See Jane Clack – Nurse Jackie vs. House (with some Mental thrown in)

I’ve been watching Mental since it premiered a couple of weeks ago, and caught the premiere episode of Nurse Jackie this week, too. It’s hard not to draw comparisons to House with both of these shows, although I don’t know that either show is truly like House, which is in a class by itself (even though I haven’t watched it much the past few seasons). But let’s delve a little deeper into this notion:

Is Nurse Jackie a female House? Right off the bat, I’d say no. Even though she pops pills like House (or in her case, snorts them — can you snort Vicodin?), she actually cares about the patients. House is just as rude to the patients as he is to everyone else, and looks upon them as a puzzle to be solved.

Sure, they’ll both do whatever it takes to solve the medical mysteries, but she’s doing it because of a larger philosophy that if she doesn’t look after them, no one else will — certainly not the doctors, especially Dr. Cooper, played by Peter Facinelli. The jackass didn’t follow her advice and the patient died, so she made something right out of it and forged his signature on a donor card. I’m trying to decide if Dr. House would do this. It’s certainly rule-breaking enough, but I don’t know that he cares that much about someone else getting a patient’s organs illegally. What’s your thought on that?

Meanwhile, Nurse Jackie has horrible back issues, which is why she’s snorting the drugs. House has the limping-leg issue. On the sex factor, I’ve never seen him bed anyone down in his office, the way Jackie went at it with the hospital pharmacist. Also, she has a loving husband and two beautiful kids waiting at home for her. That’s very un-House-like. He has no social life whatsoever, preferring to play his piano and listen to jazz in the dark in his off hours.

Now let’s take a look at Mental. Everyone says, “Oh, it’s just like House, only set in a mental hospital.” Well, sort of. Dr. Jack Gallagher definitely breaks all the rules to get to the heart of his patients’ problems, starting with stripping down to his birthday suit on his first day at the hospital in order to gain a patient’s trust. Would House do that? No way! He’d look at the patient and make some wise-ass remark, then go back to his office and juggle some specimen bottles.

Dr. Gallagher (Chris Vance) has a lovely British accent, which is what Hugh Laurie has in real life, only the makers of House sadly made him American. Don’t they know that we love people who speak in a British accent? I guess they didn’t want to make House that lovable (though he is, in a screwed-up way).

But, hmmm … maybe Dr. House will run into Dr. Gallagher, now that he’s IN a mental hospital. Hey, they’re both on Fox; that would make for an interesting crossover, don’t you think?

And let’s not forget the haircuts — Nurse Jackie, House, and Dr. Gallagher all have similar haircuts, even though some people really hate Nurse Jackie’s short ‘do.

So what’s your take on these three medical professionals? Is Nurse Jackie a female House? Does Mental remind you of House?

Clacked by Jane Boursaw
on Jun 12, 2009 @ 14:00 EST5EDT