Hugh Laurie Hits Back at Critique That ‘House’ Has the ‘Same Narrative Every Episode’: ‘If All You See Is Hospital, Medical Blah Blah, Then It Wasn’t Meant for You’

Hugh Laurie is still a fierce defender of “House,” even more than a decade after the show’s ending.

The English actor, who starred in the Fox medical drama from 2004 to 2012, did not mince his words in response to a critic who went viral on X over the weekend for saying that “House” has the “same narrative every episode.”

Freelance journalist Janet Murray wrote on X that in each storyline, “Patient has mysterious illness.
Hugh Laurie (House) gets diagnosis wrong. Patient nearly dies. Hugh Laurie gets diagnosis wrong again. Gets threatened with being fired. Patient nearly dies again. Hugh Laurie has last minute leftfield idea. Gets diagnosis right. Doesn’t get fired.” She concluded, “Eight seasons of this?”

Related Stories

Disney Pulls Hulu Even Tighter Into Disney+ but Company Says 'No Current Plans' to Phase Out Hulu App

‘Disney Princess – The Concert’ Set for U.K. and Ireland Tour

In response, Laurie fired back: “Thanks for your critique, Janet. We actually tried a couple of episodes where House (Hugh Laurie) (please put the brackets in the right place) gets it right first time, but they were only 6 minutes long. NBC weren’t happy. Then we tried some where House never gets it right and the patient dies. The audience wasn’t happy.”

He added, “One could apply your trenchant analysis to other art forms: JS Bach wrote 30 Goldberg variations on the same chord structure; Frida Kahlo painted 50 portraits of herself; Henry Moore, what?? The point is, or was, variations on a theme; if all you see is hospital, medical blah blah, then it wasn’t meant for you.”

Laurie finished off his post by quipping, “Nonetheless, I look forward to your first novel!”

Though many fans in the comments responded with support for Laurie, Murray seemed to take the roast in stride. “Woken up to a few new followers this morning. Who may be disappointed to learn that TV reviews are not usually my forte,” she wrote on X Monday. “Plus I may now be too busy working on my first novel.”

For his work on “House,” Laurie received two Golden Globe Awards and become one of the highest-paid actors in TV drama at the time. He went on to star in “Veep” and “The Night Manager” and will soon feature in BBC and MGM+’s series adaptation of John le Carré’s “Legacy of Spies.”