I usually don't watch the "idiot box" much, but for whatever reason I've been watching a couple of shows a week, which I probably should be embarassed to admit to:
Hell's Kitchen: This is the first reality show I've watched. One thing that makes it interesting is that the main things the people have to do aren't that different than what you'd have to do to cook a single meal. Can you finish all the parts of a meal at the same time, so nothing's cold? Can you cook a steak just right? Do you have good taste? (In one episode, the people were fooled into thinking pate made of ground up hotdogs, or kaboobs made of TV dinners, was good food)
The show also downplays the "game" aspect of reality television, though there's a bit of it. There's two challenges per show, one that's a "game" that has no important consequence, but the main thing, which gets people kicked off, is simply working in the kitchen and making meals for patrons (though occasionally there are small gimmicks there -- tonight, one team had to unload a truck in the middle of their kitchen shift)
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention:
The commercials make it seem like the show is just Chef Ramsey swearing at the wanna-be chefs and making things impossible for them for an hour, which isn't actually the case. He swears just because he's a compulsive swearer, and even then more out of frustration than asshole-lery. His attitude in the kitchen is basically like a drill sergeant.
He, however, is mostly fair and even gives complements to people when he feels like they deserve it. Granted, sometimes his compliments are sort of loaded or equivocal ("He had a big heart, but he's a real crap cook"; "You worked hard, but you're not a leader").
House:
Someone else has explained this show thusly:
In some ways, it's funny how true that description is (particularly the crux, why can't House just fix them as soon as they walk in the door? Because patients lie. By refusing to accept their sinful nature, confess and repent, they keep God out of their hearts and lives, making Him powerless to help them.")
Like the episode where a kid was about to graduate from college, but he ends up in the hospital. He was at a bar, but he told his dad he didn't drink. He also did drugs, but he lied about that, too. And he also went on vacation to some carribean island, but lied about that, too, because he told his dad he studied on his vacation.
And his dad worked in a junk yard, but lied about THAT to House, because he thought no one would respect a man who works in a junk yard, and that doctors wouldn't give the kid of such a person their best treatment.
But by lying about that, it prevented House (until he eventually deduced it anyway) from realizing the kid had a piece of radioactive metal which was giving him radiation sickness.
On the other hand, that episode also showcases the "one thing leads to another" nature of house, like
"This woman has some stomach aches, but it turns out she has an ulcer, and then the ulcer is cauterized, but another one perforates, and now she needs a liver transplant, but she can't get on the waiting list, but House blackmails a doctor and she gets one, but then the liver had hepetitis, and that's fixed, but then it also has cancer, and now she needs a Mexican black market liver..."
which was parodied by someone else as
"Okay, so we thought he had a burst appendix, but then the x-ray showed a bullet lodged in his gut from 20 years ago but removing it didn't fix the problem and then the Australian doctor accused him of taking coffee enemas, and then he denied it so we put him on Prozac, and then he went into seizures, and then his sister threatened to sue House and he was taken off the case but he snuck into the guy's room and told him they'd have to amputate his left ear and then it turned out that he just ate a 2-week-old tuna sandwich."
The weird thing about this formula is that it means even House isn't always right (though he's still always at least one step ahead of everyone else), but everyone ACTS like he's always right.
Really, though, I think the appeal of this show is much simplier than the formula, OR any symbolism.
It's just simple old fashioned escapist fantasy. The fantasy in this case is based on:
A main part of every adult's life is their job. The fantasy for House is that you're so good at your job (and a job that pays well and is respected) that you can do it any way you want -- be rude to your patients / customers, be sarcastic with your superiors, belittle your underlings... Heck, the fantasy isn't even that you can get away with BAD things, just that you can do whatever you want. You don't have to play by any rules but your own. You can be out-in-left-field creative, and actually be RIGHT.
Hell's Kitchen: This is the first reality show I've watched. One thing that makes it interesting is that the main things the people have to do aren't that different than what you'd have to do to cook a single meal. Can you finish all the parts of a meal at the same time, so nothing's cold? Can you cook a steak just right? Do you have good taste? (In one episode, the people were fooled into thinking pate made of ground up hotdogs, or kaboobs made of TV dinners, was good food)
The show also downplays the "game" aspect of reality television, though there's a bit of it. There's two challenges per show, one that's a "game" that has no important consequence, but the main thing, which gets people kicked off, is simply working in the kitchen and making meals for patrons (though occasionally there are small gimmicks there -- tonight, one team had to unload a truck in the middle of their kitchen shift)
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention:
The commercials make it seem like the show is just Chef Ramsey swearing at the wanna-be chefs and making things impossible for them for an hour, which isn't actually the case. He swears just because he's a compulsive swearer, and even then more out of frustration than asshole-lery. His attitude in the kitchen is basically like a drill sergeant.
