House Season 5 Slump: What Could Bring Back the Thrill? - Featured

I have only been watching this season partially - because I too share your concerns. Anyhoo...my best suggestion is...what's old is new! I fear there's little that can be done in terms of the cases because all medical shows hit some critical point where they've "done all there is to do" essentially...and then end up with crap like a disease predicting cat... What's always kept me watching House anyway are the personal stories of the team, so my best suggestion is...what's old is new! I don't dislike the new team. At first, it was an interesting and bold change to make. But now, week after week (if I watch), I just find myself pining for Cameron and Chase (especially Chase). Put Cameron and Chase in each episode for more than 30 seconds and give them actual storylines that we care about! It's not really a novel suggestion...but I think it's just what the show needs!

I have been watching House for a while now, but I don't consider myself a hardcore fan. Seasons 3 and 4 are probably my favourite but I don't find season 5 as dissapointing as many other viewers. Sure, there is a certain repetitiveness, but (like mentioned above) this is bound to happen in a medical drama in which there is only so much you can change over the years.What I find annoying is that there doesn't seems to be any real plot progression. For example, House and Cuddy getting close and then nothing, Thirteen struggling with Parkinson's and all of a sudden, no symptoms; still, I think the arc with Wilson's brother might be interesting (especially if he meets House). I completely agree with RachelL, Chase and Cameron are seriously interesting characters and should get much more screentime. This way at least the fans of the old team will get back to the show (if they stopped watching). I've actually read some spoilers online that both of them (especially Cameron) will be more involved. Lets hope that is true!

I've been watching the show ever since the Pilot, and I've managed to memorize every one. But lately, I haven't been bothering to even try. They just aren't as compelling anymore. I think they really need to explore the House/Cuddy as well as the Wilson/Cuddy spectrum. Maybe if they made an episode centered around the life and times of House and have a little commentary by him, as if we were hearing his thoughts, it would spice up the show. The viewers would get to know more about how House thinks exactly. We would learn so much about his personal life...not that there is much to it at all. But still. We would be able to hear what he is thinking, and we'd get to learn just what he thinks of Cuddy and Wilson and the old/new team members. Does he really mean what he says to and about the people around him, or is he just saying it to get attention or just because...he feels like it? I think there are a lot of unanswered questions that loads of people would love to see being answered. I personally would like to know what his thought process is like when he gets the final diagnosis on the patient in the end of the show. I would love to know just how it all clicks together.

i agree kendra, House has sucked majorly this season. first of all, its called House not House's staff. no more quarky remarks or ridiculous/fun stunts with patients' lives. the show has a taken a new turn and this new direction is not good. i even had to rud for other shows during award season instead of House becos House didnt deserve anything, i dnt think. i urge the shore n other writers to take us back to the glory days of House. no one cares abt the other casts, i watch the show becos of him (Dr gregory house) not his new skwints. which was a terrible casting by the way;taub? kutner, 13 should go. Also if they have new doctors, why do they still have the old ones? for back-up? the show needs to change and soon.and one last thing the show is no longer funny, i mean sure he's still always right but its just no fun anymoree, i would have switched over to another network but i love jack bauer (24) on FOX.

I disagree, in fact, I would only go as far as to say it's only been these last few 3-4, maybe 5 episodes that haven't been quite up to par with the house we are use to expecting. If you have the time, seriously, go back and watch the earlier episodes of this season. I think you will notice that they are pretty much better all around, in humor, storyline, and cases. If you say you don't find yourself laughing anymore than maybe you've been watching with ear plugs? I don't know, MAYBE I'M JUST A FANBOY, but I've been laughing every episode, and even STILL have I been shocked at some of the things house has said. By season 3 we had some iffy "uh? really?" kind of cases, that's just how it's going to be with a medical drama, with each episode, there are less things they can do. Cameron and Chase? Who? Oh the doctors from seasons 1-3! Yeah I forgot about them, give them more screen time IF it's going to be an interesting side plot, but if they aren't planning anything for them, do we really even need these 30-60 second shots of them saying nothing relevant?

house is perfect the way it is.

