So recently, in keeping with our longstanding tradition of not watching popular TV shows until they’ve been off the air for a while*, we recently started looking at the medical drama House, in which Hugh Laurie takes Vicodin and knows things:
Now, I am no stranger to hospital dramas, having been, for reasons I can’t really explain, an avid viewer of St. Elsewhere back in the day:
However, my wife has never watched any sort of medical show, unless you count Scrubs, which, I mean, yeah, there are doctors in it, and conditions, but it’s all pretty much played for laughs**, whereas in this one — 18-year-old spoiler alert! ― we start right off with an elementary school teacher who has a tapeworm in her brain.
Wife: “This is not a good show to watch if you’re a hypochondriac.”
Now, the long-time reader will probably be aware that I watch a lot of shows in which “squelch” is a frequently-appearing subtitle, while my wife usually looks away from the screen if anyone gets a paper cut. But in this show, we had some interesting role reversals, when, for instance, a patient had to get a CSF sample drawn, which involves sticking a big needle into places where big needles aren’t supposed to go.
Me: (shrieks and hides eyes)
Wife: “What’s the big deal?”
Me: “It’s a needle.”
Wife: “But you can’t tell where they’re putting it. It’s just a closeup of some skin. They could be sticking it anywhere.”
Me: “IT’S A NEEDLE!”
(patient on screen continues grunting in pain during lumbar puncture)
Me: (mutes television)
In addition to that needle, this show also offers examples of:
- Lots of IVs
- More needles
- Holes being drilled into skulls
- Yet more needles
- Sarcasm
- Medical procedures that I’ve had and would rather not have again
- Still more needles, including one being inserted into somebody’s eyeball
And that’s just in the first two episodes.
Typically, after the first episode of a new show that we might be watching, I’ll inquire of my wife as to whether or not she thinks this is a program up with which she is willing to put. House was of course no different.
Me: “So will you watch more of this?”
Wife: “Yeah, we can watch another episode.”
Me: “Do you think the medical stuff will be too much for you?”
Wife: “I think you mean, do you think the medical stuff will be too much for you?”
So looks like we’ll be watching some more of House, then. Good thing I’m not a hypochondriac.***
* cf. Breaking Bad, Big Bang Theory, Halt and Catch Fire, Mad Men, The Wire, Fringe (if I can get my wife to watch it) …
** Except for that one Brendan Fraser episode. You know which one I mean.
*** Anymore.
Viscosity 
haha, that mention of St.Elsewhere. Really took me into nostalgia land
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Does your own hospital experience cause you all those desires to turn down the sound and to avert your eyes?? Just wondering. Kind of like deja vue, or PSTD?
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The shrieking and looking away from needles on screen has been a longstanding thing with me ― I’m pretty sure it’s because of my decade or so of allergy shots when I was a kid (I had severe allergies to dust, so much that the vents in my bedroom were covered with cheesecloth and my bed was just a cot with a mattress). But the other medical stuff, yeah, I think I did a develop more of an aversion to seeing that sort of thing ever since The Event. Calling that PTSD is not unreasonable!
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Aaaaaaiiiiieeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *looks away from the post* *feels queasy* *thud* Ha! Medical stuff is absolutely the scariest thing ever!
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It’s scary because it’s real! 😀
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Ha, very good point! 🙂
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House was a great show. Once you get through that, try Nurse Jackie, she is a female version of House. 🙂
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Oh, yes, I’ve heard of that one ― we will check it out! “House” is definitely going to keep us going for a while with all those episodes though! 😀
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I was a big fan of House when it was on but if you are a bit squeamish about medical procedures it might not be the show for you. In every episode the patients get poked and prodded many times until, at the end of the show, they finally figure out what really is wrong with them. Enjoy!
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I think we’re going to keep watching it because my wife likes it (I like it too, except for, well, you know) but I will definitely be shrieking and covering my eyes at least once an episode. I guess it’s payback for subjecting her to things like “Kung Fu Hustle” (“The review said it was like a live-action Loony Tunes cartoon”) and “Lord of Illusions” (“It’s got Scott Bakula in it, how gory could it be?”) …
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