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Sunday, September 30, 2007

House MD and Ugly Betty Premiere!

The fourth season premiere episode of House aired Tuesday, September 25th. Last season things looked pretty bleak for Dr. House when his diagnostic team leaves (the bleeding heart and the contrarian quit while the Australian suck up was fired). They weren’t missed, however, and the season opener proved to be as engrossing as any episode from the third season. I really don’t miss Jennifer Morrison (or her bangs) and I was actually getting pretty damn tired of Omar Epps (despite his thespian wiles), so watching Hugh Laurie prance around all on his lonesome suited me just fine. Of course, he gets a little help from hot Lisa Edelstein, who is still rocking my world as Princeton Plainsboro Hospital’s Dean of Medicine, and from Robert Sean Leonard, the oncologist with a system of relative morals so convoluted that it puts Nancy Botwin to shame. Without his team, House is left to diagnose the survivor of a building collapse who has a mysterious fever and a nasty cast of internal bleeding. Dr. House, who is always in need of a lackey off of which to bounce his brilliant ideas, enlists the help of a hospital janitor as an assistant. This works out fine until the janitor’s morals get in the way. At the end of the day, House saves his patient, but he is forced to acknowledge that he would have saved her faster with a team. The last scene of the episode reveals a classroom full of young doctors, all hoping to work with Dr. House. The catch: for the next six weeks, House will put the thirty-two (!) of them through diagnostic trials and tribulations in an effort to weed them down to three. This is, of course, an awesome set up for guest stars. Kal Penn (of Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle fame) and Olivia Wilde (better known as one of the few people who could act on The O.C) will star as two of the doctors who make it onto House’s short list. I can’t wait to see smartass Kal Penn go up against Hugh Laurie in the differential diagnosis lounge.

While the premiere episode of House was missing a few cast members, the premiere of Ugly Betty had entirely too many people and too much going on. Of course, given how many loose ends the heart-wrenching season one finale left untied, it’s easy to understand how the premiere could fumble in an effort to resolve everything. Here’s what’s going on in a nutshell: Alexis and Daniel are in the hospital but they’re stable. Santos however, didn't make it (okay, I have to admit it: I teared up a little when I realized Santos died in that liquor store robbery). Henry goes off to Arizona with the pregnant Charlie. Mr. Suarez is still stuck in Mexico. Wilhelmina is still marrying Bradford Meade, much to the chagrin of Claire and her escapee pal Yoga. Amanda (thirty pounds heavier due to her constant stress-related binging) confronts her parents (and their unexpected swinger friends) about Fey Sommers being her real mother (and Bradford, we suspect, is her real father). Amanda, of course, slept with Daniel so she’s freaking out over her possible incestuous affair. Justin (who I swear grows an inch every) runs away from camp and hides out at Mode, giving stalking Wilhelmina and giving out free fashion advice (awesome!). All in all, the episode had no real cohesion but had a lot of cute throwaway lines and set ups that I think will be very entertaining as they develop throughout the season. Every shortcoming melted away when I got to see Judith Light punch Vanessa Williams in the face.