Ask Matt: Finale Fallout (Mentalist, House, Glee) and More!
Question: After reading your Week in Review column, I have to ask: Did I miss something or did the season finale of House turn you against the show? I religiously read your columns and I can't recall you being that hostile towards House in the past. If anything, I think you've been overly generous (pointing out the show's tendency for self-defeating shakeups, while still praising positive elements). Don't get me wrong, I thought the car fiasco was beyond silly and was not happy with the finale overall. I just don't see it as being all that different from the other ridiculousness that's come down the pike. For the last several years, House has been a show that you watch despite the eye-rolling developments because they occasionally produce an episode that's really great. So I was surprised to see you take such a hard line because it doesn't seem like anything's really changed. - Tom
Matt Roush: As you probably know, if you've read me for any length of time, I don't play the jump-the-shark game, and I won't do it here, either. But when House drove the car into Cuddy's house, it did feel like the last straw, coming at the end of a disappointing season that failed to do justice to the long-brewing House-Cuddy relationship (which some never bought, but which I was willing to go along with for the sake of long-overdue character development). I've been on record for a while saying I don't think House ever fully recovered from its premature decision to break up the original team and bring in a new set of less interesting regulars. Even now, the amount of air time given to a dreary character like Taub (and this ridiculous dual-pregnancy subplot was another last straw) just helps fuel my displeasure. But I'll probably come back next season to check things out - to see how they explain Cuddy's absence, for one. And if they actually have the guts to declare this to be House's final season, I'll sign on out of curiosity, and because I've already invested this much time with the show.
The House finale generated the most (and longest) mail over the last week, much of it divided between the pro and con Cuddy camps. Shaka wrote in to wonder: "Is it wrong that I did the dance for joy when I heard the news of Lisa Edelstein's departure? I liked the Cuddy character in the beginning but once the show started focusing on her more and that asinine Huddy arc I found myself fast-forwarding about 80% of the show. It no longer became an intelligent medical drama but a really bad rip-off of Grey's Anatomy." She asks: "Do you think Cuddy's departure will help the ratings go up in season 8 or do you think the damage has already been done?"
Matt Roush: I'm of the view that Lisa Edelstein's departure is a body blow to House, and as aggravated as some viewers were by the "Huddy" hook-up, she and Hugh Laurie have a real chemistry that I will miss, and I liked what her character stood for as a female authority figure (even when she was mocked). House's ratings are about on par for an aging show that has alienated various aspects of its fan base along the way (with the Cameron snub among others), and I doubt Cuddy's departure will be a win, either creatively or bottom-line. House's ratings in the fall may have a lot to do with the fate of the new Terra Nova, its heavily promoted and high-profile lead-in.
Now here's this, from a long-time House defender and Lisa Edelstein fan who began her lengthy (and much-edited-down) diatribe by declaring she may be giving up on the show at last.
Question: The news of Lisa Edelstein's departure hit me hard, and I knew I would probably have trouble moving forward with the show, but I stayed true to my word and watched the season finale last Monday, still with a tiny bit of hope, not for a happy ending, but just for an ending that was true to the show and characters I had loved for so long. Instead, the final 10 minutes turned the show's leading character, the hero, or in this case "anti-hero," who the show's whole universe revolves around, into a heartless, soulless, remorseless shell of a human being. No matter how hurt House was at the end of this season, or how much he needed catharsis after the breakup with Cuddy, I cannot believe there is any way he would drive a car into a house full of innocent human beings, including the woman he loves/loved, her family, and her little girl (who we were shown in the episode immediately prior to the finale how much of a bond House had formed with the child). To me, the only possible way to redeem this mess was if it wasn't "real." (Remember how Vicodin used to make House hallucinate? What happened to that? Those were good times.)
In terms of the House/Cuddy relationship, if the writers wanted to completely obliterate a pairing that they spent seven seasons building, and that apparently had been simmering for over two decades of the characters' lives, then that is certainly a valid creative decision, but there was no need to destroy House's character to make it happen. People love to root for underdogs and antiheroes, and the blunt and curmudgeonly House is certainly both of those, but no one likes to cheer for irredeemable homicidal maniacs. If there is no longer any reason to like House, the character, then there is no longer any reason to like House, the show. I enjoy the actors involved here, and I still believe Hugh Laurie is brilliant, but I have reached the point where I cannot find a reason to care about this show anymore. While I admit I'm a tiny bit curious to see how, or if, the show will explain Cuddy's complete disappearance, I don't think I can bring myself to watch again. The writers seem to believe strong (or any) female characters on this show are disposable, a really sad trend that I have only completely realized now that I look at the show as a "former fan." I think Lisa Edelstein's decision to walk away from the House negotiating table may have just saved me from myself. - Megan
Matt Roush: The question for much of the life of House has been when and whether House himself has gone too far. He's the sort of outrageous character that audiences tend to love to hate (or hate to love), and Hugh Laurie has inhabited him with so much wit and feeling it's a shame he never scored an Emmy when the show was at its best. (The recent episode where he operated on himself in the bathtub was a remarkable performance, even this late in the game.) It will be interesting to see how the show brings him back from this latest brink, but I do think it will be a lesser show without Cuddy around as a sounding board/adversary/partner in flirtation. Yet another example of a show (and a network and studio) unwilling to let a show exit with dignity.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Ask-Matt-Finale-1033778.aspx
Matt Roush: As you probably know, if you've read me for any length of time, I don't play the jump-the-shark game, and I won't do it here, either. But when House drove the car into Cuddy's house, it did feel like the last straw, coming at the end of a disappointing season that failed to do justice to the long-brewing House-Cuddy relationship (which some never bought, but which I was willing to go along with for the sake of long-overdue character development). I've been on record for a while saying I don't think House ever fully recovered from its premature decision to break up the original team and bring in a new set of less interesting regulars. Even now, the amount of air time given to a dreary character like Taub (and this ridiculous dual-pregnancy subplot was another last straw) just helps fuel my displeasure. But I'll probably come back next season to check things out - to see how they explain Cuddy's absence, for one. And if they actually have the guts to declare this to be House's final season, I'll sign on out of curiosity, and because I've already invested this much time with the show.
