This is a tribute, not an introduction, so I'm addressing this to people who know and love the show.  For those of you who haven't seen it and like what you see here, the first four seasons are available on DVD from Netflix and (I presume) Blockbuster.  Grab season one and settle in for a fun ride.
 

Resources 

There are tons of forums and such around, just do a Google search.  One of the better commercial sites is here, and one of the better fan sites is here.  Some of the sites are fun in that they keep a running tally of who solved the case, how many 'breach of ethics' were in each show, memorable quotes, who did the background songs, etc.
 

Trivia

A few things I've picked up:

• One thing I find interesting is that the actors aren't told in advance the direction the show will take, and what makes this especially intriguing is that this was true during the first seven weeks of season four as House weeded out the applicants on the show.  The actors, themselves, didn't know whether they'd be 'fired' until a day or two before the reading of the next script.  That is, they were auditioning both on the show and for the show at the same time.  The actors in their DVD interviews said that it made them nervous as hell, but it was fun because it was so unique.

  
• The odd diseases are real diseases.  What's surreal is the way these 1-in-a-million diseases show up week after week at the same hospital — but that's showbiz, folks.  And the various possibilities the gang considers actually are diseases whose symptoms fit the patient.  The show has a whole medical staff doing research to 'flesh out' the story lines.

  
• As far as the new season goes, rumor has it that they're going to bring in a quick-witted doctor to keep House on his toes — and the new doc might have a romantic interest in Cuddy, which should really put House through some hoops.

 
Update!  And they did!  And it does!
 
If you've been watching the show, the new guy is great.  I guess the 'doctor' part of the rumor was that Dr. Leshay (?) that had in that one scene (I thought he was terrific), but I guess they beta-tested both of them in front of an audience and they liked the PI guy better.
 
Update II:  I'd have to watch it again and pay close attention, but guess what one word was never uttered once during the entire third episode:
 
Wilson.
 
I think everybody and their brother expected Wilson to be away for a few shows and then come back, but at this point every signal says he's g-o-n-e, gone.

Let's start with the music.  Apart from being a great TV show, it also has superb taste in contemporary songs.  Here are a few choice moments:

• Alanis Morissette performing 'Not As We'

  
In the show, House has a patient who electrocutes himself with a knife in a wall outlet in order to replay a state of enlightenment he attained in a near-death accident a few days before.  It gets House to thinking of going to the edge, himself; perhaps to attain an insight as to whether or not an afterlife exists.  There's also a shot of Foreman at his new job where he behaves like his former mentor — putting the patient ahead of the rules — and ends up saving the patient's life and getting fired as a result. 
  
Here's the clip from the show.  Double-click inside the window after it starts playing to open it to full-screen size.  Here's the full song with lyrics. 
  
• Iron & Wine performing 'Passing Afternoon'

  
This is the final few minutes of season four.  For those of you unfamiliar with the show, it would take about ten pages to explain the significance behind each scene, but suffice to say that they all linger from touchingly poignant to profoundly sad.  And there are two things in particular that are significant about this videolage: 
  
• If there was an award for 'Most Meaningful Sentence Of The Season', the sentence I'd give it to wasn't even composed of words.  Granted, if you're not a fan of the show it won't mean anything, but Cuddy's intake of breath after House blinks his eyes is truly a sublime moment in both scriptwriting and acting.

  
• And I wonder if fans of the show truly appreciate what a great gift it was they gave us with that last, lingering shot of Amber radiating a beauty heretofore unseen.  It would have been so easy to just move on and not care about the 'lasting images' in our minds, leaving us with that picture of a twisted and dying Amber forevermore.  So to give us that last breathtaking shot fading away into the purity of white, erasing the ugliness that had gone before, was something that should be both noted and appreciated.
 
Here's the clip from the show.  The song and lyrics are here.
  
• Jeff Buckley performing 'Hallelujah'

  
A story of death, with Foreman disliking a death row inmate who's a patient until House finds a physical reason for his murderous rages, and now Foreman is considering defending the man in court.  In the meantime, Cameron hasn't been able to bring herself to tell a patient she's dying from lung cancer.  The 'five steps of death' on the whiteboard that House erases have been followed by Cameron throughout the show, rather than the patient. 
  
The clip (the last few minutes of the show) is here.  The song and lyrics are here. 
  
• And while I'm sure the show gets lauded for its song selection, a hat tip should also be handed to the background music crew and the special effects they delicately employ.  In this scene, listen to the echo effect right as House peels the card off the window.  Very nicely done.

  
By the way, as you probably know, there's a 'Goofs' section on the IMDb where people note goofs in the movies.  The classic goof is something like an actor wearing a red tie in a scene and a blue tie a second later, but it gets much deeper than that.  Some of the trivia is kind of amazing.  "The movie takes place in March of 1973 but the style of Pepsi can in the background didn't come out until July of that year"; that kinda stuff. 
  
It's to note that goofs take place in TV Land, as well.  In that last clip, watch the bottom card of the deck.  It actually changes four times.  Twice right at the beginning, then right before House draws the card and right after. 
 
• And speaking of special audio effects, most of the opening shots have a little audio hype as they shift into the main theme song, but I thought this one was extra special.  Close your eyes and concentrate on just the sound.

  
• And here's a fun example of the background music leading us astray as the somber tone makes us believe House's reaction is real.  But t'isn't so!

