Why We Hate AND Love You, Dr. House

One of my favorite characters on television is one that I would personally hate to be in the same room with. Dr. House (played exquisitely by Hugh Laurie) is, well, a perfect a$$. I’m not the only one who thinks so either, his co-workers, friends and patients call him that nearly every episode. They could put his picture next to the word “jacka$$” in the Dictionary and we’d all nod our heads in agreement.

Dr. House’s faults? How much time do you have?

Let’s start with his attitude. He’s gruff, downright mean sometimes, arrogant, egotistical and NOT always right.

He’s a drug addict who lifts his addiction above his family, friends, lovers, and personal safety.

Disconnected from society, Dr. House chooses to be a spectator in life, rather than a true participant. He picks apart every aspect of humanity as if he isn’t one of us.

He likes mind games, enjoying pitting people against one another for sport. He will press personal “hot buttons” just to see what will happen next.

There’s so much to not like about the guy, so why in the world would we love Dr. House?

Because the show’s writers are brilliant.

First off, they created this inherently unlovable guy and made us feel sorry him. It is no easy feat to feel sorry for a perfect donkey butt. But we do, right? Why?

1)  The man walks with a cane. That image alone tugs on our heartstrings a bit. It’s hard to want to punch a guy in the nose if he has a terrible limp and walks with a cane.

2)  But the writer’s went deeper than that. Dr. House walks with a cane and is in terrible agonizing pain every day of his life. I can’t imagine living with constant pain and this softens my heart toward House even more.

3) The only way he can deal with pain is to take drugs. Now wait a minute! That was one of the reasons I don’t like Dr. House, because he’s a drug addict who puts his addiction above his friends and such. But, but…if he’s hurting that bad how else can he survive? And how terribly sad that he has lost his loved ones because of the drugs that are reducing his pain.

4) He is disconnected from others because it is too painful for him to get too close. People die on him all the time. Or they disappoint him. He erects walls to protect his heart.

5) The mind game stuff is his way of trying to learn the truth. He is so sure that everyone lies or has a selfish motive for actions, that he is completely intrigued when someone is unselfish. Or acts out of love. Or to protect a loved one. Dr. House learns lessons in humanity every episode.

Beyond feeling sorry for Dr. House, we respect him. The writer’s made Dr. House:

A) The best at what he does. Period. No one is better.

B)  Loved by at least one friend and one lover. If these highly successful smart people love him, he must have some redeeming qualities.

C) Admitter of mistakes—remember he is NOT always right, but he does admit when he is wrong and moves forward to fix his mistakes.

D)  Say it like it is. Dr. House may twist the truth to his advantage but says exactly what we would want to say if we could. Bold, frank and to the point.

E) A life saver. He doesn’t make excuses, doesn’t quit or waver until he has done everything in his power to save the patient when no one else can.

Like I said, the writers are brilliant. I may not want to be in the same room with such a man, but if I was dying, I wouldn’t care if the doctor was an a$$. I’d want him to save me. End of story.

How about you? Do you hate, love or both Dr. House?

www.kimberleytroutte.com

Yes, I Remember the Sixties, Is That Bad?

Ah, television. Back when I was young, TV was a special pleasure. For years we had a black and white TV. On Sunday night, several of us younger kids went to the end of the street to the one neighbor who had a color set. We’d watch Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. And it was wonderful. Magic.

Fast forward to 1966. Star Trek began and we even had a color TV to watch it on. I became an immediate fan, and looked forward to every episode. My mom worried I’d have nightmares, but I was actually more likely to dream of being on the Enterprise and rushing toward new adventures. When the novelizations of the show came out, I sucked them down. A friend suggested I try some real science fiction, and suggested several books. Books by people like Bradbury, Asimov, Clark. I fell hard. I wanted to write SF. But my muse didn’t like the hard SF I loved to read. My muse leaned toward human drama.

In 1969, the show Medical Center debuted. OK, I’ll admit I had a big time crush on Chad Everett (who’s aged quite well, I must point out). When he had a love scene I just kind of melted. In fact, most intense love scenes (not sex in those days, just holding and kissing and stuff) had my stomach tingling. It took me a while to figure out romance and SF didn’t go together. But oh, if they just could.

