The overall strength of the second season of House, M.D. proves that its first-year success wasn't a fluke. This season starts with Dr. House (Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie) pursuing his ex-wife Stacy (Sela Ward) and ending with a tragedy that could potentially be deadly for himself and two colleagues. The premise of each show follows a set routine--a patient is brought in with unusual symptoms; House challenges his trio of underlings to diagnose the problem; they treat the patient, usually incorrectly the first few tries; and then at the very last minute--through a revelation that often has little to do with the patient--House figures out what's wrong and saves the day. It would be easy for this set up to grow old fast. But because of the smart writing, nuanced acting, and believability of the characters (who're often dealing with unbelievable scenarios), the formula works on each of the 24 episodes that aired on Fox during the 2005-2006 season. Viewers have been conditioned by the Marcus Welbys of the TV world to think of doctors as saviors. Even on ER, the most narcissistic physician was selfless at heart. But House is a different breed. When he's at an off-track betting parlor and a woman collapses, he doesn't miss a beat. Still eying his race on television, he asks, "Is anybody here a doctor?" He'll mock a sick patient's complaints with a sarcastic, "Boo hoo!" And, if there happens to be a dead body around, he has no qualms about shooting it if he believes that could help diagnose another gun-shot victim.

A gerat Medical CSI - But the story formula gets repetitive

I love this show, it's so intriguing. Even if you know nothing about medicine, this show does a great work at explaining things so that anyone can understand them. HOWEVER, towards the end of the season I did notice that the formula was way too predictible and repetitive. Sometimes a bit more character development, but in the end: You have House doing clinic, then gets his hands on an "interesting case" spends the whole episode trying to figure it out with the whole team, and finally House has an epifany that allows him to solve the case... nice "Sherlock Holmes" style, but I think it could use more variety... something unexpected from time to time.

Simply brilliant series !!

Brilliant !! The quirky, original and exciting storylines, brilliant character creation, story development and screenwritting, great acting - and topping it off with one of the most attention-grabbing, intriguing characters ever to appear on our TV screen - House is a an exciting, go for the throat, nasty, clever, twisted, manipulative powerhouse ! Hugh Laurie is such a wide range, terrific actor !!

Bizarre and funny

Bizarre cases but interesting and funny. If you have medical interests, you should get it.