, Blackadder discovers no one is impressed that he has William Shakespeare's autograph. Shakespeare, having taken a berating and a beating from Edmund on behalf of four hundred years of students, apparently took the ball-point pen Edmund had him sign the title page to The Tragedy Of MacBeth with and became known instead as the inventor of the ball-point pen! Shakespeare is played brilliantly in a cameo by Collin Firth and Firth is given surprisingly little to do, save be kicked by Atkinson's Blackadder. Firth pulls off the humor well, though, as he takes on a nervous affect and takes the beating.

Fans of the Blackadder franchise will enjoy the return to one of the most popular settings: the court of Queen Elizabeth the first. Edmund finds himself there and bribes her with a Lifesaver mint, which saves his life from the mood swings of the queen. Of course Melchard is there as well, but fans are likely to enjoy the five frames on screen Nursie has in the scene! There is a feeling of returning home with wonderful, beloved characters and it works perfectly in Blackadder Back And Forth.

Not content to simply recycle and revisit the already established Blackadder time periods, Blackadder Back And Forth presents at least two periods unique to this presentation. Viewers are treated to the Roman version of Blackadder - who complains wickedly about Hadran's wall - and to an encounter with Robin Hood and Maid Marion. Hood is an extension of the jokes with Flashheart from the series as he is an oversexed, somewhat crazed man whom Edmund escapes using his cunning. And Robin Hood is played by the same actor who played Flashheart and it is a welcome reprisal.

As well, the battle of Waterloo is featured, which allows viewers to see the past Darlings! In fact, Tim McInnerny's scenes are largely independent of Atkinson's and those who love the franchise might similarly be disappointed by the lack of screentime Hugh Laurie has as George. The actors successfully step back into the shoes of their established characters and in that way, Blackadder Back And Forth works.

But it is Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson who rule the Blackadder saga and this is still the case in Blackadder Back And Forth. Atkinson is sarcastic and debonair as Edmund and Robinson is appropriately clueless as Baldrick. Still, too many of their lines are delivered for the audience, as opposed to in character. So, when Robinson delivers his catchphrase about having a cunning plan, he draws it out, almost like he is saying good-bye to the line. Again, this is wonderful for the fans, but it holds up poorly for random viewers.

On DVD, Blackadder Back And Forth has a video diary of the Blackadder saga and a function that explains the historical allusions some might not otherwise get. There is no commentary track and fans might well be left feeling like it is ultimately a draw. Those who have not been into Blackadder will likely find things like the mechanic Tyrannosaurus Rex and the space battle effects utterly campy, but those who love British comedies will appreciate the camp quality.

In other words, Blackadder Back And Forth is best appreciated by the fans as the humor in it tends to be so self-referential as to be stifling to those not already invested in the series. And for those who are, there might be no greater good-bye than this one.

For other works featuring Colin Firth, please check out my reviews of:
The King's Speech
A Christmas Carol
Love Actually
Bridget Jones's Diary
Shakespeare In Love
The English Patient


5.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to check out my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Daring To Not Be Funny As Blackadder Goes Forth Reaches Its End!

The Good: Funny, Poignant, Some decent performances
The Bad: Medium
The Basics: Blackadder Goes Forth closes with "Part 2," a generally darker video to embody the darkness of the Great War.


Sometimes, there is an instinct within me to bump some of my favorite things up a notch or two just because I enjoy them and with the Blackadder saga, I have found I have held to my standards pretty well over reviewing the different seasons and episodes. So when I reached the final episodes of the final regular television series of Blackadder - Blackadder Goes Forth - I found myself actually having to review my objective standards to not rate the tape, Blackadder Goes Forth Part 2 too high. This is because the video has three episodes, one great, one good and one terrible.

As always, I find myself in this case griping some about the medium: Blackadder Goes Forth on video could have fit the entire series on a single video, so splitting it into "Part 1" and "Part 2" is somewhat wasteful, even for VHS. And while I ultimately recommend this video, it is a much better deal to find the episodes on DVD. This final tape for Blackadder Goes Forth has the last three episodes of that series, with "Private Plane," "General Hospital" and "Goodbyeee."

