rsl_fans | Background of James Wilson on House Wikia.

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Background of James Wilson on House Wikia.

http://house.wikia.com/wiki/James_Wilson

I was just reminding myself of some of Wilson's history for some writing I was doing and referred to his bio on the House Wikia page (link above.)

I noted it mentioned his early life and his parents:

Wilson was born in New Jersey to Henry and Sophie (nee Krugman) Wilson. Wilson's father is Protestant and his mother is Jewish. Due to the mixed religions the family never seriously practiced one religion or another, although Wilson is recognized as being Jewish (as Judaism recognizes the religion passing down the mother's line, not the father's). From the time Wilson was born until he was ten his father Henry was a woodshop teacher that did oddjobs for extra money, Sophie was a nurse.

Is this stuff true or has it just been invented by the writer of the page? It was never mentioned in the series (as far as I remember!) and i don't recall any official releases about Wilson's history!

Can anyone elighten me?

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I have never seen this before, my guess it is fan fiction, unless David Shore has written it on.

Yeh i'm thinking fanfic. As

cuddyclothes pointed out, anyone can edit that page!

Fanfic. Anyone can edit a page. I have, even before I was registered.

I thought as much. I just wondered momentarily if i'd missed something!
Someone should really do a proper fanfic about W's parents. As RSL said:

Wilson is a very strange man,” the actor said, matter-of-factly. “People seem to overlook this. They seem to think he’s this normal, teddy bear of a guy. He’s very strange. He has three ex-wives. He lives alone, well now he lives with House. He deals with death every day. He has a schizophrenic homeless brother. God only knows what his parents are like. I think he’s a really strange, dark guy. That’s my take on him.

I think

mer_duff is the queen of Wilson's family/childhood fic.

Oooh. I think I have read some of

mer_duff's fics a long time ago (when I first started reading)
Will have to go back and have another look! :-)

Not only is is fictional, whoever put it up there is very determined to have it stay. I removed it once or twice a few years back (because it isn't canonical) and it kept cropping up again.

How strange. It really does make sense to stick to the facts/canon on that page. There are plenty of other places to speculate and post fanfic!

I figure it's either an obsessed fan or RSL having some fun, but I suspect his idea of fun is more likely to involve taking the kids and dogs to the beach.

I remember the House Wiki had a completely different story about Wilson's family background, also full of stuff that was never canon.
In the published Official Guide to the show this is what RSL said about Wilson, though David Shore seemed to disagree about the depth of Wilson's neuroses and the writer's take means more than the actor's. (A nice fan scanned and posted the entire chapter on Wilson here (http://rslfan.livejournal.com/121886.html?view=122654#t122654).)
[it explains] his caution, yes. He comes from a dysfunctional family. A lot of plaster fell on his head from that incident. He ran away from home. He's never been the same since. A lot of this is sketchy... In my mind I think his parents are shit and they took a lot of the pain from the older brother and transferred it into blame on the younger for not helping them because they're pathetic parents.

I have always absolutely LOVED RSL's interview in the official guide!

I fell in the love with the character of Wilson as soon as I started watching the show. I loved how he was the 'nice guy' -the 'good boy' and yet clearly he has this darker side as he has three failed marriages, a long history of infidelity and loves nothing more than to conspire and play games with House! The fact alone that he's attracted to House as a best friend shows that there is much more to him than the boy wonder persona he presents to the world. This always fascinated me and I wish they had explored it more in the show. I really fell in love with RSL when I heard him in interviews talk about Wilson's dark side. That he's the saddest man in NJ and far more messed up than House in some ways. I completely agree with him and although it may not have been Shore's original intention with the character, I just love that RSL had the insight to play Wilson that way! That depth makes Wilson fascinating and in my mind one of the greatest characters in TV history! :-)

though David Shore seemed to disagree about the depth of Wilson's neuroses and the writer's take means more than the actor's.

I suppose that's true. But I personally prefer RSL's take on the character ('cause I like angst, but also because I think it rings true). I've also always had the impression that DS gave little thought to Wilson and what makes him tick.

I recently read an answer DS gave to a fan question (I *think* it was on Twitter, can't remember), asking which House character he (DS) would like to be. He replied Chase, or (expect for the end) Wilson. I wondered if DS had ever stopped to consider the events in the character's life, even before the writers gave him cancer.