I think they just need to spice up the series a little. less medical issues, less running tests, and more story around that. the first seasons had so many recuring jokes (fe: "it's lupus") and a lot of interesting characters. I also think it's kinda boring that you only have to take a look at your watch to know if the cure they just found will be the final one or if their will be another complication and house (again) save the day in the last moment. Maybe a couple of new assistants for House or a little fight between house and wilson over cuddy could spice up the series a little bit. But what they definetly have to stop is this "change-unchange" bullshit (firing/rehiring, Cuddy giving her job away, taking it back 2 eps later, ...) that really sucks. @Writers of House: If you don't have the balls to change something permanently in YOUR OWN SERIES don't write any scripts!!!! change = life. So fucking risk something! Not changing anything definetly wont keep the ratings from changing downwards, so risk the operation or at least pull the goddamn plug...

mm welli hate taubkutners just annoyng13 is just sex appeal so im not sure bring back chase and cameronand err yeah mm definitely story arcsnot just the one shots.

"House" IS Hugh Laurie, Chase and Cameron, Foreman and Wilson and Cuddy. The best interactions are ALWAYS between House and Wilson (some amazing one liners) - like "I see Cuddy's Seal Training has finally come in handy" when Cuddy wire's House's office door to trip him up. The relationships with new cast seem too flat, I expected that at first, but I just can't seem to connect with them, they just seem a little bit too normal. Essentially everyone, apart from House and Wilson, are playing straight men to these two jokers. I think that's the thing. There are two many straight men. They are relying too much on various "patients" and general staff (like janitors) to bring interest to the plot. Their characters are explored, but to be honest "Kutner" is good (but just plays the "youth"), "Taub" plays the smart but dull and safe family man and "Hadley" plays the Huntingdon's sympathy shag. I'm not complaining though. Not for a second. I'm a bona fide house junkie. To me it's still the best thing on the box. I haven't missed a series yet. Series 1 to 4 = 10/10.Series 5 = 9/10. Maybe it's time for a 6 month break after this series. Give the writers a break. Give them time and space to thing and be creative. Give the viewers something to miss, so they look forward to it "afresh".

I have to say that I've been a bit bored by House the last few episodes, but the cat one had so many funny lines, and I rather enjoyed it.

Well their formula certainly doesn't keep me coming back for more. Just once, I'd like them to get it wrong and the patient die and there be huge repercussions. I think the only thing that can save them is to deviate from the old because it is way too old. It's SOOO formulaic that why watch? Chase and Cameron were and still would be a great reason to watch, but instead we have 13/Foreman drama and no one seems to care much about them as a couple. Taub is boring and frankly I'm not shocked that his backstory as a plastic surgeon found him cheating on his wife. It's not that unbelievable. And frankly, I don't care that his wife and he are on different paths when it comes to children. I just don't care about this guy. I hate 13. I am so sick of the psudo-strong woman who's only reacting out of her own dysfunction because she won't address her past. In truth, she's weak and deserves the drama and conflict. Uh, get her off the show. I miss Wilson and Amber. I really do. Wilson should be just as much a part of the show as House is and he's typcially regulated to the cafeteria or Cuddy's office pleading for House. Cuddy...love her, she is strong and substantial, but Frigid. Come on, she's in the prime of her life, sexually speaking, and she's frigid. I don't think that's true to life and really puts her character in question. and Kutner? He's there to attract all the Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle audience. I acutally thought he might turn out to be an interesting character but just like Taub and 13, boring. I think the writers failed it big time when they brought in the new crop. They continue to have difficulties assimilating them into the show's formula, and in doing so have let go of some characters we love. It's rather disappointing. I give this season a 6/10. I just don't really care anymore.

