That’s why Season Four was a bit of a godsend.  Foreman, Cameron, and Chase are no longer under House’s employ… forcing the not-so-good doctor to have at it alone (don’t worry, they’re still in the show this Season - it’s just that their roles in the Golden Globe Award Winning medical drama have changed).  When Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) demands that he employ three new assistants, House reluctantly agrees - and hires forty applicants to play a big bad game with, firing them one by one when they screw up or say something incredibly stupid (giving the writers an opportunity to make fun of those moronic Reality TV shows in the process).

And so, here we are: House, Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), Cuddy, and the kids (in minor roles) helping to break in several potential newbies including “Cutthroat Bitch” (Anne Dudek), “Bosley” (Carmen Argenziano, who is a great actor, incidentally), “Thirteen” (Olivia Wilde), “Big Love” (Edi Cathegi), the guy that looks like a cross between Tony Shalhoub and Steve Carell (Peter Jacobsen), and the required Asian-American character (brought to life by the unbelievably handsome Kal Penn).

Unfortunately, something always happens to screw a good series up: in this case, it was the writers.  Or more appropriately, a lack of writers: this Season of House, M.D. was just one of many casualties of the 2007-2008 Writers Strike, and as a result, the Christmas episode aired in January, eight episodes were never made, and viewers probably lost interest (out of sight, out of mind).

Oh well, let’s hope Season Five puts everything back on track.  But please, add the newbies to the opening credits.  I like them.  They should stay.  Hell, bring in another character next season.  A chick.  Mexican.  That way I can drool over her.  Japanese would work, too.  Then me and my gal can both drool.  Your pick, writers.  Just don’t go on strike again: I can’t stand to hear the desperate housewives complaining again whilst waiting in line at the supermarket.

Presentation
Universal Studios brings us House, M.D. Season Four in a 4-Disc set that (naturally) resembles the previous Season Box Sets, but doesn’t actually fit with them - this in itself is guaranteed to drive you obsessive compulsive folks crazy.  I know it did me (and will somebody please hire someone that will actually look at the previous sets to get an idea of what they should be going for?).

Anyway, it looks like Universal is finally getting on the bandwagon in the Audio and Video departments (and it’s about time, too, what with BLU-RAY and all): the anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen transfer here almost borders on pristine every now and then (check out the shot of House’s eye over there if you need convincing) while the English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack also succeeds in warming the cockles of my heart (what or wherever cockles might be).  As with almost every Universal release, very large English (SDH) and Spanish Subtitles are included.

Extras
Disc One features some Previews for Heroes, Life, Crossing Jordan on DVD and the next Season of House on TV.  Yay.  But it’s Disc Four that contains all of the real goodies though, and includes six featurettes: House’s Soap: Prescription Passion (6:44) is a montage of clips from the hokey soap opera Dr. House can be seen watching throughout the series (there is no intro or narration on this one, so file it under “cutesy”… plus, they use a variation of the famous “it will destroy you” line that all soaps constantly employ); New Beginnings (26:01), which takes a look at the new characters and interviews most of the major cast and crew; Meet The Writers (14:45), giving us a chance to see the guys that went on strike; The Visual Effects Of House (15:27); Anatomy Of A Scene: The Bus Crash (5:32); and My Favorite Episode So Far (6:42).

Disc Four also features an Audio Commentary on Episode 15: “House’s Head”, the first half of the two-parter Series Finale.  The Commentary is with series creator/co-producer David Shore and executive producer Katie Jacobs.

The Bottom Line
Providing you can handle the addition of new cast members, House, M.D. Season Four still has what it takes to make us keep watching it (at least for another two seasons or so) and, whether he’s kidnapping the star of his favorite soap opera because he thinks the actor may have a brain tumor, arguing with his best friend’s girlfriend for visitation rights, or dressing janitors up in lab coats just so he can have someone to bounce ideas off of, Hugh Laurie is still one of the best male leads on network television (it’s too bad he hates playing the part so much).