That's One Brave Cameraman!

Apart from the terrific inside-the-body animations the show uses, there's not much need for special effects.  In this episode, however, where the patient is at the South Pole, they really outdid themselves.  When the scene first opens, you're thinking, "Oh, it's just a model", but then as you get nearer you can see the guy on the ground and you think, "Well, maybe it's a real wind farm, although probably not at the South Pole."

And, at that point, you'd probably be correct.  It seems fairly apparent that it's a real helicopter landing at some wind farm, maybe somewhere in Nebraska on a wintery, snowy day.

And, just to reinforce how real it is, watch the camerawork as it nears the blades while the helicopter's landing.

Is that cameraman brave or what?!

Natural Drinking Buddies (in another lifetime)

I thought the banter between Mark and House was loads of fun.  Here are three scenes of them together.

Exit question:  In the restaurant, we note there aren't any candles in view, nor does House smoke.  So, where does someone come up with a wooden kitchen match in the middle of a restaurant? 

The Politics of 'House'

Incredibly, unlike a show such as 'Boston Legal', which weaves a Democratic Talking Point into every episode, 'House' tends to stay out of the political spotlight.  The only person who exercises any sort of judgment in this regard is House, himself, and he pretty much mocks everything and everybody — as befits his character. 

In principle, though, House appears to be an enigma: 

• In regards to global warming, House is a conservative.  He's made a number of derogatory remarks about it.

  
• In regards to abortion, he's a big fan and falls squarely in the liberal camp.

  
• In regards to capital punishment, while his only comment on the show where he saved the life of the death row inmate was "Everyone has an opinion", one gets the feeling he's all for it, putting him back in the conservative camp.

  
• When it comes to religion, there's no bigger atheist on the planet than House, which bounces him right back to the liberal side.

  
• In regards to immigration, if memory serves he's made one comment on the subject and it was decidedly negative, so that pushes him back the other direction.

  
• And the list goes on.

I would hesitate to slap a label on him, but he certainly comes across as the crusty, staunch conservative, albeit without the moral grounding.  As a doctor, though, having seen life and death all around him for years, one would expect him to have somewhat of a cavalier attitude toward death, so perhaps his views regarding abortion and capital punishment have more to do with pragmatism than ideology or principle.

In regards to Chase, Cameron and Foreman, they've said very little that could be construed as 'political commentary', except for one remarkably revealing scene.

In my opinion, one of the most disturbing aspects of modern conservatism and the New Morality is the way they've sexualized so many innocent, innocuous events.  A cancer-ridden 9-year-old girl wants one little kiss before she possibly dies, just to know what it feels like, and just watch the reactions of Cameron and Foreman when Chase delivers the news that he complied.

What a scandal!  Cameron was shocked, she'll tell you, shocked!  And as an example of this leap we're being taught to make, please note this exchange:

An innocent 9-year-old girl merely wants a kiss and the crusty old prude immediately assumes it's sexual in nature.  That's the direction we're being pushed; where even a hug or a kiss is automatically deemed sexual and males are deemed predatory unless immediately proven otherwise.

Well, even though Dr. Buttwipe ignored Chase's opinion and put the poor thing through a humiliating rape test, the Great Hobbled One did come up with a miracle cure at the end and the day was saved.

The background song is 'In The Deep' by Bird York, song and lyrics here.

And did you see the little girl kiss Chase's neck ever so gently?  I'm surprised Foreman and Cameron didn't pin him to the ground and cry for the Rape Squad.  The camera didn't show it, but I have to imagine Cameron was again holding her hands over her mouth, fighting back the tears of outrage and shame over the depths humanity had sunk.  "When I'm president like Sarah Palin," she's thinking to herself, "I'm going to make sure that scum like this are locked away permanently!  Any male who even looks at a female other than his wife will be imprisoned under my benevolent and compassionate reign!" she decides as she ponders what color the frames of her new Sarah Palin Kawasaki 704 glasses should be.

Overall, politically, I'd have to — and it stuns me to say this about a Hollywood product — admit that the show is relatively neutral.  Apparently, David Shore, the originator and producer, has discovered one of the Great Secrets of Life™ that so few have grasped:

That if you aren't ideological, you can actually reach everybody!

Such a concept!

And it's a secret many have yet to learn.  I was over at a friend's house a few years ago and caught part of 'Boston Legal', thought it was great and was planning on doing the Netflix thing and giving it a run, but I just couldn't take the incessant liberal drool emanating from my speakers every 10 minutes.  As I said, it's like the writers were ticking off a list of Democratic Talking Points.  "War in Iraq is bad — check!"  "Global warming is real — check!"  "President Bush is an imbecilic madman — double-check!"

Kudos to David Shore for stepping outside the Hollywood box.

Wilson Has His Moments

Most reviews tend to use the word 'opposites' when describing House and Wilson, but I don't see it that way.

I prefer the word askew.

Here's a perfect example of their quirky, askew friendship.

And here they are playing cards with boss lady Dr. Lisa Cuddy.

A 'Gotcha' Of A Most Embarrassing Sort

Admittedly, there haven't been many hot babes as patients on the show.

One, however, certainly springs to mind.

Watch it if you dare.

You've been warned.

The next time I go on a date, I'm checking her his its their DNA first!

'Fool Me Once...' Dept.