As most fans are aware, just after the "House" Season 7 finale Lisa Edelstein, who played Lisa Cuddy, refused to renew her contract with the show. Cuddy having been a main character throughout the shows seven seasons and the primary focus of Season 7 itself was expected to leave quite the hole for "House" writers to fill. Now six episodes into Season 8 it would appear they not only succeeded, but managed to make the show just a bit better.
The show went back to its roots.
Back in the early seasons when "House" was still "House MD" the focus of the show was the medicine. People watched because they enjoyed learning about obscure medical cases presented with a dry sense of humor coated in sarcasm. Sometime around the same time they dropped "MD" from the show's title they also stopped focusing so much on the medicine. "House" became a medical soap opera where character side stories overshadowed the cases presented by a long shot. The loss of Cuddy seems to have realigned the focus of the show on the medical cases.
House is House again.
Another turn for the worse taken in Season 7 was the sissy-fication of Gregory House. While writers tried hard to keep House his typical self while in love and happy, they just didn't succeed. They obliterated the character profile they had built and took an arrogant, godlike jerk and turned him into a groveling, vindictive cry baby. The loss of Cuddy seems to have magically reformed the former House into the plot line.
The void was filled nicely.
Foreman certainly did not seem the logical choice to fill Cuddy's shoes being that he failed miserably to control House in earlier seasons, but "House" writers covered that hurdle very smoothly with the idea that House could be sent back to jail if he failed to behave. The conflict between House's break-the-rules personality and his desire to not be a locked-up replaces the conflict that was previously created by Cuddy and House's relationship.
All in all while Season 8 may still be a lacking in comparison to the first seasons of the show, it's a high beat in comparison to the last few seasons the show has had, and may just be enough to revive the shows failing ratings and win it yet another season, that is if Hugh is willing.
More from this contributor:
Recap of Episode 6 of Season 8 of "House"
Is Hugh Laurie Too busy to Playing House?
Best "House" Episodes from Each Season
