Perhaps Hugh Laurie wasn’t acting all that much while playing Dr. Gregory House?
The 10-time Emmy-nominated British actor got a little bit tetchy after a social media user critiqued his show, the enduringly popular medical drama House.
In a viral tweet, freelance journalist Janet Murray opined that the Universal Television-produced House was all rather formulaic and repetitive, to wit, episodes would follow the pattern of: “Patient has mysterious illness. Hugh Laurie (House) gets diagnosis wrong. Patient nearly dies.”
Then: “Hugh Laurie gets diagnosis wrong again. Gets threatened with being fired. Patient nearly dies again.”
And finally: “Hugh Laurie has last minute leftfield idea. Gets diagnosis right. Doesn’t get fired.”
Murray concluded by scoffing, “Eight seasons of this?”
The tweet has been viewed over a million times, but to Murray’s surprise, Laurie replied, in typical Gregory House fashion, to defend his show. “Thanks for your critique, Janet. We actually tried a couple of episodes where House (Hugh Laurie) (please put the brackets in the right place) gets it right first time, but they were only 6 minutes long. NBC weren’t happy.”
Warming to the theme, Laurie continued, “Then we tried some where House never gets it right and the patient dies. The audience wasn’t happy. One could apply your trenchant analysis to other art forms: JS Bach wrote 30 Goldberg variations on the same chord structure; Frida Kahlo painted 50 portraits of herself; Henry Moore, what?? The point is, or was, variations on a theme; if all you see is hospital, medical blah blah, then it wasn’t meant for you.”
Laurie ended his tweet with the pithy rejoinder aimed at Murray, “Nonetheless, I look forward to your first novel!”
House ran for eight seasons on Fox from 2004 to 2012 and was nominated for outstanding drama series at the Emmys four times, although it never won. Laurie himself was Emmy-nominated six times for playing Gregory House, but alas, much to Janet’s agreement perhaps, never secured a win.