Patrick McGoohan, 1928-2009

Patrick McGoohan died on January 13th, at the age of 80. As a fan of McGoohan's iconic TV series "The Prisoner," I was saddened by his passing. Regular readers know that I have compared elements of "The Prisoner" to "House," and remarked upon the similarity between Hugh Laurie and Patrick McGoohan. I can't say that I'm familiar with much of McGoohan's work beyond "The Prisoner." But "The Prisoner" was an absolutely brilliant show, thanks in large part to McGoohan's acting and his hand in producing, writing, and directing the series.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, it's an allegory about freedom and the individual in our contemporary society. (It's also much more than that, there's lot of layers to the show.) McGoohan's character, who is only referred to as "Number 6" during the entire run of the show, is a government agent who suddenly and angrily resigns, and is then kidnapped and taken to "The Village," a seemingly innocent place, but with a very sinister undertone. "Number 2" is in charge of "The Village," and it is his or her job to find out why Number 6 resigned. (There was a different Number 2 each episode, another brilliant decision.) Number 6, of course, refuses to tell Number 2 why he resigned, and keeps trying to escape the Village.

Without giving more away, "The Prisoner" is a fascinating study of individualism, all 17 episodes are worthy of watching and re-watching. It's a show that made people think. And Patrick McGoohan was the brains behind it, and for that I will always be grateful. Be seeing you, Number 6.

House's Dad

This week's episode of "House" made me again recall the similarities between House and Patrick McGoohan's Number 6, from "The Prisoner." House's Dad died, and House confides to Wilson that he discovered his father wasn't really his father. House's real Dad was a friend of the family, whom House apparently bears some resemblance to. This character was said to have been at his Dad's funeral, but we never got to see him on screen. I know who should have played him! Patrick McGoohan! It would have been perfect!

House of the Prisoner 2

I was watching an old episode of House on the USA network this weekend, and there were 2 interesting similarities to the 1960's TV show The Prisoner. (For more connections between the 2 shows, see my earlier post "House of the Prisoner.") In this episode, House was wearing a turtleneck, similar to what Number 6 often wore on The Prisoner, which made Hugh Laurie look even more like Patrick McGoohan. Okay, so that's maybe not that interesting...but the next point is. House is "teaching" some medical students because he's avoiding working in the clinic, and they're asking him all these questions that he finds exasperating. He answers one of their questions with, "That would be telling," familiar to Prisoner fans as one of Number 2's favorite sayings. It's even in the dialogue that precedes every show.

Number 6: "Whose side are you on?"
Number 2: "That would be telling."

So, deliberate homage or just a coincidence? Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?

House of the Prisoner?

Is Hugh Laurie the new Patrick McGoohan? The more I watch "House," the more similarities I see between Laurie's Dr. House and McGoohan's Number 6 from the classic 60's TV show "The Prisoner." Laurie and McGoohan bear more than a passing resemblance to each other, which is what started my thinking about this. McGoohan was roughly the same age as Laurie was when "House" started, and an essential part of both characters is their age. They are not young men, they have seen the ups and downs of life. The physical resemblance that strikes me the most is their brilliantly blue eyes. Laurie does this thing where he puts his head slightly down, and just stares intensely with those eyes, it reminds me of so many moments in "The Prisoner" where McGoohan has exactly the same look on his face.

The characters share a completely anti-authoritarian philosophy, Number 6 for a clearer reason than House. They both use their sardonic humor to put down those in power. As House has Dr. Cuddy to constantly annoy him, so Number 6 is always matching wits and doing battle with Number 2. (How about a different Dr. Cuddy each week?) And although House ostensibly has his freedom, unlike Number 6, who is forced to remain in the Village, House is just as much a prisoner of his own narcissistic, poisoned worldview as Number 6 is. House has built his own prison, and however miserable he claims to be, he makes no attempt to escape it, unlike Number 6, who is always seeking a way out of the Village. One of the themes articulated by the last episode of "The Prisoner" is that we all are in a prison of our own making, no matter how comfortable it might seem to be. (That's all I'll say without giving too much of the last episode away.)

Those are all the similarities that spring immediately to mind, I know this isn't totally fleshed out, but I wanted to get this down before I forget it all.