By the final season Wilson wasn't recognizable as a PERSON, in that his behaviour was literally not believable for a human being. So I'd agree that DS didn't give much thought to him.
Wilson is the last character I'd want to be, except House himself and Thirteen only because of her illness. And who wouldn't want to be Chase?

By the final season Wilson wasn't recognizable as a PERSON

I get so wound up by what they did to Wilson in the last few seasons. They stopped thinking about him at all. He just became the comic relief for the show. They also changed him in a lot of ways. (I mean why was House giving a reluctant James 'DHA' Wilson dating advice in S7?! I know House just wanted Wilson to be happy and move on but he wrote Wilson as practically virginal with no clue about dating/flirting!)

But yes, I wouldn't want to be Wilson. I think that's a very dark place to be :-(

I wondered if DS had ever stopped to consider the events in the character's life, even before the writers gave him cancer.

I don't think the writers gave Wilson much thought at all (I once did a huge rant on my journal about how underused he was: http://discofunction.livejournal.com/5075.html (http://discofunction.livejournal.com/5075.html) which prompted a pretty good discussion!)

Doris Egan was the best writer for giving Wilson context. House Vs God, Birthmarks and The Social contract all gave some nice insight into why Wilson was the way he was. (More messed up than House, his 'persona' , his struggles with losing people for example!) Sadly the other writers didn't follow this lead. They just wanted to use Wilson as some comic relief and didn't really think him through. I do like David Shore but I do wish he had thought about Wilson in a bit more detail and pushed the other writers to take RSL's/Doris Egans lead on the character.

LOL I agree! I doubt RSL would have any interest in messing with the fans about Wilson's background. And if he did I doubt he'd write something plausible. He'd write something ridiculous and hilarious!

Now that would be fun. :)

Unfortunately, all we know about Wilson's family (besides his ex-wives) comes from just a few episodes.
(1x10 "Histories", 5x17 Social Contract).

I always thought Wilson was Jewish because of his remark to Cameron when she found the ham in Rebecca Adler's fridge (Pilot, 1x1).

All we know (canon-wise) is that Wilson has two brothers (one of them is Danny Wilson, who was homeless and later was in a mental institution). House has met Wilson's parents and one of his brothers (and Wilson wanted House to meet Danny). That's it.

I'm disappointed that we never got to learn more about Wilson's background—considering that Wilson is just as messed up as House (but in a different way), I'm sure it would have been interesting. I think David Shore realized too late (aka the last season) that what really made the show was the interaction between House and Wilson.

I was also disappointed that we didn't find out more about Wilson's background! I think it would have been interesting and it still angers me that they just dropped the brother story line!

I think David Shore realized too late (aka the last season) that what really made the show was the interaction between House and Wilson.

I couldn't agree more! It was great that we got a Hilson ending, but it was just too late. Many great House/Wilson opportunities were missed!

I agree! There were so many missed opportunities to explore Wilson (and by extension the House/Wilson relationship). I still wonder how the show would have been if Shore had stuck to his original premise of just having House, Wilson and Foreman as the characters. There probably would have been more room to explore all three characters in depth.

I also hated that Shore didn't push the House/Wilson relationship further because it definitely was the defining relationship of the show. I remember an interview after "Don't Ever Change" aired, where an interviewer raised the possibility that House and Wilson could be more than friends (aka lovers) and Shore brushed it off by saying that they weren't going to explore that further. That pissed me off because obviously if Wilson had been a woman, you can bet that they would have explored that. I think David wasn't interested in that and I think that it's a shame because there shouldn't be a double standard when it comes to portraying same sex relationships as opposed to straight ones on tv. (And yes I think House is bisexual and I think that's what they were subtextually (sic) saying in "Don't Ever Change.")

In the end, I think Shore realized his mistake in not exploring the House/Wilson relationship and I call bullshit that he still says it was just a friendship. A friend (no matter how close) doesn't just give up his entire life and fake his death to be with his best friend for six months.

In the end, I think Shore realized his mistake in not exploring the House/Wilson relationship and I call bullshit that he still says it was just a friendship. A friend (no matter how close) doesn't just give up his entire life and fake his death to be with his best friend for six months.

Oh wow yes! I have always said this! No matter how far you ship the romance aspect of H/W, nobody can deny their relationship had gone way beyond the boundaries of just 'friends!'

House gave up his life for Wilson and Wilson wanted only House in his final days. They dedicated their lives to each other and to me, it is one of the most beautiful love stories I've ever seen! <3

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Background of James Wilson on House Wikia.

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