House Season Premiere Confines House to Looney Bin

The House season premiere is in unfamiliar territory, although the House season premiere will have to start getting House back to his familiar setting. Yet tonight's House season premiere is unlike any episode before it, in that Dr. House is locked up for the full two hours. Last year's cliffhanger had House finally lose control of his addictions, resulting in his commitment to a mental hospital. For the House season premiere, the brilliant but nasty doctor begins the road to recovery - or at least to a way out of the psych ward.

The sixth season premiere of House takes place entirely in the Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital, which the title character entered in the final seconds of last season. Tonight, we get a full look inside the hospital, as House is completely separated from Cuddy, Cameron, Chase, Foreman, Thirteen and the rest - though Wilson gets a brief phone call.

Instead of the usual supporting cast, the House season premiere has him spar with the hospital's patients and employees - most notably Andre Braugher as the ward's head shrink. Franka Potente also drops by to get close to House - as if "Huddy" fans weren't upset enough when last season's House and Cuddy hookup was really a hallucination.

The title of the House season premiere is "Broken" but it might as well be called "Redemption" like 24's opening two hour movie last season. Like 24 last year, House is debuting a two-hour special that shakes up the traditional formula, if only for a little while, to start rebounding from the past troubled season.

Despite the efforts of Hugh Laurie - who still remains without an Emmy, though the season premiere could change that next September - the show has taken some steps back in recent years. An overload of characters - "Thirteen" in particular - are among the scapegoats for it. The show focused more on the House/Cuddy pairing by the end of last year, but it didn't turn out the way that their fans hoped - hence, the stopover at a mental hospital.

For those tired of the usual House formula, the season premiere may be a welcome respite. Critics are already raving about the special, though they wonder if the show will stay this strong when the doc is inevitably let out.

Once the action returns to Princeton-Plainsboro, and to the other characters, Season Six will deal with the latest House and Cuddy antics, Foreman becoming head of the team while House is away - and even a major storyline for newlyweds Cameron and Chase again.

Before that, the House season premiere prepares to do things a little differently, at least for tonight, starting at 8 p.m. EST on FOX.

Sources

E! Online- "Hugh Laurie Previews Monday's Premiere of House" www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b144993_hugh_laurie_previews_mondays_premiere.html

New Jersey Entertainment- "House season premiere review" www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/09/house_season_premiere_review_s.html

Zap2It- "House: Season 6 starts tonight & David Shore is talking" blog.zap2it.com/korbitv/2009/09/house-season-6-starts-tonight-david-shore-is-talking.html