House (TV series) |
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| Also known as | House, M.D. |
| Format | Medical drama Mystery Comedy-drama |
| Created by | David Shore |
| Starring | Hugh Laurie Lisa Edelstein Omar Epps Robert Sean Leonard Jennifer Morrison Jesse Spencer Peter Jacobson Olivia Wilde |
| Opening theme | "Teardrop" by Massive Attack |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 118 (List of episodes) |
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| Executive producer(s) | Paul Attanasio Katie Jacobs David Shore Bryan Singer Thomas L. Moran Russel Friend Garrett Lerner |
| Running time | 43 minutes approximately |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fox |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV) |
| Original run | November 16, 2004 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
House, also known as House, M.D., is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The program was co-created by David Shore and Paul Attanasio; Fox officially credits Shore as creator. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), an unconventional medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton‑Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (PPTH) in New Jersey. The character has similarities to Sherlock Holmes: both are forensic geniuses, musicians, drug users, aloof, and largely friendless. The show's premise originated with Attanasio, while Shore was primarily responsible for the conception of the title character. The show's executive producers include Shore, Attanasio, Attanasio's business partner Katie Jacobs, and film director Bryan Singer. It is largely filmed in Century City.
Dr. House often clashes with his boss, hospital administrator and Dean of Medicine Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), and his diagnostic team, because many of his hypotheses about patients' illnesses are based on subtle or controversial insights. House's only true friend is Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), head of the Department of Oncology. During the first three seasons, House's diagnostic team consists of Dr. Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer), Dr. Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), and Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps). At the end of the third season, this team disbands. Rejoined by Foreman, House gradually selects three new team members: Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley (Olivia Wilde), Dr. Chris Taub (Peter Jacobson), and Dr. Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn). Along with Foreman, the other members of the original team still appear in different roles at the hospital; Kutner was written out of the series toward the end of season 5.
House is critically acclaimed and has high viewership ratings. It was among the top ten rated shows in the United States from its second through its fourth season; in the 2008–09 season, it fell to nineteenth overall. Distributed to 66 countries, House was the most watched television program in the world in 2008. The show has received several awards, including a Peabody Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and three Primetime Emmy Awards. House's sixth season, in progress, began with a two-hour premiere on September 21, 2009.[1]
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"We knew the network was looking for procedurals, and Paul [Attanasio] came up with this medical idea that was like a cop procedural. The suspects were the germs. But I quickly began to realize that we needed that character element. I mean, germs don't have motives."
—David Shore to Writer's Guild magazine[2]
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In 2004, co-creators David Shore and Paul Attanasio, along with Attanasio's business partner Katie Jacobs, pitched the show (untitled at the time) to Fox as a CSI-style medical detective program,[3] a hospital whodunit in which the doctors investigated symptoms and their causes.[4] Attanasio was inspired to create a medical procedural drama by the New York Times Magazine column "Diagnosis", which was written by physician Lisa Sanders.[5] Fox bought the series, though the network's then-president, Gail Berman, told the creative team, "I want a medical show, but I don’t want to see white coats going down the hallway."[6] Jacobs has said that this stipulation was one of the many influences that led to the show's ultimate form.[6]
After Fox picked up the show, it acquired the working title Chasing Zebras, Circling the Drain[7] ("zebra" is medical slang for an unusual or obscure diagnosis).[8] The original premise of the show was of a team of doctors working together trying to "diagnose the undiagnosable".[9] Shore felt it was important to have an interesting central character, one who could examine patients' personal characteristics and diagnose their ailments by figuring out their secrets and lies.[9] As Shore and the rest of the creative team explored the character's possibilities, the program concept became less of a procedural and more focused upon the lead role.[10] The character was named "House", which was adopted as the show's title as well.[7] Shore developed the characters further and wrote the script for the pilot episode.[3] Bryan Singer, who directed the pilot episode and had a major role in casting the primary roles, has said that the "title of the pilot was 'Everybody Lies,' and that's the premise of the show."[10] Shore has said that the central storylines of several early episodes were based on the work of Berton Roueché, a staff writer for The New Yorker between 1944 and 1994, who specialized in features about unusual medical cases.[4]