He, however, is mostly fair and even gives complements to people when he feels like they deserve it. Granted, sometimes his compliments are sort of loaded or equivocal ("He had a big heart, but he's a real crap cook"; "You worked hard, but you're not a leader").
House:
Someone else has explained this show thusly:
Quote:
You can't watch House as if it were just about a brilliant but embittered (and HARDCORE EXTREME IN THE FOX TRADITION) doctor. If you do that, you find that it's trite when it's going for sympathy, and ridiculuous when it's TAKING IT TO THE MAX. The proper way to view it is as an allegory for the relationship between God and man.
See, House is God. He knows all, and though His actions sometimes seem cruel or senseless, He always does everything he can to help His patients, who represent mankind in all its iniquity. He always has the power to save them, so why can't House just fix them as soon as they walk in the door? Because patients lie. By refusing to accept their sinful nature, confess and repent, they keep God out of their hearts and lives, making Him powerless to help them. Once they do so, he's able to cure them of their wickedness and restore them to the health of grace.
House's filthy assistants are the scientists, the skeptics, the Doubting Thomases of the world. Every week they doubt his wisdom, seek to countermand his wishes and usurp his power for themselves, but they always fail. The fate of the filthy assistants is a powerful illustration of the folly of man's hubris.
Dr. Lisa Cuddy, who appears to be House's boss, is in fact a stand-in for the priestly class, those who serve God faithfully even in times of doubt. Though she too is sometimes confounded by the will of House, she never fails to defend Him from the skeptics and the masses of ordinary sinners, keeping him in his position of authority, and doing his bidding even when it's terribly difficult. Remember that in season two, when given the choice between God and Mammon (ably played by Chi McBride) she chose God. She's one of the good ones.
And what about Wilson? Why, he's an angel, sent from Heaven to watch over me with those gorgeous little dimples of his.
In some ways, it's funny how true that description is (particularly the crux, why can't House just fix them as soon as they walk in the door? Because patients lie. By refusing to accept their sinful nature, confess and repent, they keep God out of their hearts and lives, making Him powerless to help them.")
Like the episode where a kid was about to graduate from college, but he ends up in the hospital. He was at a bar, but he told his dad he didn't drink. He also did drugs, but he lied about that, too. And he also went on vacation to some carribean island, but lied about that, too, because he told his dad he studied on his vacation.
And his dad worked in a junk yard, but lied about THAT to House, because he thought no one would respect a man who works in a junk yard, and that doctors wouldn't give the kid of such a person their best treatment.
But by lying about that, it prevented House (until he eventually deduced it anyway) from realizing the kid had a piece of radioactive metal which was giving him radiation sickness.
On the other hand, that episode also showcases the "one thing leads to another" nature of house, like
"This woman has some stomach aches, but it turns out she has an ulcer, and then the ulcer is cauterized, but another one perforates, and now she needs a liver transplant, but she can't get on the waiting list, but House blackmails a doctor and she gets one, but then the liver had hepetitis, and that's fixed, but then it also has cancer, and now she needs a Mexican black market liver..."
which was parodied by someone else as
"Okay, so we thought he had a burst appendix, but then the x-ray showed a bullet lodged in his gut from 20 years ago but removing it didn't fix the problem and then the Australian doctor accused him of taking coffee enemas, and then he denied it so we put him on Prozac, and then he went into seizures, and then his sister threatened to sue House and he was taken off the case but he snuck into the guy's room and told him they'd have to amputate his left ear and then it turned out that he just ate a 2-week-old tuna sandwich."
The weird thing about this formula is that it means even House isn't always right (though he's still always at least one step ahead of everyone else), but everyone ACTS like he's always right.
Really, though, I think the appeal of this show is much simplier than the formula, OR any symbolism.
It's just simple old fashioned escapist fantasy. The fantasy in this case is based on:
A main part of every adult's life is their job. The fantasy for House is that you're so good at your job (and a job that pays well and is respected) that you can do it any way you want -- be rude to your patients / customers, be sarcastic with your superiors, belittle your underlings... Heck, the fantasy isn't even that you can get away with BAD things, just that you can do whatever you want. You don't have to play by any rules but your own. You can be out-in-left-field creative, and actually be RIGHT.
