Summary

• House season 4 broke the show's formula by having House host a competition to fill open positions on his team, adding a new layer of suspense.
• Season 4 feels like a new beginning for the series, introducing fan-favorite characters and changing the dynamics of the team.
• House season 4 changed the show forever by normalizing team alterations and setting the stage for future transitions in the series.

House have these qualities in common, but not all the show's outings boast equal quality.

Like many other TV series, House declined in quality slightly during its later seasons, but it hit its peak around the middle of the show. After establishing Hugh Laurie's lead and the other characters, House did a solid job of balancing its episodic medical mysteries with its long-term storylines centered on the medical professionals at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. And the best season of House upped the stakes for the characters, completely altering the series' formula in the process.

All eight seasons of House are available to stream on Hulu and Prime Video.

House Season 4 Broke The Show’s Formula

The Competition Switched Things Up

House season 4 is easily the best season of the medical drama, and this might be because this outing broke away from the show's typical formula. While prior seasons followed a pretty standard setup for a medical procedural, House season 4 blended this with the concept of a reality TV show. In the fourth outing, Gregory House hosts a competition to fill three newly open positions on his medical team. He begins with a whopping 40 applicants, but only a handful become serious enough to appear regularly on the show. These contenders are cut down episode by episode, making for a nail-biting season of television.

While the medical drama still features plenty of interesting patients and ailments, their fates are wrapped up in the applicants' pressure to succeed.

This overarching storyline adds a fun layer to House season 4, raising the stakes of each episode beyond the individual medical cases. While the medical drama still features plenty of interesting patients and ailments, their fates are wrapped up in the applicants' pressure to succeed. After three seasons following a well-established medical team, House really switches things up in season 4. Its narrative feels both fresh and familiar, and the new approach made the fourth outing the series' strongest overall.

What Made House Season 4 So Good

A New Format, New Characters, & A Well-Crafted Finale Worked In Its Favor

House season 4 is a fantastic outing of television due to its unique formula, but that's not the only reason it stands out. Season 4 feels like a new beginning for the series, introducing numerous fan-favorite characters to House's medical team, including Thirteen, Lawrence Kutner, and Chris Taub. The series also keeps familiar faces around, not fully bidding farewell to Cameron or Foreman, even after they stop working under the show's lead. This creates a good mix of storylines throughout season 4's run — and that's not to mention the focus on House's friendship with Wilson, which is a highlight.

House season 4 changed the medical drama forever.

Season 4's two-part finale also marks one of the best conclusions for the medical drama, delivering an emotional and unexpected installment that makes up for any weaker episodes that came before. But overall, almost all the chapters in House's fourth outing are well-written and boast a high quality, making it easy to place this season at the top of the show's lineup. Additionally, House season 4 changed the medical drama forever. In that sense, it's arguably the most important addition to the series.

House Season 4 Changed The Show Forever

The Medical Drama Was Never The Same

House season 4 may be the strongest of the series' outings, but it's not the last — and there's no denying that it changed the show's future. For one, the fourth season normalized House altering his team on occasion, which kept things interesting as the medical drama went on. The series also introduced characters who became just as important to the story as the original players. With Cameron leaving House in season 6 and Cuddy departing in season 7, both of these changes proved necessary.

In a way, House season 4 served as a turning point for the series. It set the stage for much of what happened later on, and it helped the medical procedural transition from its original cast and formula to something slightly different. Transitions like this aren't always easy, but House made it work by bringing something new to the table. And season 4 managed to do this while becoming one of its most highly regarded chapters. That's no small feat, and it makes the drama even more impressive.