TV Series HOUSE Has Gone off the Rails

House has gone off the rails, but in a good way.

This season's premiere was one of the most anticipated episodes of House, ever. At the end of Season Five Dr. Gregory House had checked himself into a psychiatric ward – potentially finally admitting defeat against his inner demons. Changes were coming in his life, but I didn't realize the show would be changing so much.

It isn't radical or anything. The beloved series is still a medical detective show with the brilliant, socially malignant doctor. The secondary plot lines of psychological warfare between the characters in House's fish bowl still exists.

However, the show's writers seem much more apt to go away from the episodic nature of the show, in which a new patient or case is unraveled throughout the hour. The cases are still there, but it doesn't seem to be the primary focus anymore. The show is gravitating toward wrapping its primary plots around its characters' well-being and less about the patients.

The two-part premiere, the epic “Broken,” was completely different than the show's normal format. There was no patient – unless you count House as the patient. It was brilliant, but this turn was probably expected to kick off the season. From that point forward you would expect the show to return more to structuring itself around the medical mysteries.

That hasn't happened. Although the eight other episodes that have aired this season include medical mystery cases, most of the time they feel ancillary and in the background. Other shows have focused on the relationship between House and Dr. Lisa Cuddy (or “Huddy”), the assembling of House's dream team of diagnostic helpers in yet another cast shuffling, and House momentarily considering life as a chef instead of a doctor.

Another notable show this season, “Wilson,” made House the sidekick and gave his best friend Dr. James “Not Jim” Wilson the spotlight. House and his team are pushed off to the side and barely appear in the show.

These type of episodes are not entirely new for the series -- for example, there was that episode in which Wilson drugged and kidnapped House to make sure that he went to his father's funeral.

It has undoubtedly been an evolution, but it stands out in Season Six.

For those who love the show for the psychological and emotional terrorism that is practiced in the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, this is undeniably a good thing. It may be less exciting for casual viewers, who are more drawn to House solving cases.

Changes like this often happen with episodic shows when they start winding down and the writers need to wrap-up various emotional threads that have percolated throughout the life of the series – like consummating an unrequited love, which so many shows function on.

House, however, doesn't really seem to be slowing down. In fact, I think it has only gotten stronger. The shuffling of secondary characters – House's diagnostic team – including reality show like tournament of whits that was used in Season Four to select new members, has kept the engine turning. Meanwhile the cinematography and direction of the show have reached extraordinary heights. Some of the final shows of Season Five were beautifully realized. Episode 19, “Locked In” starring Mos Def was great.

House has always worked because of its characters – that is true with any great TV show. It wouldn't work if we didn't want to invite them into our homes over and over again. It is, however, a testament to the strength of the show and the confidence of the writers to take focus so intensely on them.

Season six may slide back closer to the familiar case-driven format eventually, but let's appreciate how amazing it has been to be off the rails for a while.