Many years later, I heard Catherine Asaro speak. Before SF or paranormal romance was even a subgenre, she talked about combining the two in her work. At that time, the way to do this was to write straight SF and downplay the romance so the predominately-male audience wouldn’t be turned off. Seeing this beautiful, highly educated woman speak was life altering for me. I wanted to combine SF and romance. My muse, however, was still resisting the SF idea, even with romance attached. For years I wrote straight romance, and though I got compliments on my work, I wasn’t getting any contracts.

My muse, however, would let me take altered reality a bit further to fantasy/paranormal. And even let me add romance. By this time, the market was changing. Paranormal romance was a real sub-genre. But I only wrote short fiction. Finally I gave in and wrote a haunted house romance novel. This book got more interest than any other, and eventually got me my first contract. So, I guess I owe my publishing career to Star Trek, Chad Everett, and Catherine Asaro. Thanks, guys!

Have a great week!

Cheryel
www.cheryelhutton.com

My weakness for Britcoms

The crew from back to front: Holly (on the screen) Kryten the robot, Arnold the hologram (big H on his head), Dave Lister the last human and Cat.

I blame my father for it, but not that’s it’s something horrible. I’m quite thankful for it. I love British Comedies. Sure, I’m a fan of Dr. Who and Torchwood but that’s a WHOLE separate post.

I grew up watching British comedies like Monty Python, Fawlty Towers and Are You Being Served. It wasn’t until I was much older that I finally understood the many double entendres, including the numerous jokes about Mrs. Slocombe’s pussy.

When I hit my teens I gained my own repertoire of favorite British Comedies, Blackadder, Mr. Bean (though I preferred Blackadder over Mr. Bean, Blackadder was also where I first saw Hugh Laurie and was a fan of his long before House), As Time Goes By (LOVE me some Dame Judi Dench), Vicar of Dibley and my absolute favorite Red Dwarf.

The British have this amazing ability to combine actors and the cast just ‘clicks’. Many people have tried to copy British comedies, but they don’t work.

I am a huge Sci/Fi nut, so Red Dwarf is perfection. It combines my love of Sci/Fi with my love of British Comedy.

Red Dwarf’s humour is basically a lot to do with sexual innuendos. I mean the basic plot is everyone the mining ship Red Dwarf is dead. A radiation leak killed off everyone. Fast forward a million years into deep space and we find one human survived, Dave Lister. He was in stasis. He wakes up to find he is alone, save for a hologram version of his bunk mate Arnold Rimmer whom he HATES and a creature that evolved from his cat who had been safely sealed in the hold and thus safe from the radiation. Also as Dave’s companions are Holly the ship’s computer which has gone a little wonky and Kryton a missih eccentric computer who gets joy out of ironing bras over his head.

The characters feed off each other in their mission to get back to Earth, even though there’s no guarantee the human race have survived.

Basically the plot revolves around Dave Lister getting back to Earth and getting laid. Though his true heart’s desire is Christine Kochanski (who was killed in the radiation leak), but this is Sci/Fi and anything can happen including parallel dimensions and time tears.

At the start of the series Dave is a slob. He’s lazy and basically a bum. Arnold is obsessed with becoming an officer. He’s a brown noser and no one liked him when he was a alive, but during the years this show ran (and still is running I just got to watch Red Dwarf Back to Earth) the characters grow and change…which is what I as a writer strive to do with my own characters.

The only character who doesn’t change is Cat and really he doesn’t need to. He personifies a Cat and he doesn’t need to have furry ears, whiskers or a tail to do it. I get a bit secretly annoyed with shifters or aliens who have these aspects, when all you have to do is show us a bit of his character.

I mean, take a look at Cat in this You Tube video:

Cat has to be one of my favourite characters of all time.

Red Dwarf is my brain candy. It lightens me up when I’m down. Most British Comedies do. They’re my band aid for the soul and I love them.

Do you have any favorite characters or shows which make you feel better?

I have this love-hate relationship with TV. I used to work in a busy newspaper office, and I got used to the constant buzz of background noise – conversations, phones ringing, keyboards tapping. Once I started freelancing, working primarily from home – or in a “normal” office – the silence was deafening.

So I’ve gotten used to flipping on the TV just for the background noise. Funnily enough, I can’t work to the sound of the radio. Talk radio, even my beloved NPR, is distracting, music even more so. Music flips on the wrong side of my brain for my more technical freelance work, and interferes with my thought process when I’m working on a story. Probably because I’m so musically oriented. When I’m performing, my whole being is focused on it.

