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[umiman]

Right, right, before you say anything. Let me assure you. I am one of those elitist pigs who automagically assumes the terms "TV show" with "nonsensical, bullcrap". It is not unjustified, as I'm sure you can observe yourself by switching on FOX. I hate, a small list for you:
1. survivor
2. talent shows
3. reality shows
4. sitcoms
5. Family Guy, Futurama, Simpsons, etc.
6. CSI knockoffs
7. police drama
8. drama
9. soaps
10. modern day documentaries
11. modern day cartoons, anime
12. local news
13. regional news
14. news programs
15. sports

But one day, after shooting a bunch of zombies in House of the Dead, I thought it would be fun to watch some TV instead of constantly playing games on it. Maybe I thought I was hurting the TV's feelings. Well, whatever the reason, the show that was on was House (Showcase Canada). It's actually quite a nice show. I actually really like it. I'm not particularly sure why, but it exudes this sort of... quality. Sort of like Fraiser or the first season of CSI back in the day.

So, I recommend watching House. It's a drama comedy about a crippled doctor who's also an asshole. He has a team of elitist, overqualified jocks treating patients for infectious diseases. His boss is an uptight, arrogant female and his coworker is like Cyclops of the X-men; you hate him at first sight. You know... I don't really know why I like this show. But I really do. I recommend it if you've got nothing to do while waiting for the next release. The pilot episode which I just watched (if you don't have House in your country, PM me for a streaming link) was really good too.

Here's a clip, pardon the uploader's editing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCW9LyP0rYM&feature=related

[McDoomhammer]

Psssst.  I'll tell you a secret.  It's because Hugh Laurie (House himself) is actually English.  He's actually well known for playing extremely posh English upper class twits in a number of sitcoms, including the Blackadders.  He just does an amazingly convincing American accent.

[Bullion]

Pssst.

It's NOT LUPUS HOUSE! DAMNIT!

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

I watched a few episodes of it.
The only thing I ever bother consistently watching is Doctor Who though.

[Duke 2.0]

 Indeed. My hero of American shows.

 Although I need to ask: Why isn't Lost at the top of that list? As far as nonsensical bullcrap, that show takes the cake. I actually think they change the plot every month to be completely different from any other plot they had.

 Although the pre-season finale of House was a little crap, the general amount of the shows are good. Particularly back in the days when there wasn't a general plot from episode to episode. Of course, House being what it is, every episode needs to be their hardest case yet. Not that I'm complaining.

[folo4]

4 seasons, 76 episodes in total.

Good luck finishing the backlog. House will return in the middle of September, this year.

[umiman]

Pretty funny how each episode has a distinct formula to it:
1. obvious problem
2. obvious solution fails
3. discussion leads to solution #2
4. fails
5. they find the missing link by deus ex machina
6. yay

[Bullion]

Pretty funny how each episode has a distinct formula to it:
1. obvious problem
2. obvious solution fails
3. discussion leads to solution #2
4. fails
5. they find the missing link by deus ex machina
6. yay

I thought we were talking about house, not CSI.

[umiman]

It's the same, innit? For all shows of this type. Stick with what works, they say.

[McDoomhammer]

Well, they say there are only eight stories.

House does seem to be sufficiently entertaining enough to get away with being basically formulaic, though.

[Cthulhu]

Family Guy's funny when it's not going out of its way to be obscene(Stewie is supposed to be sexually ambiguous, he's only funny when he's sexually ambiguous, but lately he's been really, really, like, over-the-top gay, and it's not funny anymore).

I agree with most of the rest, although Seinfeld is a hilarious sitcom.  You also forgot South Park.  I will never understand why that show is as popular as it is, when all they do is try to offend people.(What really annoys me is how the actor who played The Chef quit because he's a Scientologist and they made fun of Scientology, but when they make fun of anything else, he's fine about it).

I don't watch anything that could be considered "drama", be it crime drama, medical drama, court drama, whatever.  My English teacher(Who has atrocious grammar, and won't admit she's voting for Obama because he's black) recently started watching Grey's Anatomy, and it sounds like a montage of normal looking people suddenly revealing horrible injuries.  Somehow in one episode, a car pulled up, a guy came out holding his stomach.  He moved his hand away and entrails shoot out of the wound!  Then his sister comes out, pulls off her hat and her skull-cap comes with it, then their brother comes out and I stopped listening.

Anime:  Watch Lupin the Third, it's awesome.  Even the theme song makes me happy.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Well, they say there are only eight stories.

Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Himself
A Stranger Arrives in Town
Man vs. Rodents of Unusual Size
Ninja vs. Pirates
Boy meets Girl
Girl meets Girl
Corrupt Intentions

[Kagus]

Whoops.

[Sappho]

Ah, yes, House.  Many hours of my life have been spent watching the same episodes over and over again.

It's not that each episode is particularly original.  It does follow a formula, and the characters are fairly predictable.  This is because it's a TV show.  If you want something else, you'll have to turn the TV off and go outside.  Which isn't a bad idea, but TV is TV, and there's nothing wrong with enjoying it for what it is.

But I love the show because it's hilarious.  Sure, I know what's going to happen every step of the way.  I know that they don't have the right answer yet because there are still 38 minutes left in the show.  But it's freaking hilarious, so who cares?

Hugh Laurie is a genius.  Every time he opens his mouth I expect to hear an English accent, and every time it comes out perfectly American I am stunned.  The only other accent I've ever been so convinced by is Helena Bohnam Carter as Marla in Fight Club.  He's also hilarious (Black Adder was awesome).

I also love Sherlock Holmes, on which House is based.  I like House better, though, because you get to experience House's revelations along with him, rather than just hearing it all spelled out at once at the end of the story.  Directly transferring Holmes to modern times wouldn't work, because the social structure on which he based his deductions has changed to something a great deal more ambiguous.  Turning him into a doctor was the perfect choice - the rules of medicine, like the social rules of old, make it possible to deduct and predict based on little evidence.

I also love House's philosophy, though it is contradictory at times.  I love that the character cares so much that people think that he doesn't care what he thinks.  Example: his facial hair.  It always looks like he hasn't shaved in a few days.  But if he never shaved, he'd have a beard, and if he ever shaved, he'd be clean-shaven every now and then.  The only explanation is that he purposely shaves his facial hair to just the right length that he looks scruffy - an awful lot of work to put in to appear that you don't care!

[Cthulhu]

Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Himself
A Stranger Arrives in Town
Man vs. Rodents of Unusual Size
Ninja vs. Pirates
Boy meets Girl
Girl meets Girl
Corrupt Intentions

Don't forget:

Lonely Cowboys
Party Animal guy realizes he's missing something
Businesswoman realizes she's missing something
Old guy is testing people to see if they deserve to live(Also known as "Pathetic excuse to turn people being tortured into a movie, and trick stupid people into believing it has a storyline)
Monsters are really old people.
The call is coming from inside the house.
Adam Sandler is a momma's boy with a speech impediment who wants to play a sport.
Adam Sandler is a dad now.
Adam Sandler needs to jump into a giant fan.