RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media Gregory House is just a rip-off of Dr. Cox from Scrubs

So I was watching some of the House, MD reruns on USA when it occurred to me that all they did for this show is take Dr. Cox from Scrubs and made him not so funny. Let's look at the facts. Both men had abusive fathers that turned them into egotistical assholes who can't stand to form close relationships with other people. They, in turn, belittle everyone else for their own amusement as well as a way to keep them at arms length even coming up with little nicknames for his favorites. One choses to drown his sorrow in Scotch, the other with Vicodin. Both men were still in love with their ex-wives. They both have lofty ideas about the practice of medicine that are unwaivering and unrealistic.

Now, for the not so obvious rip-off aspects. House's original team was a chick, a white guy, and a black guy. Hmm.... Sound familiar?



House's main foil for the show is an administrator who he has to sneak his treatment of patients by because they may just break the rules.



Of course, House's foil has better tits.

I'm sure that the people who created House watched Scrubs on a daily basis taking notes before they called up Fox to arrange their pitch meeting. That period where Cox didn't shave probably made them go, "That's great! Our guy should have stubble all the time too. That way he looks like and outsider because outsiders don't shave." They were probably sitting on the coach with their notepads and pencils when the episode where Dr. Cox got the vasectomy and limped around for a quarter of the episode thinking, "He's limping. Our guy should limp, like, all the time." "And have a cane." "Yeah! A cane! Because outsiders have canes."

All in all, I think Fox should be kicking back some of that ad money coming in for House to the guys and Scrubs who pretty much created their popular character but in a more entertaining and funnier form.

I've noticed the similarities before also, but looking at the time frames of the shows, I'm betting they both influenced each other.

Oh, and as for "chick, white guy, black guy," that's the default "diverse" group of people for any tv show.

Hey! They're not the same! The genius writers for House made him addicted to painkillers! So he's really Dr. Cox...only less funny and a junkie.



My gal started watching House a few months ago. I watched a few episodes before telling her, "If I want to watch Dr. Cox, I'll just watch Scrubs. McGinley's a better actor..." But, hey, Hugh Laurie was in an episode of The Young Ones, so he's got that going for him, I guess.

Does anyone even watch House? I mean, besides my girlfriend?

I used to watch House, but then it turned all soap-opera-y and I fell in indifference with it.

I've been saying this for years. House is basically Scrubs without the funny parts.

Of course, when the makers of Scrubs noticed how well the rip-off was doing, they decided to tone down the funny in the later seasons. House retaliated by becoming even more boring than it originally was.

It's like House Calls and Trapper John MD......

It always confused me that Wayne Rogers who played a character named Trapper John on MASH was on House Calls, and opposite that was a show called Trapper John MD based off the movie MASH version of Trapper John but not starring Wayne Rogers.

He also did a bunch of the Black Adder stuff with Rowan Atkinson. Maybe he'll get the right role to show off how talented he is, but for now he's stuck in this formulaic, boring character of House.

A feat I would have never thought possible.

It seems like FOX has a heavy hand in the execution of TV series, as the majority of the shows end up with the same formulaic feel to them. The advertising alone makes the shows look lame.

House is enjoyable and is a well written character. Dr. Cox is annoying and overacted--a lot like Steven Colbert.

House is an obsessive who basically lives for his job. Cox drowns himself in work to run away from a social life but still pretends he has one. The former is an embittered misanthrope. The latter is a poser.

House MD's writing is tremendously different from Scrubs'. It would take more than a foil-cast and a hateful doctor to make House a Scrubs clone.

i thought you loved the Cox?

...You know, maybe that wasn't the best emoticon to use for a quip about penises.

Yeah, Scrubs is entertaining. Haven't you been reading the posts? We've been over that already. House is a Dr. Cox wannabe.

I really do not get how people can rationalize their enjoyment of scrubs. It's basically the same sarcastic schtick with every episode. First few episodes were cute, but then it got really fucking annoying.

House doesn't obligate itself to any particular kind of decor and whatever emotion it has is applied with a light touch that has more to do with visual nuances as opposed to exaggerated dialogues, but it doesn't completely shy away from dialectics.

Sorry guys. I can't concur.

RKMBS: The Series

House isn't the same cynical bullshit every week?

"Hey, I'm House. I'm going to call people names and make fun of their intelligence. I'm gonna make racist, stereotype jokes to the black guy and sexist comments to the women while coming up with the wrong diagnosis four times in a row, but on the fifth try I'll be right just in time to save the patient's life. By the way, I hate everyone."

House used to be great. He jumped the shark awhile ago though. And yeah he is a rip off of the scrubs dude for sure.

Well yeah, his personality's the same. But the characters surrounding him are fairly different.

My biggest problem with Scrubs is that they all act plucky and clever as if they're all aware of the forth wall and just play to it like it's a skit comedy as opposed to what it's supposed to be: a mock drama. I simply cannot take that week after week.

I like the fact that House is in his own world and everyone just tags along for the ride. I admit that the character can get monotonous at times, but I think he's applied more creatively to each scenario since he stands out among the cast.

In the case of Scrubs, it's like they're trying to apply their own personalities to themselves since they're all quippy.

Actually, I felt the first few episodes of House were your typical NBC Drama bullshit. It's like the idea jumped the shark before it even bothered to stand out.

Luckily the first few episodes I saw were from the later seasons.

I love Cox!

I've not watched House, but Scrubs is way overrated.
Yes its mildly humourous, but its hardly worth the praise many people heap on it.


oh, but Laurie pisses on McGinley as a comedian, so Joe is gay!

I do like Scrubs better, but both are overplayed right now. If I want good drama I'll watch The First 48, Cold Case Files, or Law and Order.

I have to say, from a British perspective, American tv comedy tends to be pretty boring and formulaic for my tastes.
That said, the drama series from America are spot on, and American comedy movies are generally the best, so it seems to me that there is some sort of cap imposed by tv companies on how far a sitcom show can push the envelope.
Now cartoon shows like Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy etc, they seem to have no such limits!

if pushing envelopes is outlawed on jeremy will compare comedies to dramas.....

Jermery pushes envelopes up his arse!

I remember seeing an episode where House was on a plane. That was their idea of shaking the show up. "Let's put House on a plane. We'll go through the exact same motions as we would any other episode, but it'll be on a plane."

At least Scrubs has acknowledged its formula and short comings.

They use the "weird disease" angle on House to distract from the lousy writing and piss-poor characters. At least Scrubs is aware that it's a sitcom. House tries to balance between comedy and drama and fails on all fronts. Also, it's telling when Scrubs does an episode that pointedly makes fun of House, right down to Cox parodying House. Perhaps that should've been the wake-up call to the House screenwriters to up their game.

I'm watching house right now. This shit is getting to be almost unwatchable. Oh look he is mean oh boo hoo stop being mean House wait you saved my life your mean but smart.

Both shows started to suck hard when they pulled the drama tag. JD's pregnant girlfriend, House's stupid "I'm gonna arrest you for being a drugie" season... bleh. Haven't watched either since.

I understand that the next episode is going to be House underwater.

"House" is my wife's favorite show but after watching one of the USA marathons she realized that every episode is exactly like every other ep.

I watched the first five minutes of the 100th episode of house. It was annoying crap.

The doctor is out: Fox's long-running drama "House" will end after this season.

I stopped watching after that ridiculous 'Chase murders dictator' shit. I heard it only got worse.

Scrubs ends at 8 seasons. House ends at 8 seasons. God, does their plagiarism know no bounds?

The Simpsons will probably go 88 seasons.