Shore traced the concept for the title character to his experience as a patient at a teaching hospital.[11] Shore recalled that, "I knew, as soon as I left the room, they would be mocking me relentlessly [for my cluelessness] and I thought that it would be interesting to see a character who actually did that before they left the room."[12] A central part of the show's premise was that the main character would be disabled in some way.[13] The original idea was for House to use a wheelchair, but Fox rejected this. Jacobs later expressed her gratitude for the network's insistence that the character be reimagined—putting him on his feet added a crucial physical dimension.[10] The writers ultimately chose to give House a damaged leg arising from an incorrect diagnosis, which would require him to use a cane and cause him pain that would lead to a narcotic dependency.[13]
Similarities between Gregory House and the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, appear throughout the series.[14][15] Shore explained that he was always a Holmes fan, and found the character's indifference to his clients unique.[12] The resemblance is evident in House's reliance on psychology, even where it might not seem obviously applicable,[8] inductive reasoning,[14] and his reluctance to accept cases he finds uninteresting.[16] His investigatory method is to logically eliminate diagnoses as they are proved impossible; Holmes used a similar method.[7] Both characters play instruments (House plays the piano, the guitar, and the harmonica; Holmes, the violin) and take drugs (House is addicted to Vicodin; Holmes uses cocaine recreationally).[14] House's relationship with Dr. James Wilson echoes that between Holmes and his confidant, Dr. John Watson.[7] Robert Sean Leonard, who portrays Wilson, said that House and his character—whose name is very similar to Watson's—were originally intended to work together much as Holmes and Watson do; in his view, House's diagnostic team has assumed that aspect of the Watson role. [17] Not only is the reference of Watson to Wilson noted, but so is the acknowledged mention between Inspector G. Lestrade of Scotland Yard and Dr. Lisa Cuddy, whom both act as liaison between both House and Holmes' theories to their patients and clients, in that respective order. Shore said that House's name itself is meant as "a subtle homage" to Holmes.[7][18] The number of House's apartment, 221B, is a reference to Holmes's street address.[8]
Individual episodes of the series contain additional references to the Sherlock Holmes tales. The main patient in the pilot episode is named Rebecca Adler, after Irene Adler, a character in the first Holmes short story.[19] In the season 2 finale, House is shot by a crazed gunman credited as "Moriarty", the name of Holmes's nemesis.[20] In the season 4 episode "It's a Wonderful Lie", House receives a "second edition Conan Doyle" as a Christmas gift.[21] In the season five episode "The Itch", House is seen picking up his keys and Vicodin from the top of a copy of Conan Doyle's The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.[22] In another season 5 episode, "Joy to the World", House, in an attempt to fool his team, uses a book by Joseph Bell, Conan Doyle's inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.[7] The volume had been given to him the previous Christmas by Wilson, who included the message "Greg, made me think of you". Before acknowledging that he gave the book to House, Wilson tells two of the team members that its source was a patient, Irene Adler[23].
House is a co-production of Heel and Toe Films, Shore Z Productions, and Bad Hat Harry Productions in association with Universal Media Studios for Fox.[25] Paul Attanasio and Katie Jacobs, the heads of Heel and Toe Films; David Shore, the head of Shore Z Productions; and Bryan Singer, the head of Bad Hat Harry Productions, have been executive producers of the program since its inception.[11] Lawrence Kaplow, Peter Blake, and Thomas L. Moran joined the staff as writers at the beginning of the first season after the making of the pilot episode. Writers Doris Egan, Sara Hess, Larkin stone. they accepted when Jacobs offered them jobs again the following year.[26] Since the beginning of season 4, Moran, Friend, and Lerner have been credited as executive producers on the series, joining Attanasio, Jacobs, Shore, and Singer.[25] Hugh Laurie was credited as an executive producer for season 5's second episode, "Not Cancer",[27] and third episode, "Adverse Events".[28]
Shore is House's showrunner.[29] Through the end of the fifth season, 24 writers have contributed to the program. The most prolific have been Kaplow (16 episodes), Shore (14), Blake (13), Moran (12), Friend (11), Lerner (11), and Egan (10). Deran Sarafian has directed 22 episodes through the end of season 5. Of the more than three dozen other directors who have worked on the series, only Greg Yaitanes has directed as many as 10 episodes.[30] Elan Soltes has been the visual effects supervisor since the show began.[31] Lisa Sanders, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, is a technical advisor to the series. She writes the "Diagnosis" column that inspired House's premise.[32] According to Shore, "three different doctors… check everything we do".[33] Bobbin Bergstrom, a registered nurse, is the program's on-set medical advisor.[33]
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"It wasn't a massive move when I first considered [doing House]. What usually happens, is you do a pilot and of the very few picked up, only about a quarter go to a second year. So I thought I'll have three fun weeks. I never dreamt I'd be here three-and-a-half-years later."