"Just once, I'd like them to get it wrong and the patient die and there be huge repercussions." Like Amber?

um did i see House jumping a shark with his tiny racecar at the start of this episode?

i completely disagree. for house to grow as a show they needed to bring different elements in. since i think that last season's finale with amber dying and the "goose-chase" was their best episode ever. of course, they were going to have to develop and show how that affected the relationship between house and wilson. i just wish that they would bring back the private investigator character. he was a hoot! basically, i love how house is becoming an onion with even more wonderful layers (esp. it would be a waste to waste the other actor's talents).

House is losing it. I think they need to bring back the charm of season 1 /2. And the original team . This is really getting boring. I think there's one more season before it cancels.

There are several things that I've noted that make this season not so great. 1) The new team. I don't like a single effing one of them. They're BORING. Kutner has no distinctive personality, Taub cheats on his wife and seems to have the relative intelligence of strawberry jam, and I'm having a really hard time giving two bags of rat droppings whether 13 drops dead tomorrow. The only member of the original team who's still around is the one who I have never liked. Foreman was okay with Chase and Cameron because he added another angle to the group dynamic, but on his own he's really just a significantly less witty carbon copy of House. Cutthroat Bitch? Now she was interesting. Don't get me wrong, I thought the episodes in which Amber died were some of the best House episodes EVER, but when she left she took a good deal of the show's intrigue with her. 2) For whatever reason, the constant philosophizing is starting to seem really contrived. In the earlier seasons it all seemed to make sense, because it was obvious that House's particular brand of crazy was prompting everyone else to think like him in order to be able to argue. Now everybody's having these great philosophical debates with everybody, spurred only by bad writing, and I keep finding myself going "Oh great, the lunch lady is a gosh darn Aristotle too now, huh?" What we need is either a) Bring back Cameron and Chase in a way that makes sense or b) Throw out the current team and come up with a better one. It won't be hard.

House has gone wrong these days on so many levels, I don't know why I even watch it anymore.It used to be a Medical Drama, now it's a Drama with a bit of fairly crappy medicine occasionally thrown in on the side. House has basically rearranged the entire cast and then started giving them emotional storylines before we've even been given a chance to give a crap about them. The only new character I thought was effectively developed was Amber: and she's dead. Plus the whole angst thing is getting waay out of hand. Because no one really likes 13, she's just the new and improved Cameron, these continuous angsty plotlines about her depressing childhood and Huntingtons do not really impress or excite viewers. She even got flashbacks for Christs' sake! House is getting desperate for ratings, so every episode has to have some shocking new drama to it. For my conclusion: bring back the characters we actually care about: Cameron, Chase, and Foreman had such interesting characters and interactions as a team. I know that if it was announced that they would be back, viewers would come back too. HouseCuddy is this annoying up and down yo-yo because they don't want to seal the deal on the primary romance until the finale of the entire show. I think that the medicine should still play a part in House, and that the personalities of the old characters still hadn't been fully explored: and everyone loved them. Bring back the old team!

I am a huge House fan but have to agree that this season just isn't as good as the others. I haven't caught all of the episodes this season but here is what I have to say about those I've seen so far.*It was good that they brought in a new team in Season 4, but I really don't care about the whole relationship between Foreman and 13. It just takes it away from the plots about my fave characters, House, Cuddy and Wilson. Less of the new team please.*I was so pleased that they kept the old team when they introduced the new team in Season 4 but they may as well have dumped them off the show because now we hardly ever see them. Bring back Cameron and Chase!*Cuddy. Yes she is pretty much my favourite character in the series so I was really excited when I learned that her character (and relationship with House) was going to be developing further in Series 5. Unfortunately, what I loved the most about her was her snappy dialogue scenes with House and sense of humour. Please, less of the supposedly heart-wrenching emotive scenes about motherhood etc, I just want to see her as she was in the first few seasons - an intelligent, funny woman who could hold her own against the mostly male cast. I mean as tough hospital administrator who manages to remain good-looking all the time she serves as a role model for career-orientated women, but it seems the writers are trying to say careers aren't enough, you must have children/family as well.*Stories. I know House is a master diagnostician, but the writers seem to think that this means the stories must be overly complex. For a few episodes, try something different. Make the solution one that just... I don't know, but we don't need the same 'try this, try that, oh look it's the right answer' formula time after time. Sometime less really is more. So those are pretty much my problems with Season 5 of House and what I think the writers should fix up, but that's just my opinion. I want to make it clear though - I still absolutely adore House apart from the recent slump.

