House: 6x21 "Baggage" - Discussion and Spoilers

[Arrqh]

^Well, Andre Braugher is one of the leads on the TNT series Men of a Certain Age, so it wouldn't have been practical for him to appear on a more frequent basis on House. Of course, they could've cast someone more available in the role of Nolan, but several of House's executive producers have worked with Braugher before (David Shore on Hack, Paul Attanasio on Homicide and Gideon's Crossing, Katie Jacobs also on Crossing), so I can understand why they'd want to work with him again and why they'd want to cast a really strong player as House's therapist.

I guess, but I don't see any reason why they couldn't have cast someone else in the role who would have been more available. Not to knock Braugher's performance at all, but I think having House's therapy sessions as a regular recurrence (though not as a framed story as we got this time around, as that would have gotten tiresome fast) would have been a really great direction to take the show this season. I'd rather have seen someone else in the role as a regular fixture rather then getting Braugher bookending the season.

Ah well, it's sort of pointless to harp on it, what's done is done!

 

[Hermiod]

Giving this an Excellent. The interplay between House and Nolan was wonderful.

 

[Christopher]

...Of course, they could've cast someone more available in the role of Nolan, but several of House's executive producers have worked with Braugher before (David Shore on Hack, Paul Attanasio on Homicide and Gideon's Crossing, Katie Jacobs also on Crossing), so I can understand why they'd want to work with him again and why they'd want to cast a really strong player as House's therapist.

I guess, but I don't see any reason why they couldn't have cast someone else in the role who would have been more available.

I just gave a couple of reasons. I mean, it's Andre Braugher! These producers were looking for someone strong enough to hold his own opposite Hugh Laurie, someone who could convincingly win a battle of wills with House, someone who was charismatic enough to carry such an important role. They've worked extensively with Braugher over the years and I'm sure they've been dying for the opportunity to use him here. Heck, Attanasio and Jacobs cast him as the lead on Gideon's Crossing, a medical show that I've seen described as a "dry run" for House. (Okay, I saw it described that way thirty seconds ago when I looked it up on IMDb, but it's a fair description.)

Everything's a tradeoff, and I guess they decided to go for quality over quantity. The opening 2-parter was the most pivotal story they were telling, and they wanted it to be as strong as possible, so they got Braugher. Seeing him more throughout the season would've been nice, but ultimately not as important as making that pivotal story as strong as it could be.

 

[Trekker4747]

They always count double-long episodes as two, because in syndication they're broken into two separate ones anyway.

Precisely how I count them, I messed up last week.

House is only budget for x-hours of shows, if they make a two-hour episode then it's two episodes. (Despite being shown as one,)

I messed up last week with the numbering.

 

[Saul]

I really liked this episode and also would like to add my voice for more Dr. Nolan. It's a real shame he didn't appear much after the great opening to season 6. He was the one character that House was really open to in some ways that he isn't to Wilson and Co.
It would have added great depth to the ending of this episode if we had seen these little sessions from time to time throughout the season.

We are already at the final again. Time passes so fast.

 

[HighteeHeller]

Fantastic episode!