In "Private Plane," Blackadder's loathing of the war reaches a new high when he practices duck and cover during an air raid, only to discover the flyby is by British pilots. The pilot in question is actually Squadron Commander Flashheart and the lusty pilot lives up to family's promiscuous and sexually powerful line. After being knocked about by Flashheart, Blackadder realizes that the best way to survive the war might well be by becoming a pilot.

Attempting to get airmen training from Darling, Blackadder finds himself shut out. However, Melchard soon approves it and with five minutes training from Flashheart, Blackadder is set to join the twenty minute club. With Baldrick as his navigator, Blackadder stays in the air for less than twenty minutes, crashing on the German side of the lines where it looks like the war might be over for the reluctant soldier!

In "General Hospital," Edmund finds himself disgusted when - after a thoroughly witless game of "I Spy" between George and Baldrick, George is nearly blown up by a German bomb. Recovering in the hospital, he finds himself fancying Nurse Mary and writing letters to one of his many uncles. He is then recalled the headquarters where paranoia is running higher than usual.

There is a spy, it seems, in hospital and General Melchard wants Blackadder to go there to smoke out the guilty party. Darling, distrustful as ever of Blackadder, convinced Melchard to let him go to hospital to spy on Blackadder. Shot in the foot by Melchard, Darling then spies on Blackadder as he susses out the German spy!

In "Goodbyeee," Blackadder, George and Baldrick begin reminiscing about the war and their lives when they are given notice that the big push is to begin the next morning. Faced with the likelihood of certain death, Edmund becomes despondent and opts for the less-than cunning plan he picked up in the Sudan: to fake insanity. George, buying the act entirely, sends for General Melchard and Blackadder revels in the possibility of surviving the war.

When Melchard arrives, though, he mentions shooting soldiers who faked insanity, prompting Edmund to quit his charade. With the big push only hours away, Blackadder is stuck philosophizing with Baldrick and George on the very nature of war and peace and as dawn breaks, all three lives - and that of Darling - are changed forever.

The problem with Blackadder Goes Forth Part 2 is that it is irregular. "Private Plane" has the return of Flashheart, one of the characters who appeared in "Bells" (reviewed here!) in Blackadder II. He is still oversexed, horny and quite crazy. This incarnation is given an even bigger part than the earlier one, though his self-absorption is still as high as his ancestors. As the Squadron Commander, Flashheart provides a screwball adversary for Blackadder for an episode and that works wonderfully to shake things up.

Unfortunately, "General Hospital" is possibly the most mundane episode of the entire franchise and it sucks this video down like nothing else could. Not nearly as funny as the others, the return of Miranda Richardson - this time as a nurse - is welcome, but her part does not give her nearly enough to do to impress the viewer and it holds up poorly over multiple viewings.

What gets even better with subsequent viewings is "Goodbyeee" which does not even attempt to be funny. Instead, this episode muses on war and peace and the interchange between Baldrick and George on the subject might well be the best exchange Tony Robinson gets in the entire franchise and Hugh Laurie's sputtering as George in response to Baldrick's simple question of "what if we just stopped fighting?" is priceless. It is not funny, though. The episode treads toward the philosophical and clever, avoiding humor, save in the scenes where Edmund plays as crazy.

This video sends the Blackadder franchise off well, though it is hard for those who are not fans already to appreciate the significance and darkness of "Goodbyeee." Sure, casual viewers can understand the antiwar arguments, but the emotional resonance of the final scene of Blackadder Goes Forth is intended entirely for those who have been watching the series from the beginning. Again, writer Richard Curtis does not aim for funny, but he manages to be quite meaningful and the result is arguably one of the best series finales of all time, certainly of a comedy.

In the end, which this is for Blackadder, the episodes are held together largely on the consistent acting talent of Rowan Atkinson. As Blackadder, he is given the chance in these three episodes to step away from his deep sarcasm - at least in the final two episodes - and portray Edmund with a stronger sense of humanity. Atkinson loosens Edmund's body language and this sells the viewer on the idea that his character is truly someone who wants to live, to survive the great war.

