The difference with House is that he's so damned used to being right that it's harder for people to call him out on his behavior. House may have a few ass-bite moments, but they're not enough to humble him.

This, and there's very little externally that can make him more miserable than he already makes himself.

I love the show, formulaicity, implausibility and all.

eta:

I may like Laurie too much to be objective, but my take on House is that he wants everyone to hate him because he hates himself. He's the epitome of the angry child acting out, looking for attention, even if it's negative attention. Plus, he is smart, and often smarter than most other people in the room, which gets reinforced over and over again. Then there's his "everybody lies" theory, which oozes into everyone having ulterior motives and less than noble aims, which also gets reinforced when he treats everyone like garbage and they still keep him around.

AmyLiz's take is mine.

And since she's been here only two months its not 'trouble' I'm worried about but 'fired'. We're probationary for ninety days.

If she's truly having some kind of breakdown, and needs medical attention (or, at the very least, meds of some kind), firing her would be risky for them, wouldn't it? Even if she's still probationary?

Then there's his "everybody lies" theory, which oozes into everyone having ulterior motives and less than noble aims,

Yup. I'm scum and you're scum; the only difference is that I am honest about it. Which is why he was so completely unable to cope with the dying child because she genuinely was not-scum.

Which is why he was so completely unable to cope with the dying child because she genuinely was not-scum.

Exactly!

Spoilers, people.

Funny TAR story - my friend C got her picture taken with Phil at a booksigning this fall. It's a really cute picture, so she sent it around to family and friends and stuff. She goes home this weekend for T-day and finds that her grandmother has printed it out and hung it on the fridge, and is telling people that it's her boyfriend.

Collection of googlemaps including one of use to people digging in their backyards.

ita, please refresh me on spoilers? The dying child was weeks ago.

It's at the top of the page, Betsy.

Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted

I'd say that reveal is detailed enough.

Thanks for the whitefonting, you guys. Not so much for me - but now I can send my friend a link to the discussion (which I think she'd enjoy very much).