I have the same felling expressed in the original post.I watched every Episode at least twice and must say the steam of this show has passed... Dr.House is still brilliant no discussion about it, but it ain funny anymore ;) Maybe competition would be a nice move, a neardy opponent who can reach the level of the nearly unbeatable Dr. House? Time will show.

CHASE AND CAMERON.BACKNOW.

The show House is based on Sherlock Holmes, known to the literary world as the greatest detective of all time. There needs to be more of that feel to the show. House is brilliant, but that's not entertaining enough. There needs to be some kind of detection OTHER than just being a walking database of all medical knowledge. He can be brilliant in anything- he chose medicine. But give some more twists to the plot. Also, he needs to pull more pranks on his team.

i want them to do more with his leg and the methadone, you know, like him trying to do pain free weekends, to have normal-esk relationships with people. just to try it out ya know. in the earlier seasons they said he was basically the same person before his leg started hurting; so i kinda wanna see him fu-k up a relationship biased on his own pessimism, not drugs or pain (or jealousy).

@KENDRA! ve seen with your reviews in here that u are someone who loved the s4 house finale and thought thts how house should be... house was never the show tht had emotional overtones with the way it ended in s4. all those who keep crying bout season five having realistic routine episodes with no emotions and stuff compared to the season 4 ending ... FLASH News: This what house is all about, its bout realism with hell a lot sarcasm!, thts wht makes the show unique, if u wanted house to turn out to be a medical melodrama, you're looking at the wrong place! there is tons of medical shows out there , with emotions pouring out at every scene of the show, try one of them , House aint the one for u! but as i say this house aint an unemotional show, it depicts emotions in right amounts , the human elements according to me are etched in a more realistic ways though, the wilson - house friendship for one is a perfect example, it never gets too emotional , but lets u know about it without the emotional potboilers. House hasn't jumped the shark, it just jumped the shark temporarily during the season 4 finale! For all those fans who love House for what it is, its back and back with a bang!

Reading this thread has compelled me to have to register to this site. I simply cannot understand what is wrong with you lot if you can't tell that this is one of the most compelling and interesting seasons of house EVER. Have you forgotten Cuddy's struggle with her baby? Wilson ex-communicating house? Not to mention 13's struggle with Huntington's. The character development has been utterly superb and I simply cannot understand why everyone is whinging. House is great because its not full of the cheesy emotional moments, seeing House in his rare emotional moments should be kept to a minimum otherwise it would complete subvert and contradict his character. You are all very silly.

This season of house has been, in all honesty, a very good one. The only reason we are all a little disappointed with it is that Season 4 was the best season, and the finale double episode was the best plot of any episode of any show i have seen. On the other hand, I agree that the writers have not lived up to their own high standards this season.- too little clinic has reduced the comedy moments, with fewer idiots for house to mock- the new team just isn't as good. while 13 is hot, there isn't much more to her character than the fact that shes a doctor who's ill, something that has been done to death by all medical dramas everywhere. Kutner i thought initially would be my favourite, but he hasnt been developed at all, and just seems to me to be the incompetent one on the team. Taub has had some good moments, but I really couldn't care less about his emotional failings and soul-searching with his wife.- Wilson is not nearly as present as he should be. His conversations with House are the best part of the show in my opinion, and these have been sorely lacking in the recent episodes.- Cuddy has been reduced to a mother figure - not the strong, confidant player she used to be. Too much touchy-feely soul-searching here again, and, frankly, its dull. She was a great character in the first 4 seasons, but not so much in this one- The House/Cuddy theme has been inexplicably dropped, when it was one of the best things about the show- The medicine has become formulaic to the extreme. The shows need to have SOME variation ppl. The seasons so far are peppered with episodes which are different for some reason. (see, Airborne - house had limited time and resources, DNR - some ethics there, teh mistake - there is real danger to the doctors' postions, etc.) These just aren't here in this season for some reason, something I feel has not helped. The formula for the most part of the episodes is fine, as long as it is not overdone. This season, it has been overdone. Having said all this, I still think this season is good, and House is still one of the best shows around on tv, but for the first 4 seasons, it was THE best.

