Top of the charts.

Before there was McDreamy, Dr. Kildare was top of the charts in 1965.
Today, Dr. House is a real pill--and we're addicted.

People try to put us d-down (Talkin' bout my generation)

Just because we g-g-get around. (Talkin' bout my generation)

Things they do look awful c-c-cold. (Talkin' bout my generation)

I hope I die before  I get old.  (Talkin' bout my generation)

Townsend in '76.

On this day in 1965, Pete Townsend, on the occasion of his 20th birthday, wrote a song about his generation.  (Daltry added the stutter in the recording.)  Obviously, Townsend's youthful hope was not realized.  He has indeed gotten old--67 today. 

Back in 1965, Richard Chamberlain's kindly cutie pie was teevee's top doc.  Today, the New York Times gives us the bon voyage wrap-up on House, which finishes its run with a two-hour episode this week.  http://tinyurl.com/d6e8wcy  The show's creator claims Sherlock Holmes was the inspiration (House--get it?) for the obnoxious Vicodin-addicted doc locked perpetually in medical mystery battles. 

It's a dirty job, but
somebody has to
do it.

But isn't House really just like your average cop/detective since the late 60s and 70s?  The guy who has to break the rules and go rogue by the third act because the criminal/disease is just too insidious for ordinary, agreed-upon rules to apply?  The guy who has to be a loner, cause by golly it's lonely at the top where he and only he knows who/what is responsible for the crime/disease and he and only he has the will to see the real truth and get the job done.

Liberals love rule-breakers because they say rules on civil rights have often been wrong; conservatives love rule-breakers because rules they say are just regulations that hinder freedom.  But every rule-breaker is in essence applying his own rule, and maybe the truth is we love us some authoritarian leadership--we love the doc who plays god, we love the cop who plays judge and jury-- as long as he's packaged in the guise of the rebel.

Just talkin' bout your generation, Mr. Townsend.  Happy birthday!