And the Blackadder franchise - at least as a weekly television series - closes there with Edmund and Baldrick in World War One and the end feels very much like an end. Despite the problems with this tape, it is a worthy end to the characters and the series as it is.

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be Blackadder Goes Forth, reviewed here!
As well, those who already love Blackadder will find Blackadder - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, reviewed here!
Thanks for reading!]

6/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to check out my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Enjoying It More Than I Remember Before, Blackadder Goes Forth Part 1 Is Surprisingly Good!

The Good: Funny, Good characters, Decent acting
The Bad: Medium, Repetitive humor
The Basics: Funny and with more universal humor than I remembered it, the sarcastic Blackadder returns for Blackadder Goes Forth, Part 1 in World War 1!


Only those who have seen the other seasons of Blackadder are likely to find Blackadder Goes Forth anything less than absolutely incredible and original. After all, if one has not seen any of the earlier incarnations of the historic comedy, it is unlikely they would find the sarcasm, wit and articulation of Edmund Blackadder to be anything other than unique in the history of comedy. Moreover, the buffoons who surround Blackadder are played by comic geniuses like Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, so the show is brimming with talent and it appears to be unique.

But for fans of the Blackadder franchise, by the time Blackadder Goes Forth begins, the premise is obvious and most of the jokes are beaten deader than a dead horse after St. Beatings Day. Blackadder, in this incarnation, is a Captain in the British Army in World War One, stationed at the front and desperate to do anything to stay alive. Blackadder Goes Forth, Part 1 is a collection of the first three (of six) episodes from this series of Blackadder.

In "Captain Cook," Captain Edmund Blackadder intuits that General Haig's next plan for winning the war is the same plan as the prior seventeen times. Rather than go over the top into certain death, Blackadder entertains one of Baldrick's brilliant ideas, which turns out to be utterly unfeasible. However, when General Melchard reveals that "King And Country" needs a rousing patriotic portrait, Blackadder sees his opportunity to get out of the trenches.

Having swindled Lieutenant George out of just such a painting, Blackadder enthusiastically heads to high command in hopes of being reassigned to Paris. Unfortunately for him, Darling and Melchard have something else in store for him. As premiere artist of the day, Blackadder is assigned to draw a map of No Man's Land!

In "Corporal Punishment," Edmund manufactures one communications problem after another to ignore the persistent orders to push forth into No Man's Land and get killed. In his efforts, he pretends his phone is not working, disregards a telegram that abbreviates his name and ultimately shoots a prized pigeon which was General Melchard's only childhood friend. Arriving at the front, disgusted at the lack of advancement on Blackadder's part, Melchard learns of the death of his pigeon and charges Edmund with disobeying orders.

Edmund turns up for his court martial, dismayed that George will be his legal defender, only to discover that Darling is the prosecutor and the judge is none other than Melchard himself. Sentenced rather quickly to death, Blackadder awaits a firing squad, cursing his fate and his friends, hoping for any last resort, even the aid of Baldrick!

In "Major Star," Blackadder's distaste for Charlie Chaplin puts him on the outs with his subordinates, who are in love with the works of the American actor. However, when General Melchard arrives with news that the military is looking to form a troupe to entertain both the troops and the civilians in London, Edmund sees his opportunity to get away from the front. Conniving to be put in charge of the production, Blackadder wrangles talent from his unit, including the newly marxist Baldrick and the happy-in-drag George.

Disaster, however, strikes Blackadder's plan when Melchard, not realizing Georgina (George's drag act) is not a woman and he becomes infatuated with her. George, happy to play along, finds himself in the position of possibly being engaged to Melchard and Blackadder must keep the two apart and get out of the situation before Melchard learns the truth!

It is a rare thing that I end up calling a VHS a poor use of the medium. Indeed, it is a poor medium, but the use of it is often limited only to being that medium. In the case of Blackadder Goes Forth, Part 1 it is a poor use of the poor medium: the entire fourth season of Blackadder could easily have fit on one video whatwith its running time being under three hours. That said, it is still funny and I found I enjoyed it more this most recent viewing.