Well guys of course house on this season was bad.. Its because house is slowly starting to change into the regular person we love to love ^_^. Think about it.. that one when he realizes he's being a jerk to the only person who can put up with it... There are others... but i dont want to spoil it..Oh and season four was better because they invoked sadness in all of you. I can already predict season six.. It will get mix reviews but slowly in the last parts of the season you guys will start saying it was almost as good as the fourth. Or they will carry the certain plot that i know they will into the seventh and expose it there. Then you will say season seven was the best.

I've always hoped that Houselasted as long as Friends did. But I doubt that would happen

they need to bring back more of house doing clinic duty, that was classic the way he'd take one look at a patient, abuse in some hilarious way them give them their diagnosis and send them on their way!

Just like the other houses in the US, House is also suffering a slump... lol... this series is so sub-prime now. ;) Ok i better calm down. I feel that since House gathered his new team ("Kumar", 13 and Taub), nothing special has really happened. The episode goes around pointless loops centred on:- 13 being a lesbian (come on, we already saw that in The OC)- 13 and Foreman's relationship (the timing of the beginning of this relationship with Obama's win was quite strange)- Cuddy's adventure on getting a baby... ?!- House (as arrogant as ever and frankly, i'm getting tired of his non-sensical analogies!) I still watch it in case they find an interesting patient, but yeah i agree that series 5 is two thumbs down. If I could bend my big toes too, it'd 4 down!

I have to agree that season 5 has deeply dissapointed me... I mean season 4 was exciting with the combining of the new team and the old team, and even the death of amber created a new and dark twist to the show. So what is wrong with season 5? The Old Team:-Cameron and Chase's relationship is very interesting and we arent seeing enough of it! Bring them back into the limelight please.-Foreman has ALWAYS bored me and i wouldnt care if he got killed off.-Wilson and House's relationship is one of the best aspects of the show and there have been a few fun moments between them, but we want more!-Cuddy: why do they tease us with 'almost' incidents between house and Cuddy? Make up your minds are they together or not????? The New Team:I enjoyed watching House wittle down the 40 applicants to just 3 in season 4 and even liked the characters.-Kutner: funny at times but quite annoying in that he has no personality and is a mini-foreman in the making.-Taub: clever and not afraid to stand up to house...-13: mysterious and secretive in season 4. House and 13's interactions in season 4 are hilarious to watch and 13 even pulls off a few good one-liners. However, after her bi-sexuality and her Huntingtons are revealed she has nothing more to offer, the writers have just thrown her into a relationship with Foreman and I personally do not buy it for a second... they have NO chemistry and 13 and House would make a better couple As for the medicine...it is turning a bit weird but its bound to happen in the 5th season of a diagnostic-based medical drama. I like lemondrop749's suggestion of having an episode based on the thoughts of House...fans would definitely eat that up and killer_1 suggestion of having house do more clinic duty is perfect. Please just get the show back on track so we can start loving it again!

You call yourself house fans? Pathetic. So Season 5 isnt the best season there has been, get over yourselves. Its a medical drama that is meant to be unrealilistic and realilistic at the same time. Its hard work, i mean how do they make something as creative as a cat sleeping with someone about to die get tied into the story and having it end up as a REAL sickness. How do you find a sickness,disease hard enough to "solve as if it was a puzzle" and keep it interesting. They can't make diseases up therefor they are bound to have less compelling storys, but you should have been prepared for this from day 1 while watching the first House epiode: Pilot. As for me i think the 5th season is creative story-wise still. Ill admit i want the new cast to jump off a bridge but owell. Can you honestly say that when Chase got fired it wasnt so dramatic? Or when Cameron quit. Those were so dramatic and when it happened you LOVED IT. Sure you where sad but you loved the drama. So dont be crying now because Chase is gone. DEAL WITH IT. Enjoy that there even is a tv drama called House with a witty doctor, if not what would you do with your monday nights. Leme guess watch the closer? House 4 life. If you don't like house anymore dont watch it fine with me. Just dont go trash talking it even if you do make a good point here and there its still disrespectful.

