When I first heard the news that actor Hugh Laurie was going to star in a major network television show, I was thrilled. I had been a fan Laurie’s since his performances as the brilliantly inept Prince of Wales in the British comedy “Black Adder the Third” (opposite Rowan Atkinson) and Bertie Wooster in “Jeeves and Wooster” (opposite Stephen Fry). I’ve only seen a handful of his projects, including the U.S. made “Stuart Little 1 & 2,” and was pretty much used to him portraying roles that were either extremely light-hearted or downright wacky. When I learned that the series was going to be a ‘medical show’ and he was going to play a curmudgeonly doctor, I was actually rather surprised. “Hugh Laurie is doing drama?” I was sure he had the talent, but would his performance play well to American audiences? I caught a few episodes of the series when it first aired, and admittedly loved it right off the bat. It was a far different show than I expected, and Laurie’s performance was astounding.

The character is as far removed from anything I had ever seen him take on, and he pulls it off brilliantly.

Dr. Gregory House is unlike and TV doctor you’ll ever see. He is a diagnostician at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, and to call him cantankerous is an understatement. He is at the top of his game in terms of knowledge of disease and treatments, but his bedside manner is rather off-putting. He says what he thinks and couldn’t care less how it makes anyone feel. He makes tough decisions, often putting some lives at risk in order to save others, which also makes him the subject of derision from some of the other doctors. There are honestly times when you don’t know whether to love him or hate him. He is also battling several demons, which I leave to you to see for yourself should you decide to take the plunge and start watching.

Of course, Laurie is not the only reason to see the series. He is surrounded by a really good cast, which includes Omar Epps as neurologist Eric Foreman. Of all the members of House’s team, he is the only one willing to go up against the good doctor and question his decisions. Epps has had a pretty much hit and miss film career, but here he is the best I have ever seen him. Also filling out the cast is Robert Sean Leonard, best known from his role in “Dead Poet’s Society.” He plays Dr. James Wilson, House’s one and only ‘friend.’ The two have a great dynamic, and quite often the scenes they have together are amongst the strongest.

Towards the end of the first season, they also brought in actress Sela Ward to play House’s ex. Anytime Ward is in anything, I have to watch as she is one of the most luminous of Hollywood’s actresses. I can’t think of a single other actress currently that can hold a candle to her for natural beauty and talent. In “House” she brings out a totally different side of the good doctor, and they brought her character back for several episodes in the second season.

Before I get to the third season of the series I want to mention that I was surprised the series made it that far. After all, it aired on Fox, and anytime they have this well-written and acted of a series… they cancel it. Quality doesn’t usually equal ratings and Fox generally drops some of their best shows before anyone even has a chance to see more than two episodes. Fortunately, with “House”, the network played against type and not only let it finish out the first season, bas kept it on the air long enough to allow it a fourth (which starts airing pretty soon).

To say I'm hooked on the show is an understatement. When I saw the second season DVD set, which was released lat year, I found it to be every bit as good as the first, and was shocked by the Emmy snub. And while I can agree with some of the naysayers that the series did little more than keep its formula, which had a sick patient being treated for all the wrong ailments only to have the team figure it out by the end of the episode, it was a formula that worked for me. I found little to disappoint me in this follow-up season.

Now that the third season is being released, I quickly found that I was in for another interesting season with the heady doctor. Probably the best storyline of the season, which was carried over throughout multiple episodes, involved a police officer with a huge vendetta against House. The officer is played by David Morse, who over the years has made a career out of playing tough, scary and intimidating characters.

When Universal Home Entertainment released the entire first season, it came in a fairly nice 2-disc package. I say fairly nice only because I’m not a big fan of the packaging, which featured a slipcover that held a quad-panel digipak. I prefer the super slim cases, but this was a small nitpick. They have continued to use this style of packaging all the way through this new third season, so I guess there's no chance they'll change it now. I was glad to see that they included an episode listing printed inside, which was oddly absent on the first season set.

The DVD release of the second season and now third seasons also brought with them a slew of extra features, which I'll get to in a minute. It was easy to find the extra features on the previous set because there was a listing inside of where to find them on the discs. This was dropped in the new set, which makes locating the features a little daunting. Not sure why this is missing, but it is kind of a pain. You have to pop in each disc to find them. The special features include a Blooper Reel and a commentary by David Shore and Katie Jacobs on "Half-Wit." They also carried over one of the bigger surprises from the second season which came in the form of an alternate take from one of the episodes. I originally thought these would just be the scenes shot a different way, but no. In them the cast delivers their lines 'valley girl' style, and it was very funny.

There is also a lengthy documentary on the making of an episode ("The Jerk"), which delves pretty deep into what it takes to put one of these episodes together from start to finish. Additionally, there are some shorter featurettes that focus on the show's props department, the production office and a soundtrack music session.

“House” is not a show that will sit well with everyone. No amount of sugar, spoonful or otherwise, will help the medicine go down for some audiences. Despite some of the show’s humor, it is quite dark at times. The death of some patients comes painfully… a little too close to home.

Episodes:
Meaning
Cane & Able
Informed Consent
Lines in the Sand
Fools for Love
Que Sera Sera
Son of a Coma Guy
Whac-A-Mole
Finding Judas
Merry Little Christmas
Words and Deeds
One Day, One Room
Needle in a Haystack
Insensitive
Half-Wit
Top Secret
Fetal Position
Airborne
Act Your Age
House Training
Family
Resignation
The Jerk
Human Error

Starring: Hugh Laurie, Jesse Spencer, Lisa Edelstein, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, Jennifer Morrison
Extras: Blooper Reel, Anatomy of an Episode - "The Jerk", House Soundtrack Session with Band from TV, Open House - The Production Office, Blood, Needles and Body Parts - The House Prop Department, Producer Commentary, Alternate Take
Specifications: Widescreen (1:78.1), Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Universal
Release Date: 8/21/2007
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give House: Season 3 an A.