Blackadder Goes Forth is a wonderful mix of historical one-liners that make obscure references to British and European history and universal, timeless humor. So, for instance, in "Major Star," there are numerous allusions to various actors, like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, while "Corporal Punishment" has such basic and obvious humor as Blackadder feebly covering up the bones from the pigeon he has just eaten while denying its death and a trial where the judge is also the prosecution's star witness. There's a good balance between the was jokes about sex and jokes about the specifics (lack of) battle plans during World War One. The balance makes for a smart and simultaneously universal show.

As well, the characters are fun and interesting. Edmund is hilarious with his cold sarcasm and Lieutenant George and Private Baldrick are utter idiots. Fans of the Blackadder franchise will likely enjoy seeing Edmund as the smartest man in the trenches in Blackadder Goes Forth and the points when he must talk to oblivious commanding officers are funny with the way he gets in jabs that go completely over their heads.

On the character front, these first episodes of Blackadder Goes Forth are fleshed out with General Melchard who is presented as a lunatic with a giant mustache and Captain Darling, his cowardly, sycophantic assistant. Watching Edmund spar with Darling (in prior incarnations, he has sparred with the Melchard character) shakes things up some and keeps the actors from simply repeating their past performances.

The acting is great as well, whatwith Rowan Atkinson taking the title role of Edmund Blackadder. Atkinson is given a fairly unique acting challenge: the present essentially the same character (Blackadder) a different way while keeping the performance fresh and funny. Atkinson does this by altering the delivery of his lines. In this season, he infuses every line with a tired quality, as if his character is sick of the war and the waiting. The tired quality makes some of his deliveries even sharper as he sounds entirely unimpressed by everyone and everything he encounters! Atkinson makes for a credible leader in this series and he plays off the sniveling, yet powerful sarcasm that Tim McInnerny presents with Darling wonderfully.

In short, anyone looking for a hilarious war comedy will find it with Blackadder Goes Forth and this video is the one to start with!

[Given that VHS is a rapidly dying medium, a far better investment would be Blackadder Goes Forth, reviewed here!
As well, those who already love Blackadder will find Blackadder - The Complete Series to be an even better buy, reviewed here!
Thanks for reading!]


7/10

For other television reviews, please check out my Television Review Index Page by clicking here!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Great War Takes Its Toll When Blackadder Goes Forth!

The Good: Funny, Good character development, Interesting DVD bonus features
The Bad: Short, Some of the humor is more predictable than in the past.
The Basics: Funny - and daring to not be funny - pushes Blackadder Goes Forth out of "average" territory on DVD.


There are only a few television comedy series' found on my shelf. This is largely because I am not so much into humor because I see that it tends not to endure all that long. Humor is largely based upon surprise and as a result, it is hard to find truly great comedy series' that I want to add to my permanent collection. One of the few is the television series, from the BBC, called Blackadder.

Blackadder is a historical comedy, and each season was set in a different time period. By the fourth and final season, the show was up to roughly Modern times and Blackadder Goes Forth, the final regular series of Blackadder was set in the trenches of World War One. The basic concept was to take a twist on British history and make a situation comedy that would have an immortal quality to it. Largely, series creators Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson succeed because the humor is both universally funny and historically smart. This series relies on British wit and Atkinson's amazing sense of comic timing. And it works.

With only six episodes in this season, Blackadder Goes Forth tells the story of Captain Edmund Blackadder, trapped in the trenches fighting Germany in World War One. As the Great War reigns, Blackadder looks to survive and he is accompanied by the idiotically patriotic Lieutenant George and the just plain dim Baldrick. Given orders by the oblivious General Melchard and sparred with by Captain Darling, Blackadder finds that war truly is hell.

From the trenches, Blackadder attempts to survive the war by feigning communications problems to prevent him and his troops from going over the top (an act that gets him court martialed), posing as a great artist and sneaking into HQ as a cook. As well, he gets his troops out of the trench by making them into an acting troupe (which almost leads Melchard to marry George in drag) and by joining the air force, which gets Blackadder captured.

