Blogcritics Author: Barbara Barnett

Book Review: The Nation Guide to the Nation

Barbara Barnett — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 19:06:54 EST

The Editors of The Nation have compiled this guide to the 21st-century American Left.
The past eight years seemed an eternity. And now with Barack Obama about to become President of the United States, liberal is no longer a label to be uttered in hushed tones. It’s OK to be a card-carrying liberal again! As it has been since it first began publication in 1865, The Nation is the about as close as you can get to being the...

House, MD: 20 Essential Episodes, Part 2

Barbara Barnett — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 14:16:36 EST

Part two of this essential guide to House, MD.
Part two of this article covers seasons three through five; If you haven’t already, please read part one, which covers seasons one and two. Season three moved immediately from one character arc to the next. Each episode moved the story forward, adding detail and meaning. It made it very difficult to isolate the hallmark episodes. Season...

House, MD: 20 Essential Episodes, Part 1

Barbara Barnett — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 22:12:44 EST

As House, MD approaches its 100th episode, here's part one of a new guide to the 20 most important episodes of the series.
House, MD will celebrate its 100th episode on Monday, February 2. It’s an achievement that the series creators and star Hugh Laurie never imagined when they first endeavored to thrust this difficult, complex character into prime time network television. The fact that House is the only non-cable series up for a drama series Golden Globe award,...

House, MD: 2008 in Review

Barbara Barnett — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:54:43 EST

What did 2008 mean for the people at Princeton Plainsboro and House, MD? And what's in store for 2009?
Over the last year, my articles about House, MD have been generally pretty positive. Having watched the series from year one (if not exactly day one), I still adore House and its star Hugh Laurie, and his alter ego, Dr. Gregory House. But this is not to say that I think the show is flawless -- or even brilliant -- every week. There are things...

DVD Review: The Mysteries of the Bible Collection

Barbara Barnett — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:54:14 EST

The familiar stories and people of the Bible come alive in this fine documentary series from The History Channel.
Whether you believe that the Bible is directly from the mouth of God, divinely inspired, or simply a literary masterwork, there is no doubt that its narratives have been studied by scholars and schoolchildren, religious professionals and lay people for centuries. New meanings, hidden truths and ideas can be gleaned from the ancient stories, and are...

House in Love, Part 2: Cuddy - The Thin Line Between Love and Hate

Barbara Barnett — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:47:35 EST

The relationship between House and Cuddy has long simmered in House, MD. Is it going to boil over?
“There is not a thin line between love and hate. There is, in fact, a Great Wall of China with armed sentries posted every twenty feet between love and hate.” Dr. Gregory House articulates his feelings vehemently when his best friend Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) asks him in an early season one episode (“Occam’s...

TV Review: Saturday Night Live with Guest Host Hugh Laurie

Barbara Barnett — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:52:45 EST

Hugh Laurie hosts the final 2008 outing for Saturday Night Live with musical guest Kanye West.
Hugh Laurie has a long and distinguished career as a sketch comedian and writer. A product of that most elite of British sketch comedy training grounds, the Cambridge University Footlights Club (where he worked with Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry, and followed such luminaries of the previous generation as several of the Monty Python troupe), Laurie...

TV Review: House, MD - "Joy to the World"

Barbara Barnett — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:46:24 EST

In this year's Christmas-themed episode, House treats a bullied teenager with a secret, while Cuddy finds joy.
“Merry Christmas, Cuddy.” I couldn't imagine words normally intended to be so joyous could be uttered as poignantly as House did in the penultimate scene of Tuesday night’s House, MD episode “Joy to the World.” (Although Hugh Laurie's brilliance at portraying pathos should never come as a surprise -- and...

TV Review: House, MD - "Let Them Eat Cake"

Barbara Barnett — Wed, 3 Dec 2008 22:24:50 EST

House treats a fitness guru with a weighty secret while 13 enters a clinical trial and Cuddy moves closer into House's personal space.
First -- hot off the NBC press release: Hugh Laurie will be hosting Saturday Night Live December 13! Joining Hugh will be hip-hop artist Kanye West. (Now back to our regularly scheduled episode review.)Marie Antoinette was the most self-deluded of monarchs. As Paris starved around her, as rebellion fomented, her response was cold, yet filled with...

Dr. Gregory House in Love, Part 1: Of Monster Trucks and Vindaloo Curry

Barbara Barnett — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 23:00:09 EST

Is House capable of love? This two-part article explores the women in Dr. Gregory House's life.
In the House, MD season five episode “Joy,” House and Cuddy kiss, lost in the emotion of Cuddy’s loss and (partially, I think) House’s own personal earthquakes. That kiss (and the requisite eye-gazing that preceded it) was filled with a novel’s worth of narrative and dialogue. Hugh Laurie and Lisa Edelstein were...