TVSquad

There's nothing spectacular about the House, M.D. - Season Three DVD box set that will be released on Tuesday. Sure, it features the entire season on five discs, and it does have some all right extras (which we'll talk about in a moment). However, all in all, it's not much different than any other TV on DVD box set you would find on the market. Well, except for this . . .

By buying this DVD set you will have in your hands the complete last season of House before everything changes. If you are a fan of the show, or a reader of TV Squad, you know that the three Fellows that Dr. Gregory House has verbally abused over the last three seasons are moving ahead in their lives. As the fourth season begins they will be replaced with a whole new bunch of people for House to mold. What does this mean to you? Well, in one year you'll either be saying 'Gosh, season three was so much better' or 'The fourth season was the greatest one that has ever been aired on television!'. Only time and a season premiere will tell.

As I mentioned, the season three box set isn't much different than others on the market. All of the episodes are there and span the season from House's miraculous recovery from a gunshot wound, to his criminal investigation, to all of his Fellows telling him to piss off. All episodes are in widescreen format and feature Dolby sound and subtitles.

There are a few extras in this DVD set, most of them on disc five, but nothing that really jumps out at you. There's the standard blooper reel, which was amusing, and a soundtrack session with the Band from TV, in which Hugh Laurie plays piano in a rock n' roll band comprised of television personalities. Then there is a tour of the production offices, courtesy of Executive Producer and Director Katie Jacobs, and a tour of the prop house, which was conducted by the Prop Master. In that extra we got to see numerous types of blood and synthetic body parts.

Another extra on disc five is Anatomy of an Episode, which featured background on how the episode 'The Jerk' was constructed. It was especially interesting because there was plenty of foreshadowing from the actors on what season four would look like. Most of them said that they would still have roles on the show but they would be different then what they were now. Well, since the show is introducing five new characters for Dr. House to berate I'm guessing that their statements will be coming true.

Only two more discs in the set include extras. On disc one there is an alternate take from the episode 'Cane & Able' that features Cameron and Cuddy in a scene entitled Angry Valley Girl Version. In this scene the two women speak like Valley Girls, complete with many 'likes', 'totallys' and, it seems, the four-letter word for sexual intercourse as every other word. That word is bleeped out in the scene, so it probably isn't as funny as it would be unedited.

Disc three has the one and only commentary in the set. It's by David Shore and Katie Jacobs for the episode 'Half-Wit', which guest-starred singer Dave Matthews. Since Katie was the director on this episode we did get a bit of insight on how scenes were set up and what was taken out. Through the commentary we also learned that Dave and Hugh played their own piano pieces during the episode, and that Matthews is the winner of Best Seizure for the entire season.

So, should you buy the House, M.D. - Season Three DVD set? Hey, if you are a huge fan of the series are you really going to listen to me if I say no? Of course not! You're going to pick this right up, miss dinner, and relive all of the season again. However, if you are only a casual fan of the series, and a fan of DVD extras, then this may not be set for you. In fact, you might just want to wait until your local public library picks it up so you can view it for free.