Template:House (TV series) episode

"Pilot" is the first episode of the television series House, which premiered on the FOX network on November 16, 2004. It introduces the characters of Dr. Gregory House (played by Hugh Laurie)—a maverick antisocial doctor—and his team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. The episode features Dr. House's attempts to diagnose a young grade-school teacher after she collapses in class.

"Pilot" was directed by series producer Bryan Singer, who directed films such as The Usual Suspects, X-Men and later, Superman Returns; the episode guest-starred Robin Tunney as House's first patient of the series.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler Shortly after the start of class, kindergarten teacher Rebecca Adler (Robin Tunney) becomes dysphasic, much to the amusement of her students. Their amusement turns to horror when she falls to the floor. Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) attempts to convince House to treat Adler, but House dismisses him, citing boredom. Wilson claims that the patient is his cousin and that House's team in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine is bored. House agrees to take the case; he still believes it to be a brain tumor, but he is open to other ideas. Afterward, House is approached at the elevator by hospital administrator Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), who attempts to persuade House to fulfill his duties at the hospital's walk-in clinic, a task he loathes because of the uncomplicated nature of the cases brought to him. House refuses, claiming that Cuddy cannot fire him, and hurriedly leaves. Later, when House's team attempts to perform an MRI on Adler, they discover that House's authorization has been revoked. House confronts Cuddy, accusing her of disrespect and risk to a patient's life. Cuddy grants him authorization for diagnostics in exchange for his required attendance in the clinic.

During the MRI, Adler's throat closes up, which forces Dr. Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer) and Dr. Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison)—two members of House's team—to perform a tracheotomy. House instructs the team to investigate the family's history and to search for an environmental cause. He leaves to work in the hospital's clinic, where he treats a ten-year-old boy whose mother allows him to use his asthmatic inhaler only intermittently, instead of daily, as her son's doctor prescribed. The mother's reasoning is that the idea of children "taking such strong medicine so frequently" bothers her greatly. House sarcastically scolds her for making such a drastic decision without first learning more about asthma. During his rant on the effects of steroids, House stumbles on an idea and leaves quickly to treat Adler with steroids; he diagnoses her with cerebral vasculitis, despite having no proof. Adler temporarily improves greatly on the steroids.

On House's insistence, neurologist Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) breaks into Adler's house with Cameron to find anything that might account for Adler's symptoms—seizures; dysphasia; airway constriction; and positive, if transient, response to steroids. They find an opened package of sliced ham (which is not kosher) in Adler's kitchen, leading Foreman to reveal that Dr. Wilson had lied to House to convince him to treat Adler, because Wilson is Jewish and Adler is not. House dismisses the lie and concludes that Adler is suffering from cysticercosis due to eating undercooked pork; the tapeworm inside of her reproduced, and its larvae were absorbed into her blood stream, infesting her brain. However, wishing to die with dignity, Adler refuses to accept more treatments unless there is evidence that the related diagnoses are correct, but House attempts to persuade her otherwise. During the conversation, Adler asks for the cause of the limp in House's right leg. House reveals he had an infarction in his thigh muscles that led to muscle death, which could have been avoided if his doctor had the correct diagnosis. House continues, claiming that death is inevitably ugly and that Adler cannot die with dignity, but still she refuses treatment. House is ready to dismiss the case when Chase provides an idea for non-invasive evidence of Adler's tapeworm infection: using an X-ray, House proves that Adler is infested with tapeworms and therefore her condition is treatable. After the revelation of this evidence, Adler happily agrees to take her medication, thus ending the case. Template:Endspoiler

Behind the scenes

In the first scene featuring Lisa Edelstein and Hugh Laurie, Dr. Lisa Cuddy (played by Edelstein) reprimands House for not performing the duties that the hospital administration expects of him; House reminds her that he has tenure. Laurie read this scene in the preliminary casting phase for an actor to play House. On the audition tape, Laurie apologized for his appearance; he was filming Flight of the Phoenix at the time of the casting session.^[1] Producer Bryan Singer originally demanded that an American actor play House. Laurie's audition tape compelled him to rise out his chair to venture as close to the television screen as possible.^[2] Singer commented on how well this "American actor" was able to grasp the character; unknown to him at the time, Laurie is British.^[3] Singer later called Laurie's performance in the pilot "a little rough" in his attempts to find cadence and humor inside House.^[2] Laurie later stated that his original impression was that the show was about Dr. James Wilson, because the script referred to him as a doctor with "boyish" looks. He assumed that Wilson was the star and Dr. House was the "sidekick". He did not realize that House was the protagonist until he read the full teleplay.^[4]

Similarities between House and the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes appear in the pilot. Each character has only one real friend (Dr. Wilson and Dr. Watson, respectively) who connects the cerebral hero to human concerns. Both come to rapid conclusions after the briefest examination of a client or patient, and both use drugs (cocaine for Holmes, Vicodin for House). The main patient is named Rebecca Adler, after Irene Adler, a female character from the first Sherlock Holmes short story.^[5][6]

Reception

Like the rest of the series, the premiere was well received. USA Today praised the show for its blend of a CSI formula with a medical show, and its pairing of "a great actor with a great character", in reference to Hugh Laurie and Dr. Gregory House. It was also compared to its rival television series, Medical Investigation, and seen as more character-driven than Investigation's "plot-driven procedural".^[7] The New York Magazine called the series "medical TV at its most satisfying and basic", and stated that the cast consisted of "[professional] actors playing doctors who [...] care about their patients."^[8] The Washington Post called Dr. House "the most electrifying [...] character to hit television in years", and Laurie's performance "perilously close to perfection". After praising the format, actors and characters, the critic tied House with Desperate Housewives as "the best new drama on television."^[9]

The premiere attracted approximately seven million viewers, making it the 62nd most-watched show for the week of November 15 to November 21, 2004. The success also improved ratings for FOX's lead-in that night, The Rebel Billionaire (which attracted 5.45 million viewers; the 78th most-watched show for the same week).^[10][11]

Christopher Hoag, who composed the music for Pilot and the first season of House, was nominated for a 2005 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore). Jon Ehrlich and Jason Derlatka scored all subsequent episodes.^[12]

References

External links

• Official website
• The House Guide
• "House M.D." IMDB Profile
• "House M.D." Pilot IMDB Profile