To add to that, Hollywood must also just love up and coming drug dealers, because I believe Bryan Cranston won the year before Hall took the award for Dexter.

I don't think the drug issue had anything to do with Hugh not taking home an award for so many years, it's just he's been up against some fierce guys repeatedly. Although I don't think Hall deserved it as much as Hugh, I'm sure next year that Emmy will have his name on it. Even if House goes back to Vicodin (although the DEA may seize the Emmy).

It's mostly unbelievable because no one else is mentioning it. Anywhere. Searching terms related to it would only bring up sites quoting your original comments, and that's pretty unusual for any story (especially a controversial one) about a TV show as big as House. Almost as unusual as the DEA not getting on to House for its depiction of a genius that uses Vicodin, as you would say.

Maybe Fox didn't do away with Vicodin (wholly) because of requests from the DEA, despite the fact that they may have been getting them for X amount of years, and instead it was due to the natural development of the character, and the issues with the DEA were an aside. Since, as you admitted, you don't know why Fox decided to cave in, then this scenario is plausible, and makes the most sense if everything you mention is accurate. The "disappearance" of House's pain was because House found out it was related to his mental state, which was suggested heavily in Season 3, and I think appeared before then. And sufferers of chronic pain have been helped in reality by mental therapy.

Also there are depicted mental or physical consequences of his Vicodin abuse, though they may not appear in every episode or season. There have been several episodes to prove this, like the one where House can't manage to pee without inserting a catheter, the hallucinations from last season (although I guess that entire storyline was just for the DEA, according to you) and, of course, the effects when he's trying to stop the abuse show how serious the matter of House's addiction is to the show runners. I think I even heard from one of the doctors that comments, or the writer himself from http://politedissent.com that the occasional mood swings and other various symptoms House portrays offhandedly in episodes may be a subtle way for us to see how Vicodin is affecting him.

The DEA may have taken issue with there not being enough of these episodes, but there certainly are episodes where we see the effects of House's addiction.

I've spent way more time in response than I should have, though, so I'll just say that I really liked this episode too. I don't know why people don't think House's therapy has made him a changed man, I've been seeing the changes in him pretty consistently throughout the season. At least concerning being kind to people he doesn't normally interact with. House changing into a joy around Wilson, Cuddy, or the team won't happen any time soon, but remember the guy from the apartment building who House helped with his chronic pain, and he helped Wilson back in the beginning of the season as well, even if it was under the guise of wanting him not to lose his license; he also helped Wilson briefly in Wilson's titular episode when directing organs at him, and later hanging out in his best frien'd hospital room (not something I would see happening as easily in prior seasons)then of course this episode. House has definitely changed a lot from his therapy. The only thing I'm not really enjoying about this season is the Cuddy storyline. It's just weird.

The first defense of the wrong...I don't have to prove I'm right, you have to prove I'm wrong.

Bruce,

You are undoubtedly familliar with the concept of burdens of proof. Because you are the party rasing the allegation (i.e., the DEA is forcing Fox to tone down House), that means you, and only you, has the burden of proving your claim. Your assertion that you can't "post the documents" does nothing to support your claim and, therefore, is not proof of the same. Moreover, rather than meeting your own burden, you attempt to "shift" the burden to us to obtain the documents; however, as you may be aware, you simply cannot do this until and unless you have satisified your own burden.

However, even assuming these documents exist, the facts, as explained by you, actually undercut your argument. You have asserted that the DEA has made this request for "years," but Fox has routinely ignored it. Given that Fox paid no heed to these documents for "years," it logically follows that the documents had no impact on Fox's decision to drop this storyline, and the decision was made purely as a result of the writer's decision to try something new.

Anyway you slice it, you're arguments are flat out erroneous.

That was established in previous seasons.

It _was_ established in previous seasons--but didn't he move to a new place this year with Wilson? So are these old checks? Are the writers just keeping his address the same even though they made a whole episode out of him moving to a new place?

I like your idea :) Bring spicy!!!