Blackadder Goes Forth tells a darker story of living in war and what people will do to survive. The wit in the show is colder and the comedy - when not being predictable to those who are fans of the series - is utterly hilarious. In fact, it is so funny one wonders why the BBC has a laugh track to it; there is plenty that is amusing without the tiresome laugh track going off letting viewers know when it is appropriate to laugh. I mention this because this series has one of the most intrusive and annoying laugh tracks of any series I have ever seen. The only time the laugh track is not engaged is for the bulk of the final episode, "Goodbyeee," which is a strong, unfunny, antiwar episode that works beautifully to enhance the characters and provide viewers with something truly new, even if it is not funny.

The only other real strike against this series is the fact that it was released in the late 1980s and it looks like it was released in the 1980s. The special effects are campy even by BBC standards and it is clear this was never the top of the BBCs list for cleaning up when making the transfer to DVD. As a result, there is quite a bit of footage in the series that is grainy and some that even has lighting washouts.

But what makes Blackadder Goes Forth worthwhile, timeless and funny is the quality of the writing. Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson wrote scripts with fairly straightforward plots with Edmund suffering much like most downtrodden and loathed protagonists. This series is preoccupied with Edmund surviving using his razor wit. And in that, there are some absolutely hilarious bits. For example, when dealing with HQ and pretending the phone has gone wonky, Blackadder goes through an impressive array of voices and noises to convince Captain Darling that he could not possibly be understood. And in the trial, when General Melchard enters as one of the judges, it is impossible to not laugh, especially considering he is the one bringing the charges against Edmund!

But more than most comedies, certainly the ones that are this short - Blackadder Goes Forth episodes are less than thirty minutes long each - this series is about characters. Here are the primary characters of "Blackadder Goes Forth:"

Edmund Blackadder - Captain in the royal army. Having survived the war in Africa, he considers colonization foolish and he treats his men with disdain, but does his best to keep them alive. Frequently ignoring orders to go over the top, Blackadder tries every way he knows how to get out of the trenches in ways that will keep him alive,

Lieutenant George - Dimwitted subordinate of Edmund, he is eager to die for King and Country, witlessly believing that going over the top is a chance for glory (Edmund soon illustrates the error of such thinking). He becomes a leading lady for Blackadder's acting troupe and is wounded protecting his captain,

General Melchard - An idiot with a giant mustache, he unquestioningly follows Field Marshal Haig's witless orders to keep sending British soldiers in front of German machine guns,

Captain Darling - Sycophantic assistant to Melchard, he is a coward who frequently spars with Edmund when Blackadder comes to HQ,

and Private Baldrick - The idiot noncom, he tries his hand at poetry, balancing a slug on his upper lip to impersonate Charlie Chaplin, and painting with bodily fluids. Resourceful, but stupid, he is Edmund's most loyal companion.

The characters are vivid and the acting is pretty decent, all things considered. Hugh Laurie's George is ridiculous and funny in a way most American audiences would be surprised, given his performances on "House, M.D." Similarly, Tim McInnerny's return to the Blackadder franchise as Captain Darling is a welcome one with him sniping at Blackadder as his equal, instead of his dimwitted sidekick.

It is Rowan Atkinson who holds most of the series together and moves it. He has a great sense of comic timing and he delivers his period-specific references beautifully with the complete sense that he knows just what it is he is saying. As well, he is adept at physical comedy, erupting when necessary to flinch, jump or fall as needed to sell the physical gags that balance out the scripted comedy.

On DVD, Blackadder Goes Forth has three bonus features, plus trailers for other BBC DVD releases. These simplistic features include cast biographies of all of the major players in the Blackadder series, narrated references to historical events alluded to in the series and an extensive interview with Richard Curtis that describes his take on the history of comedy. The historical information is actually intriguing and some of the more obscure allusions, like to specific military personnel, provide information that I did not have before watching the series.

Those looking for something different from a comedy will find much to enjoy with Blackadder Goes Forth.

For a more complete idea of exactly what is in this DVD set, please check out my reviews of the individual episodes at:
"Captain Cook," "Corporal Punishment," "Major Star"
"Private Plane," "General Hospital," "Goodbyeee"

And while the one-disc season is fun and interesting, I certainly prefer "The Complete Collection" (reviewed here!) because part of the fun of Blackadder is seeing how the line evolves over the various "generations!"

5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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