Beyond Rivalry

Jay Black at TV Squad has intelligent commentary on "House" (which I don't watch, partly because I don't have time and mostly because I like Hugh Laurie too much to listen to his loathsome American accent) and more generally on human nature and pop culture, speaking of shows that become popular featuring lovable characters who are "unapologetic racists and/or sexists who deliver some hard truths mixed with a good amount of ignorance." 

Black explores what he calls the "House Dilemma," that is, the central problem with the show being that House (the Hugh Laurie character) just doesn't change, not matter what happens:

"After all that we've invested in the character (and if you've been with the show since season one, it's inching up on 60 hours over the last three years, which is more time than I've spent with any of my living relatives), you can't help but feel cheated every time the producers hint at some real change only to pull their hand back and go 'psych!'

"If House were one of your friends, you'd be less concerned at this point by his self-destructive behavior than you would be his static character development. 'Greg,' you'd say, 'What the Hell, dude? You've been the same person for the last three years. You would have thought after you had that Vanilla Sky-type self-revelatory dream a few months ago you'd be at least slightly different. But, uh, no...'" 

Actually, that does seem pretty true to life ...