14 DAY TRIAL // “House M.D.” debuted on Fox back in 2004 and, despite some decrease in audiences, it is still riding the high wave of popularity. In fact, the television drama starring a ruggedly unkempt Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House is so popular that it was just named world’s most watched television show, as The Examiner can confirm.
Figures from Eurodata TV Worldwide put “House” at the lead of all television shows that ran last year, ahead of former winners “CSI: Las Vegas” and “CSI: Miami.” Speaking strictly numbers, in 2008 alone, “House” had 81.8 million viewers from 66 countries glued to their TV screens to see what would happen next, which is far more than the winners in previous years got, the aforementioned publication explains. The potential numbers of viewers for “House” in 2008 is actually of 1.6 billion.
When the medical drama premiered 5 years ago, critics were not exactly pleased with how it was going, fans might remember. The unlikely lead character, the fact that he had little to no redeeming quality (his brilliant mind not included) and the somewhat complicated storyline of each episode seemed to hint that it would not fare well with the audience. Two episodes later, the public was hooked, and producers – and Fox, implicitly – learned that they had made the right choice when deciding to present audiences with something entirely different from what was aired at that point in time.
It could very well be that this is exactly why the public is still hooked on “House,” The Examiner believes. Both “House” (Hugh Laurie) and “CSI: Miami” (David Caruso) feature leading men who have almost nothing to do with the commercial version of a “hottie,” which actually makes them more appealing to audiences. The fact that episodes are rarely connected to one another in storyline also helps greatly, because it makes both shows more approachable by all segments of the public, the publication further says.
As of now, “House M.D.” is gearing up to enter into its sixth season. The first spoiler as to what’s next for Gregory House and his team has already been made public when Michael Ausiello of The Ausiello Files revealed that Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda had been cast as House’s roommate at the mental institution he checked in at the end of the fifth season. For more on this, do keep an eye on this space.