Entertaining though. Big fan of House here.
Well, House MD isn't Sherlock. By being a different character, even if he is
inspired by the (crappy) interpretations of Sherlock Holmes, it's quite a bit easier to swallow that he would behave as he does. House is a semi-pro cynic with various emotional traumas and
severe physical pain pretty much 24/7, and the show delves into how and why he became such a bitter, jaded, angry person.
Part of the problem with the all-too-common bad interpretation of Sherlock Holmes is that it conflates how he behaves with
specific people into being the way he behaves toward
everyone. Holmes cares deeply about Watson, for example, and even though Watson himself explicitly says that this feeling isn't commonly shown, it's still
there, and that he feels very honored in the moments when Holmes shows that depth of feeling. (There's a particular mystery where they're busting a counterfeiter, and a fight breaks out in a pitch-black room. Holmes thinks Watson has been grievously injured, and goes absolutely HAM on the criminal, which prompts Watson to explicitly make that observation.) Likewise, Holmes tends to be both respectful and compassionate to the ordinary people, especially women and children, that he encounters; it's wealthy, powerful, and/or influential people, usually men, to whom he acts so cold and dispassionate. E.g. contrast his behavior toward the unnamed European noble in
A Scandal in Bohemia vs how he listens to, and supports, the woman who comes to him frightened by her nebulous experiences in
The Adventure of the Speckled Band, or the similarly confused and unnerved young woman in
The Adventure of the Dancing Men.
Dr. House is a jerk to everyone because he's bitter, lonely, in chronic severe pain, and struggling with emotional trauma and cognitive dissonance. Mr. Holmes is a jerk to powerful people who want him to wish their problems away, but
not to the downtrodden, overlooked, or disenfranchised, even when he gets nothing more than the satisfaction of an interesting case either way. I'm reminded specifically of how impertinent, and indeed even overtly rude, Holmes behaves in
The Adventure of the Priory School, where a powerful and wealthy nobleman basically wants Holmes to smooth over the criminal acts committed by the noble's bastard son--and unlike the vast majority of his cases, he is quite keen to collect the substantial sum offered in payment for his services.