But TV? Easy to ignore, easy to stare at mindlessly while the back of my brain works out a problem or a knotty sentence structure. My husband fusses at me for having it on all day, which he says will burn out the screen. But hey, isn’t he about ready for a flat-screen? I’m just helping things along!

Having said all of the above, I have a few guilty pleasures.

Ghost Hunters - though my family groans when I remind them it’s Wednesday night, and constantly mock me and the show in the background while I’m trying to watch. I don’t care…it’s still the best ghost hunting show on TV, all others are pale imitations or just plain annoying (*cough*GhostAdventures*cough*).

(Trivia: Did you know Jason has an amazing smile? I never knew he COULD smile until I saw him as a guest on Millionaire. It's actually quite brilliant.)

Supernatural - Despite my issues with the show’s tendency to wander off the main story line, it’s still a riveting story arc. I rarely watch it on TV anymore, though – I wait and watch it online later.

Vampire Diaries – Actually this show is too teeny bop for me, but day-um, Damon is hot… :D

America’s Next Top Model – Every time I watch this show, I wonder why. LOL I’m kinda winding down with this one, however back when it first started a friend of mine (*cough*JCWilder*cough*) and I would watch it together – by instant messaging back and forth while it was on. How geeky is that?

Project Runway – I think this show falls into the same category as ANTM, at least on one of the reasons why it’s fascinating. It involves a creative process where the participants literally have to bust out a finished product in an impossibly short period of time – flaws and all. It’s not unlike NaNoWriMo. Puke it out, even if it’s ugly. Put it out for critique and learn to listen, even if it’s bad. Chances are better than excellent that you’ll take away something from it that’ll become your signature style. Like Say Yes To The Dress, or What Not To Wear, throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

Anthony Bourdain/No Reservations – I mean, really. Who wouldn’t want to have a job where you get to travel the world, experience the best (and maybe the worst) of each region’s food and culture, and write about it? I want to BE him. (Okay, maybe I just want to be as TALL as him.)

Deadliest Catch – Bait the pot, drop the pot, pull the pot. The breathless anticipation of what’s in the pot wore off a long time ago. What keeps me coming back are the human stories. Though I’m the first one to recognize that these things are heavily edited for drama. Now I just want to be there when Keith finally gets a handle on his temper – or strokes out. Root for the Harris boys to rise to the challenges before them. Look for Edgar to be standing on the dock when Sig brings the Northwestern home. And you know what, I’d really like to see the right woman bring that hard-ass Johnathan to his knees.

So readers, since most of the above shows are going to be winding down, help me pick out something new to obsess about. What do you like?

In fact, let’s have a contest! Leave a comment and I’ll draw a winner. I brought back a bag full of books and swag from the Authors After Dark con, and it all needs a home!

Happy reading,
Carolan

www.carolanivey.com

Odd, Quirky, and Off The Wall--Like Me!

The dirty little secret is that I’m not the one who tells the stories. The truth is that I’m the typist. The real crafters of my stories are my characters. But then, I’m attracted to characters. I love watching odd people, or people doing odd things, in real life and in movies and on TV. I hope to capture some of that oddity when I write my stories.

One of my all time favorite is the baby from the TV show Dinosaurs. Baby and his family still make me smile, and the depth of the storylines, hidden under the cute surface, amazed me. It was truly a show for all ages.

Who doesn’t like the TV show Monk? The strange and wonderful Adrian Monk is a pleasure to watch. The actor, Tony Shalhoub, studied people who have obsessive-compulsive disorder and translated the reality into an over the top, quirky character.

I’m not much of a reality TV girl, but I make an exception in the case of Pitboss. There are dogs, okay? The cast of Pitboss: Shorty, Ashley, Sebastian, and Ronald (plus the dogs!) are the quirkiest, most fun group of folks on the little screen. I will warn you, is there is some foul language, though most of it is bleeped out.

There are many other wonderful characters on TV, movies, the mall, and, of course, in books. Who are some of your favorites? What makes a character memorable? Have you ever done something just because it was odd?

Happy Monday, and have a great week!

Cheryel
www.cheryelhutton.com