The House finale generated the most (and longest) mail over the last week, much of it divided between the pro and con Cuddy camps. Shaka wrote in to wonder: "Is it wrong that I did the dance for joy when I heard the news of Lisa Edelstein's departure? I liked the Cuddy character in the beginning but once the show started focusing on her more and that asinine Huddy arc I found myself fast-forwarding about 80% of the show. It no longer became an intelligent medical drama but a really bad rip-off of Grey's Anatomy." She asks: "Do you think Cuddy's departure will help the ratings go up in season 8 or do you think the damage has already been done?"
Matt Roush: I'm of the view that Lisa Edelstein's departure is a body blow to House, and as aggravated as some viewers were by the "Huddy" hook-up, she and Hugh Laurie have a real chemistry that I will miss, and I liked what her character stood for as a female authority figure (even when she was mocked). House's ratings are about on par for an aging show that has alienated various aspects of its fan base along the way (with the Cameron snub among others), and I doubt Cuddy's departure will be a win, either creatively or bottom-line. House's ratings in the fall may have a lot to do with the fate of the new Terra Nova, its heavily promoted and high-profile lead-in.
Now here's this, from a long-time House defender and Lisa Edelstein fan who began her lengthy (and much-edited-down) diatribe by declaring she may be giving up on the show at last.
Question: The news of Lisa Edelstein's departure hit me hard, and I knew I would probably have trouble moving forward with the show, but I stayed true to my word and watched the season finale last Monday, still with a tiny bit of hope, not for a happy ending, but just for an ending that was true to the show and characters I had loved for so long. Instead, the final 10 minutes turned the show's leading character, the hero, or in this case "anti-hero," who the show's whole universe revolves around, into a heartless, soulless, remorseless shell of a human being. No matter how hurt House was at the end of this season, or how much he needed catharsis after the breakup with Cuddy, I cannot believe there is any way he would drive a car into a house full of innocent human beings, including the woman he loves/loved, her family, and her little girl (who we were shown in the episode immediately prior to the finale how much of a bond House had formed with the child). To me, the only possible way to redeem this mess was if it wasn't "real." (Remember how Vicodin used to make House hallucinate? What happened to that? Those were good times.)
In terms of the House/Cuddy relationship, if the writers wanted to completely obliterate a pairing that they spent seven seasons building, and that apparently had been simmering for over two decades of the characters' lives, then that is certainly a valid creative decision, but there was no need to destroy House's character to make it happen. People love to root for underdogs and antiheroes, and the blunt and curmudgeonly House is certainly both of those, but no one likes to cheer for irredeemable homicidal maniacs. If there is no longer any reason to like House, the character, then there is no longer any reason to like House, the show. I enjoy the actors involved here, and I still believe Hugh Laurie is brilliant, but I have reached the point where I cannot find a reason to care about this show anymore. While I admit I'm a tiny bit curious to see how, or if, the show will explain Cuddy's complete disappearance, I don't think I can bring myself to watch again. The writers seem to believe strong (or any) female characters on this show are disposable, a really sad trend that I have only completely realized now that I look at the show as a "former fan." I think Lisa Edelstein's decision to walk away from the House negotiating table may have just saved me from myself. - Megan
Matt Roush: The question for much of the life of House has been when and whether House himself has gone too far. He's the sort of outrageous character that audiences tend to love to hate (or hate to love), and Hugh Laurie has inhabited him with so much wit and feeling it's a shame he never scored an Emmy when the show was at its best. (The recent episode where he operated on himself in the bathtub was a remarkable performance, even this late in the game.) It will be interesting to see how the show brings him back from this latest brink, but I do think it will be a lesser show without Cuddy around as a sounding board/adversary/partner in flirtation. Yet another example of a show (and a network and studio) unwilling to let a show exit with dignity.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Ask-Matt-Finale-1033778.aspx