I have to say that, in all honesty, I like the 5th season better then the first. Most people are complaining about the new cast being so shallow but I personally like the way they interact with each other. Take for example Taub. He's human and has done something that is rather common for a human in his position. He cheated on his wife, which occurs far too often in his former profession. After the fact he accused his wife, which is a common defence, deflection and redirection of guilt. 13 is dry, but that's in her character. Go find someone who has a terminal and genitic disorder and ask them and I'm sure they'll tell you that they arn't on cloud nine all the time. Her relationships are just a way that she can ignore her Huntingtons. She's in the denial stage in the earlyer portions of the season. Her self abuse can be viewed as anger and her attempts at the drug trial is probably the bargaining stage. Kutner is the student of the team. He's actually trying to learn from House. I like to think of him as Foreman before the show started. We never really got to know the first team as they were hired by House, so we can only speculate what that was like. In my opinion Kutner is Formen in his 0th season, he's still learning the rules. I really like Kutner in that he deals with his own problems and doesn't bother the team with them. In "Ode to Joy" he expresses his feelings on bullying and then drops it. We don't find out about the fact that he was a bully himself until the very end of the episode. Everyone wants to bring back the old team because of how much better they were then the current team, but think back to the 2nd season. Camron was so 1-dimentional it wasn't funny. She was the sweatheart of the team, nice and innocent, which was a nice counterpart to House. That was her entire character. Then she decided that she was in love with House, which was very well recieved by the fans, but didn't fit the story well at all. It's no different then 13 and Foreman being together now, yet people can't stand the "Foreteen" relationship, as House so deftly puts it. Chase was nothing more then a pompus ass early on, and then we find out that he was a merc, working for whoever would help him the most. When it wasn't in the Vogler or Tritter story arc he was sucking up to House. Just after those arcs House punished him for a few episodes, but then forgot it in a few, which just was poor story telling. Add to that the totally random realtionship between him and Camron and you see that the old team is just a bunch of 1-dimentional characters that they tried to pump some life into. In my opinion the current season is the best, excluding a few favorites from earlyer. They are sadly running out of wicked medical ideas, so they are trying to focus on the characters while the writers have their minions scour wikipedia for fun things to inflict their paitents with. This season is the least arc driven of the house seasons, and I love that. It saddens me to see them adding in another arc soon. I figure that after the next episode, which seems to be taking a fun new turn in the telling of the story, House will probably see Wilson's brother and then the new arc will be a "Getting to know you" arc and the cases will take a back seat. The last episode of this arc, probably the season's end, will be House spotting something wrong with the brother. He'll then either cure the brother of everything, including his psycosis, or the brother will die a horrible death and Wilson will go sulk for another few episodes. I hate the arcs mostly because they mess with the timeframe of the story. Wilson and Cuddy often mention the fact that House only takes on one case a week. Durning the story arcs, because of their nature of a sequence of events, he's takeing on and curing 3-5 people a week. Eh, that's my 2 cents.

Leadfoot352 You have made some great points and must now say that i agree... thnx for opening my eyes!

