David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. Playing "House"
“House:” Another fine episode last night (with not one but two mystery diseases), but let’s raise the red flag now that bringing into the fold the CIA medic with whom House seemed to flirt fairly cringingly throughout the episode may not have been the best idea.
I’ve long feared “House’s” jump-the-shark moment, where the show’s inherent self-satisfaction becomes unwatchable. It’s almost inevitable with really popular shows; it’s happened to “Desperate Housewives,” Grey’s Anatomy” and, most recently, with “Heroes.” It occurs the moment you sit through a scene and you can tell the writers, producers and stars have all come to believe their press and are indulging themselves rather than entertaining the audience.
“House” has flirted with this numerous times in the past, but it’s somehow gotten away with such moments because Hugh Laurie’s central character is so amusingly arrogant to begin with. So writers have been able to graft their own look-how-cute-we-are sensibilities, which might otherwise be kind of icky, onto House himself, where it makes a kind of sense.
Still: House doesn’t need another character to impose his bitchily passive-aggressive frisson upon. He already has Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). And trying to place House at the center of some unholy romantic triangle is akin to positioning Rosie O’Donnell somewhere between co-hosting a morning-show women’s koffee klatch to headlining an MSNBC political-issues program.
What? You say that’s already happening? Nostradamus was right: The Apocalypse is nigh.
Fun fact: “House” is produced by NBC-Universal, who allowed other networks to get dibs on it because NBC had a similar show it thought would go through the roof: The late, unlamented and long-forgotten “Medical Investigations.” “House” reaps far-higher ratings than anything on NBC’s current schedule (unless they have a good football matchup).
The NBC executive who fumbled “House?” The failing-ever-upwards Jeff Zucker, who, while president of NBC Entertainment, also allowed the network’s high-profile sitcom lineup to sink into oblivion.