I've only seen the first two (and a few eps from the third) seasons, but season one, while still really good stuff, is significantly weaker than what the show becomes. It still has its moments, and House the character is always great, but it starts out way to stand-aloney, like it was modeled after the CSI-style procedurals (which it clearly was). The show definitely evolved a bit and got a lot better as it went on. It never escapes its formula, really (that's one of the sorta recurring jokes), but every episode doesn't seem as rigidly similar, as if they all follow the same script blueprint and plot formula.