It seems as if he's written as a cold-hearted bastard who doesn't care about people, just puzzles, but Laurie manages to play him as more human - he does care under all that somewhere, but he needs the shielding of rude and inappropriate out-lashings. Whose craft all that is actually due to, I don't know, of course, but that is my impression. And I think it's the combination that I find appealing.

Oh, right, there was that time when I forget what he was doing as a treatment but he thought it was making him too nice so he stopped. I have no belief that the character will really change, though.

I will keep watching, fwtw.

I stopped watching House after the end of the previous season, because I thought Amber's death was unnecessary, and cruel all around, to the viewer, to Wilson, and even to House, who felt immensely guilty about it. She was good for Wilson, and she was a good character - the stories that could have been, with the AmberWilsonHouse triad, could have been great. I felt much the same way about last season's suicide. I caught a couple episodes from last season just because they were on when the tv was on. I may try tonight's premiere and see how I feel about the show now. The whole hullaballoo about House being addicted to painkillers has always bothered me - he's in PAIN. He'll have to take painkillers the rest of his life just to function normally, so what's the difference if he's addicted or not? Managing the pain is more important. (YMMV. My point of view comes from watching a friend suffer for years because no one would give her enough meds to stop the pain, because they were afraid she'd become an addict.)

Well, he's based on Sherlock Holmes and Holmes was a rude guy himself. I don't mind the rudeness, since it's usually smart and funny. I wouldn't care for it from an actual human being--doctor or no. I would TOLERATE it from someone if they were, say, saving my life, but I certainly wouldn't enjoy it.

Yeah, he's not wrong all the time either. Sometimes it's not him being a bastard...sometimes it's more like "Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass." Although when he wants to stick the knife in and jiggle it, he can even hurt Cuddy, which in general, I'd say is tough to do. And, sometimes, my friend worries a lot about whether she does the right thing? So she rather enjoys House's knack with a burn. And I think Laurie has Piven's gift for being able to say appalling things and being sort of loveable, down deep.

I enjoy the burns when they are clever without caring that they are mean, not so much when they are mean without caring if they are clever.

Although when he wants to stick the knife in and jiggle it, he can even hurt Cuddy

Oh, some days he is King Bastard of all Bastards, and somedays . . . he isn't. I remember the moment when they were operating on the pregnant woman and her fetus, and the baby wrapped its hand around his finger, and he froze, then did a 180 on the process he intended. He gets shocked into caring and he hates it.

And sometimes Wilson saws his cane halfway in two so he'll collapse in the hallway as Wilson strolls smugly away. And House will smirk in admiration.

yeah, that was funny.

PLEASE tell me that was still a hallucination.

So, the lesson that he was supposed to learn was that he can't fix everything, and he needs to learn how to let things go and move on. And in the process, he fixed just about everyone.

ION (I'll watch the trainwreck I heard was the House premiere at my leisure - maybe), fun to have Nathan Fillion as Castle on my screen again.

Hil's reaction makes me glad I watched the Heroes premiere instead, since it wasn't totally awful.