I think both "Houseisamazing" and "Leadfoot352" should get themselves medically checked. "Houseisamazing" suffers from delusion and "Leadfoot352" is suffering from memory loss (how can season 5 beat season 1, the latter is what got the series off the ground. It was way more dynamic back then and you could appreciate each individual character. Now it's just a mess). Season 5 is the worst because after watching each episode of that season, I felt "what a waste of 40 minutes" and started to wonder what the script writers still care about the show!!? The episodes now seem to follow an all too familiar and predictable routine... the one with the cat was pure vomit in terms of content (they probably ran out of ideas). I think at this point it wouldn't be such a bad idea if they invented new diseases just to keep show afloat. BTW "Houseisamazing" I believe that everyone who bothered posting something in this discussion is a big fan of the show, and there are probably even bigger fans out there. I simply am not one of those dumb fans who will still stay happy regardless of how bad the episodes are turning out to be. It's called growing-up. :) x

I think season 5 is ok. It's good enough to meet my needs of a weekly House fix, but a bit of interest wouldn't go amiss. I agree with all those who think we should be seeing more of the old team and am thinking some kind of contest: old team vs. new team would add a bit of colour to the season. Maybe a two-parter in which we get to see what's going on in the lives of Cameron/ Chase (let's face it Foreman should be renamed Boreman - NEVER any good/plausible storylines based around his character) while they battle it out to prove to House who's the better team. There also needs to be more House/Wilson interaction and I'm thinking maybe bring back the private detective character from the beginning of season 5 just to add a bit more tension. I have to say that some of the storylines are weakening but most are great, and to all those who didn't like the cat episode...what greater vehicle for House's wit could there be in a diagnosis cat? House will always be good.It just could be great with some better plotlines and more focus on Cameron/ Chase.

I think house is amazing the way it is. I mean Cameron, Chase and Forman were getting way to predictable. There was no new way to screw around with them with out you knowing how they would react. Also after knowing House so long they have found a way to figure out when he is screwing with them. Like the time when Wilson said Cuddy was firing him, Cameron had realize that this was a lie, so that means that she knows how to fend off House and Wilson's pranks on her. Same with Chase when he figured out that House was the one spreading the rumors. Foremen is pretty obvious since he is helping the new team learn about House. So basically THE OLD TEAM LEARNED EVERYTHING THEY COULD FROM HOUSE!!! The new team I find interesting, not only because we have to learn about them but because house has to too and vice versa. It makes things new and fresh. i found Cameron to be sorta annoying though, she was too innocent and naive. I believe that Cuddy was a better counter balance to House's personality the Cameron was. Although Cameron I believe was there to show that not all doctors are like House. Chase was ok. He was entertaining, but to me he was the one dimensional one rather then Cameron, and was a little dry. Foreman was cool too. I like to thing of him as House's protegee, in the way that the new team looks at him when they are not sure what to do, or when House is away, or when they don't want to do what House tells them to do. Kutner is my all time favorite character. He is so childlike and new yet brilliant at the same time. He especially showed this in today's episode when he figured out the cure. 13 is awesome in the way she is the anti Cameron, she cares but is cold and doesn't show it. And in those rare times you see who she really is it totally blows your mind away. Especially when she tricks House into believing she and Foreman broke up. I have to say though House, Cuddy, and Wilson's relationship is my all time favorite. not in the love triangle way because I hate love triangles. In the way those three just get each other and are able to support each other. I loved it when Cuddy tranquilize House in order to get him to the funeral. I also really am a huge supporter of House/Cuddy. Cameron is ok, but she is not a counter balance to House because even if she's the oppisite of him, Cameron could never make House do what she wants him to like Cuddy could. So no I do not think House is in a slump. If anything it is better then ever, and if you are clinging to the past with such great force then how can you ever open your arms and minds the the changes and the reasons of the changes.

DUDE.... i want some CHASE/13 action that would definitely keep me watching. Cameron/Chase is okay but Chase/13 now that is interesting... and sexy. :>

he needs to wake up some more anaesthatised burns victims or expose daughter fiddling fathers lol. that makes house who he is

Well, now that Kuttner is dead, perhaps there'll be quirky new character to bring life to the show. The medical stuff is formulaic and what kept it exciting and fresh were the asides and exchanges between doctor characters. It has all gone flat somewhere along the way. But... now that Kuttner is gone, there's hope!

I definately think that this latest episode Simple Explanation really picked up the pace again! I agree that season five had taken a real slump...nothing had really happened so I was absolutely shocked 7 minutes into this episode! This is what it should be like!