by Ashley Smith

Created on: January 07, 2010   Last Updated: January 08, 2010

The staple for most American drams shows these days is cops or medics, even better a combination of the two. Two of the biggest American medical dramas are House  and the recently ended E.R. Both are high class medical dramas but both have as many differences as similarities. ER is usually very fast paced and involves numerous doctors treating numerous patients spread round the emergency room. These patients may need a simple patch up or a serious medical process, always plenty of blood and plenty of fast paced medical talk. The patients have long talks about their ailments when able and the docs often have a sit down and a chat. There is a fair amount of complicated injuries and problems that need ingenious cures and treatments.

House is linked to ER only really in the focus of complicated diagnosis and complicated treatments. In this show the focus is normally on one sick person, someone with an ailment that no one except the eponymous Dr House can treat. He has a brilliant mind for diagnosis and a brilliant team under him who work together to sort the mysteries of medicine. The complicated illnesses are here with the complicated injuries that appear in ER but only with the one focus.  The discussions in ER tend to take place in a rush over the patients prone bodies, the house version involves the doctors being able to talk in a separate room. The long words and intricate phrasing only changes in the pace it's given.

There is always a degree of back story to the characters that occurs away from the pupil treatments. With ER the doctors have relationships and breakups, they arrive and leave and they have lives away from the hospital. They all have their personal traits which are personal to them and are intricate to their personalities. With house the main character is the one with the most common back story although the others are seen at times. Dr House has a pronounced limp, a drug dependency linked to pain and enough neurosis for a whole hospitals. He is often rude to patients and colleagues alike, he doesn't like to talk to anyone less intelligent then himself and after all this is he is an incredibly intelligent doctor. He is an amalgamation of many ER characters but all rolled in to one. If you want your drama fast and furious watch ER if you want it a bit slower and more considered, then try House.

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