House

Let me put it simply. I am a physician, and as an inviolable rule, I HATE medical shows. Granted, TV series tend to be one dimensional, due to inherent difficulties in the genre, but "doctor shows" are something I avoid like the proverbial plague.

And then one evening I caught "House, MD" and was completely drawn into the show. In House I find the anti-hero that I've been waiting for in a medical show. The guy who knows everything, but is wrong often enough to keep us all guessing. I enjoy the contrast of House and his cadre of young fresh faced colleagues, complete with starched white lab coats, who struggle as much with their professionally imposed constraints, and sense of decorum, as they do with his personality. And, wonder of wonders, the use of ironic and tragic comedy is without peer in what I've seen in the TV world in recent memory. In a nutshell, I really never know what any given character will say or do and it's that freshness that will keep me coming back for more. Somewhere there is a team of writers who actually know their craft, and an acting ensemble that knows how to pull it off. Now I can watch my TV one hour a week........