ABOUT THE BOOK In recent years, the TV show House M.D. has become one of the most successful medical dramas of all time. Medical dramas tend to have several of the same elements, which can be packaged and arranged in a variety of different ways, but remain fundamentally the same. Medical dramas have sick patients, of course, so people in peril are part of the formula. Likewse, they routinely integrate medical terminology and technology that we may not be familiar with. The shows are full of disease names, other jargon, and high-tech machines that make viewers think that what is on the screen is new and vibrant. And they have ratiocinationthat is, they have that quality of the detective story that keeps everyone interested, the application of reason and investigative methodology to solve a difficult problem. They have one other thing, as well, of course: doctors. But if you look at the long history of the medical drama on American TV, this element of the formula has been somewhat lackluster. TV doctors, on the whole, have been pretty bland. MEET THE AUTHOR Jeff Davis is a life long educator with a Ph.D. in English Studies who has taught at both the high school and university levels. He is also an artist and an amateur anthropologist who is a proponent of First Art, that art which our ancient ancestors practiced some 30,000 years ago and even earlier. His most recent book, The First-Generation Student Experience, expanded the college student-affairs field describing the challenges of contemporary nontraditional students. Related to his interest in evolutionary biology, he is currently working on a writing pedagogy book that argues that motivation is the most important dimension of the creative process, even more important than skill and native ability. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK Houses leg injury has been an important plot feature in House M.D. from the very beginning. It really isnt the leg injury itself or the pain it causes that is of interest, though; its how the injury leads to Houses drug use and addictive behavior that drives the master narrative. Although the hospital staff tolerates his drug use as just another oddity of his personality for the most part, it does crop up as a fairly serious problem from time to time. In Season Six, however, Houses addition to Vicodin comes to a head. The first two episodes place him in a psychiatric hospital where he has been admitted to wean himself off the prescription medication. He is ostensibly clean for the rest of the episodes of Season Six, although drug use is always a shadow presence as far as House is concerned. Although hes not taking Vicodin anymore, the audience has to wonder how this new clean status will affect him. Will he start up with Vicodin again? Will he start taking some other medication? Will his performance as a diagnostic genius get even better? Will it get worse? CHAPTER OUTLINEQuicklet on House Season 6 (TV Show)+ Introduction+ Producer and Directors+ Overall Summary: Season Six+ Episode Summaries: Season Six+ ...and much moreHouse Season 6