House
2004 · 8 Seasons · Fox · Medical Drama / Mystery
Hugh Laurie's Gregory House is one of the great television characters, a brilliant, abrasive, Vicodin-addicted diagnostician whose intelligence is matched only by his capacity for self-destruction. The show built eight seasons around this one performance, and Laurie delivered so consistently that the procedural formula never quite wore out. The medical mysteries follow a reliable pattern and the supporting cast rotates more than most fans would like, but when the writing focuses on House himself and his tortured friendship with Wilson, it produces some of the finest character drama of the 2000s.