Rediscovering HOUSE M.D.

HOUSE M.D. - THE COMPLETE SERIES (Blu-ray)

2004-2002 / 7765 min

From Universal

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Stinky’s Mom😺

Funnily enough, I had started my House journey right before the Complete Series came out. I was too young to appreciate House during the height of its popularity, preferring to spend my weekday evenings watching Spongebob with my finger up my nose. Now, as an adult, I quite enjoy watching House, ‘hmming’ and ‘oh, of course’-ing at it and pretending like I’m finally getting use out of my biology degree by keeping up with each new diagnosis. 

House ran on Fox for eight seasons between 2004 and 2012. It features the titular Dr. House (Hugh Laurie), a great doctor who is also the most insufferable man you’ll ever meet. Each episode features House and his gaggle of doctors diagnosing and treating patients, committing insane medical malpractice along the way. Each episode is approached like a mystery, with twists and incorrect diagnoses before a solution can ever be landed on, but it never wears out its welcome even as it veers towards being formulaic. 

The Complete Series features all 177 episodes, plus bonus features on Blu-Ray. Each season has its own section of special features, although not all seasons are created equal. Season one features what looks like mostly old promotional material, with grainy, crunchy quality to boot. Later seasons have things like music videos, episode commentaies, and blooper reels (thank God…why have special features without a blooper reel?). The quality on most of these special features seems lower than the picture quality of the episodes, and look like they were probably just nabbed from past releases of seasons. 

Hugh feigns interest in Robert's cat pix.

The episodes themselves mostly look great on Blu-Ray. Most shots even from the first season look like something that could be on TV today. There were a few exceptions though, where oddly enough, a few shots looked a bit pixelated and grainy. It wasn’t enough to diminish my enjoyment of the series, especially as a fan, but it was at least noticeable. 

It's a nice collection of a great series and a better alternative to streaming, where an hour long episode is interrupted by commercials. I was thrilled to have it to finish my binge of the series. However, this collection doesn’t necessarily add anything worth having if you’ve already got access to the series through past releases or if you’re already spending money on ad-free streaming. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

SEASON 1 - Dr. House Medical Cases; The Concept; Set Tour; House-isms; Casting Session with Hugh Laurie.

SEASON 2 - An Evening with House; Blooper Reel; Alternate Takes: The Valley Girl Versions; In Could Be Lupus…; Producer Audio Commentaries.

SEASON 3 - Soundtrack Sessions; Anatomy of an Episode: The Jerk; Blood, Needles and Body Parts: The House Prop Department; Open House: The Production Office; Blooper Reel; Audio Commentary.

SEASON 4 - House’s Soup: Prescription Passion; New Beginnings; Meet the Writers; The Visual Effects of House; My Favorite Episode So Far…; House’s Head Audio Commentary (by exec producers David Shore &  Katie Jacobs.

SEASON 5 - House Meets a Milestone: The 1000th Episode; Keeping it Real: Accuracy in Writing; Dr. Mom: Cuddy’s Storyline; House Guests: Casting the Show; Audio Commentary (by exec producer David Foster and writers Russel Friend & Garrett Lerner.

SEASON 6 - Before Broken (this is an original, unscripted short film with actor Hugh Laurie); A Different POV: Hugh Laurie Directs; New Faces in a New House; Various Episode Commentaries.

SEASON 7 - Meet Martha Masters; Huddy Dissected ( a look at House & Cuddy’s relationship); Anatomy of an Episode: Bombshells; Thirteen Returns (the return of Dr. Hadley to the series); Various Episode Commentaries.

SEASON 8 - House M.D. Swan Song; The Doctor Directs: Behind the Scenes with Hugh Laurie; Everybody Dies: A Postmortem (about the series finale).