Wednesday 8 October 2008

Am I the Only One Who Can’t Take House Seriously?

Come on now, please tell me. There must be somebody else out there who looks at Hugh Laurie as he's barracking his medical colleagues and says the immortal words of John McEnroe:

“You can’t be serious man!”

How on earth did they think we could take him seriously? Well maybe they thought because it was set in America and he had a different accent we wouldn’t recognise him. Not a chance!

Could you ever forget seeing him prancing about as mad King George in Blackadder the Third? Not a cat in hell’s chance! King George .

Or what about the simpleton Lieutenant George’s drag act in Blackadder Goes Forth? Lieutenant George Well, maybe they thought we had short memories. Think again.

Then there was the slapstick and musical parodies in A Bit of Fry and Laurie They were just brilliant.

My favourite was Jeeves and Wooster where he played Bertie Wooster “the witless socialite”. Sheer bliss. Jeeves and Wooster

Now Stephen Fry's another story. Whilst his characters have been just as hilarious and anarchic somehow the character choices he’s made since then have been more believable. Take Kingdom for example. He’s absolutely believable as the lawyer whose good nature is sorely tried by his siblings and work colleagues. No problem. Kingdom

So what’s the problem with House then? Well I don’t think it’s Hugh Laurie to blame, well not really. Maybe I just can’t believe in the character. Yes, that’s the problem! House just isn't real. Never mind he got a £2 million Los Angeles mansion out of it so no problems there.

I haven't used any of the photos from the BBC or ITV's websites. I wouldn't dare, they're hot on copyright!so if you want to see for yourself I've put in the links BBC Comedy ITV Comedy Classics

To end with, if anyone remembers the Blackadder TV series each episode ended with a song, every episode had different lyrics. The words to one episode in series 2 seem very apt at the moment with the financial crisis some banks have led us into. They’re a little bit naughty but…..


“Take heed the moral of this tale,
Be not a borrower or lender,
And if your finances do fail,
Make sure your banker's not a bender.

Blackadder, Blackadder,
He trusted in the Church,
Blackadder, Blackadder,
It left him in the lurch.

Blackadder, Blackadder,
His life was almost done.
Blackadder, Blackadder,
Who gives a toss? No-one!”

3 comments:

  1. Ha Ha..that was funny. I love House. It is one of my favorite shows. Thanks for leading me to the other links I can see him at. I will come back later and check them out. My husband is a big fan of Monty Python.
    Hugh Laurie is also a fairly good musician isn't he?

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  2. Well, I will sound like a really out of it person here, but I have never seen House. I am not much into TV, although I do have a few shows that I watch. Your take on it all was very humorous though.

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  3. Brenda

    Yes Hugh Laurie is quite musical. He & Stephen Fry used to do musical sketches on their shows which were hilarious. They're both such clever beggars.

    My son was absolutely mad on Monty Python. Before he was married he had a video of the Life of Brian and I don't know how he didn't wear it out. Every other night we could hear him falling about laughing upstairs while he watched it. We sat downstairs laughing at him, it was great. The house was really quiet at night when he left.

    I'm looking forward to seeing the new TV series which Stephen Fry has made. He's travelled every state so hopefully I'll improve my knowledge of the USA.

    Reni

    I wouldn't worry I've seen House a couple of times but I really can't take the character seriously as I said. I tend to watch TV if the weather's bad and I feel like being lazy, so in winter I see a fair bit. I also half watch TV while I work with the laptop on my knee - multitasking?

    I love comedy and drama, some of it is brilliant. I can't bear these reality TV programmes and talk shows. Awful stuff.

    Unfortunately my husband is a TV fanatic! If we ever have a beautiful sunny Sunday (not a common occurrence mind you), while I sit outside eating lunch and maybe having a glass of wine, if he's not playing golf he sits inside watching either golf, Wimbledon, cricket, Formula 1 or any international athletics or football matches going. Mad!

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