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| House, M.D. - Season Four | 
 enlarge | Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $59.98
Buy New: $29.99
You Save: $29.99 (50%)
New (46) Used (19) from $26.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  125 reviews
Sales Rank: 90
Format: Ac-3, Box Set, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 4
Running Time: 660
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.6 x 0.8
MPN: MCAD61102110D
UPC: 025195017084
EAN: 0025195017084
ASIN: B001A4VH2U
Release Date: August 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/19/2008 Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
For Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), there's nothing like a good, tension-filled competition to pick his new team of doctors when his old trio of Chase (Jesse Spencer), Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Foreman (Omar Epps) leave his fold. Among the 40 newbies vying to earn the coveted spots in the fourth season of House, M.D. are Dr. Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn, the Harold & Kumar films), Dr. Chris Taub (Peter Jacobson, Transformers) and Dr., uh, Thirteen (Olivia Wilde, The O.C.). Taking a cue from Flavor Flav, House dubs the latter with that nickname simply because he can. Though frequently politically incorrect, House is almost always spot on when it comes to diagnosing rare diseases and ailments. His boss Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) puts up with his unorthodox quirks, which include antagonizing patients, berating his colleagues, and being an overall pain in the butt, because he's brilliant. The addition of the new doctors adds a bit of chaos early on. But once the contingent is whittled away to the select few, the storylines grow stronger and the chemistry between the old and new cast members gels. Originally shown during the 2007-2008 television season, House aired only 16--rather than its usual 24--episodes, due to the Writers Guild strike. Though a bit of momentum is lost in the last third of the season, the writers do an admirable job of piecing together loose ends without sacrificing plot or structure. In a nice homage to the Prescription Passion, the General Hospital-esque soap opera he loves, House at one point is afflicted with amnesia. The humorous aspect of the story is offset by urgency as he tries to remember what needs to be done to save a patient. On a separate episode, House kidnaps the star of the daytime drama (played by Sex and the City hunk Jason Lewis) because he's convinced the actor is dying. The season finale is heartbreaking, as one of House's 40 candidates is in a life-and-death situation that even the good doctor may not be able to cure. --Jae-Ha Kim
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| Customer Reviews: Read 120 more reviews...
 Diluted. Over-priced. June 3, 2008
76 out of 113 found this review helpful
Seasons One through Three of House are outstanding. David Shore's creation, Dr. Gregory House, is perhaps the most brilliant and thought provoking television character currently on air.
Season four trashed this show. With the character load increasing nearly two fold; the audience is left longing for the enjoyable, and frequently hilarious character interactions between House, Cuddy, and Wilson. A few episodes aside, this show has become severely diluted giving it an almost 'daytime soap opera' like quality lacking the substance and excellence that it's audience has come to both appreciate and expect. It's time to either bring back the original cast, or move on.
Instead of the same twenty-four episodes we would normally expect, season four leaves us with a mere sixteen episodes due to the WGA strike. Amazon's current sale price of $41.99 is insulting. While I'd gladly pay $30.00 to complete my (low-resolution DVD) collection, this is one season I'd recommend you pass on until the price is lowered or included in a season 1-4 box set priced no higher than $150.
 House, M.D. - Season Four June 3, 2008
72 out of 85 found this review helpful
The fourth season of "House, M.D." was one of its best seasons yet. This very entertaining (and popular) drama series has already three strong seasons behind it, and season four does not disappoint. I was kind of weary going into season four because of what happened at the end of season three, when everyone's favorite crabby TV doc lost his team. I wasn't sure if this show would still be as good as it was, but I'm glad I stuck it out for season four. Give the writers credit, because this time they decided to have some fun going into the season, and great fun it was. The show at times is very dramatic, and at other times it's very funny.
The season starts off in the first episode with Dr. House still without a team and trying to diagnose a patient on his own, while Drs. Cuddy and Wilson (House's boss and good friend, respectively) try to persuade him to put together a new team by hiring some new doctors. The humor in episode one is still very much intact, especially in the scene where House tries to get ideas from the hospital janitor ("You were bouncing ideas off a janitor", Wilson tells him hilariously). When House finally decides to give in, there are 40 candidates vying for 3 positions on House's staff. And that's where the real fun of season four begins. The next several episodes turn into a "Survivor" type game where House eliminates the candidates one-by-one until he finally makes his final decision in the ninth episode. These episodes worked very well and it was a lot of fun to watch House play off these potential candidates. In the middle of all this, House's three former team members (Drs. Foreman, Cameron, and Chase) all return to Princeton-Plainsboro, but now working in new positions. The latter episodes deal with the three new doctors trying to deal with House as well as the patients they're diagnosing. And in an interesting subplot, Dr. Wilson finds a new love interest who just happens to be one of the same doctors who was trying to get onto House's staff and lost out. The final episode ends with a heartbreaker as House and company try to save the life of a person who was the victim of a bus crash, and House's inability to find out what really happened since he was also a victim of that same bus crash and has come down with temporary amnesia which makes the other doctors' jobs a whole lot harder.
Hugh Laurie once again dominates this show as he has from day one. Lisa Edelstein (Dr. Cuddy) and Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. Wilson) provide great support as usual. Omar Epps (Dr. Foreman) is back and is given a pretty good amount of screen time since his character is now overseeing and watching the new team. Former real-life couple Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Cameron) and Jesse Spencer (Dr. Chase) are also back, but weren't given much to do this time around. This is due to the three new cast members whose characters were the ones that House picked to make up his new team. Peter Jacobson (Dr. Taub), Kal Penn (Dr. Kutner), and Olivia Wilde (Thirteen) were the best ones for the job, and if I were a doctor and I had to chose some new team members, I would have picked these same characters. However I would have picked an additional fourth member to be on the staff: and that would have been Amber. Anne Dudek was a major standout in season four as Amber, who has a personality that's just like House. This character ended up being the last to go when House made his final decision on who he wanted for his team, but she was back (surprisingly) in the later episodes as Wilson's new girlfriend.
Because of the writers strike that shut down television production on all TV shows, the fourth season of "House" is shorter. Only 16 episodes this time around, but they're some of the best episodes that this terrific show has to offer. I hope it gets multiple Emmy nominations this year because it deserves them, and maybe this time out it'll win some Emmy Awards. My fingers are crossed.
If for no other reason, the season finale is devastating. June 22, 2008
20 out of 31 found this review helpful
I've loved HOUSE since its inception for the most obvious reason: Hugh Laurie. This season decided to sidestep a little and really take some time to highlight the supporting characters. The moments of the series that give me the most consistent pleasure are the moments with Laurie interacting with Robert Sean Leonard and Lisa Edelstein. Those scenes are attacked with gusto and a great deal of humor. The "medical mysteries" are slightly more edgy than your usual doctor drama, but don't really add to what makes the show great as often as they could. I will close this review by saying that the season finale is one of the most tragic episodes of television ever. I was sobbing like a little girl who skins her knee while finding out her puppy just ran away from home at the same time she found out that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny don't exist. I found it very difficult to stop crying for several minutes AFTER the show was over!
Over the Line, Sagging Badly July 27, 2008
17 out of 20 found this review helpful
I have to preface this by saying that House is one of my favorite shows. However this last season was almost unwatchable at times. In the first 3 seasons we learned that House could be a real jerk, but we felt that underneath it all he cared about his patients (and about his relationship with Wilson) and that his less admirable behavior was more from past baggage and not from malice and inherent nastyness. His game-playing usually benefited his patients or forced his team to recognize something in themselves. We forgave him his behavior because the net outcome was always positive. (And because he was always right, ultimately.)
In Season 4, however, House is playing games just for the pleasure of watching the negative reaction. Worse, he is shown as being wrong in his diagnoses. This is over the line. I guess we're supposed to believe that he is sinking to a point where he will be forced to choose between his relationships with patients and friends vs whatever neurotic jollies he's getting from his negative behavior. But you can't change a character's nature just to fit your dramatic needs.
He does indeed reach a choice-point in the final episode of the season, and this is the best episode this year, but the set-up for this isn't worth it.
I do feel for the writers of this show. It's extremely difficult to keep a show fresh over 4 years (and more) and there is a need for longer archs and conflicts. Season 4 just wasn't one of their more successful efforts.
 Horrible season and over priced June 5, 2008
16 out of 63 found this review helpful
Robert Sean Leonard was the only one who made this season slightly bearable. Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison weren't used enough and after a full, half season I still don't care about the new characters. There is not enough information on the original cast to thrust new ones into the mix. This show does not do well with a larger cast. It gets one star for the pretty green color.
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