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At first, the producers were looking for a "quintessentially American person" to play the role of House.[35] Bryan Singer in particular felt there was no way he was going to hire a non-American actor for the role.[9] At the time of the casting session, actor Hugh Laurie was in Namibia filming the movie Flight of the Phoenix. He assembled an audition tape in a hotel bathroom, the only place with enough light,[35] and apologized for its appearance[36] (which Singer compared to a "bin Laden video").[37] Laurie improvised, using an umbrella for a cane. Singer was very impressed by his performance and commented on how well the "American actor" was able to grasp the character.[9][38] Singer was not aware that Laurie was English, due to his convincing American accent. Laurie credits the accent to "a misspent youth [watching] too much TV and too many movies."[35] Although locally better-known actors such as Denis Leary, Rob Morrow, and Patrick Dempsey were considered for the part, Shore, Jacobs, and Attanasio were as impressed as Singer and cast Laurie as House.[39]
Laurie later revealed that he initially thought the show's central character was Dr. James Wilson. He assumed that House was a supporting part, until he received the full script of the pilot episode.[40] Laurie, the son of a doctor, Ran Laurie, said he felt guilty for "being paid more to become a fake version of [his] own father."[35] From the start of season 3, he was being paid $275,000 to $300,000 per episode, as much as three times what he had previously been making on the series.[41][42] By the show's fifth season, Laurie was earning around $400,000 per episode, making him one of the highest paid actors on network television.[43]
Robert Sean Leonard had received the script for the CBS show Numb3rs, as well as that for House.[44] Leonard thought the Numb3rs script was "kind of cool" and planned to audition for the show.[44] However, he decided that the character he was up for, Charlie Eppes, was in too many scenes; he later observed, "The less I work, the happier I am."[44] He believed that his House audition was not particularly good, but that his lengthy friendship with Singer helped win him the part of Dr. Wilson.[44] Singer had enjoyed Lisa Edelstein's portrayal of a prostitute on The West Wing, and sent her a copy of the pilot script.[45] Edelstein was attracted to the quality of the writing and her character's "snappy dialogue" with House, and was cast as Dr. Lisa Cuddy.[45]
Australian actor Jesse Spencer's agent suggested that he audition for the role of Dr. Robert Chase. Spencer believed the program would be similar in style to General Hospital, but changed his mind after reading the scripts.[46] After he was cast, he persuaded the producers to turn the character into an Australian.[47] Patrick Dempsey also auditioned for the part of Chase; he later became known for his portrayal of Dr. Derek Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy.[48] Omar Epps, who plays Dr. Eric Foreman, was inspired by his earlier portrayal of a troubled intern on the NBC medical drama ER.[49] Jennifer Morrison felt that her audition for the part of Dr. Allison Cameron was a complete disaster.[50] However, before her audition, Singer had watched some of her performances, including on Dawson's Creek, and already wanted to cast her in the role.[50]
At the end of season 3, House dismisses Chase, while Foreman and Cameron resign.[51] House must then recruit a new diagnostic team, for which he identifies seven finalists. The producers originally planned to recruit two new full-time actors, with Foreman, who returns in season 4's fifth episode, bringing the team back up to three members; ultimately, the decision was made to add three new regular cast members.[52] (Along with Epps, actors Morrison and Spencer remained in the cast, as their characters moved on to new assignments.) During production, the show's writers dismissed a single candidate per episode; as a result, said Jacobs, neither the producers nor the cast knew who was going to be hired until the last minute.[53] In the season's ninth episode, House's new team is revealed: Foreman is joined by doctors Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn),[54] Chris Taub (Peter Jacobson),[55] and Remy "Thirteen" Hadley (Olivia Wilde).[56] The candidates rejected by House have not returned to the show, with the exception of the last one cut: Amber Volakis (Anne Dudek), who appeared for the rest of season 4 as Wilson's girlfriend,[57] and in season 5 as a hallucination of House's.[58] While Penn and Wilde had higher profiles than the actors who played the other finalists, Jacobs said they went through an identical audition process and stayed with the show based on the writers' interest in their characters.[53] Kutner was written out of the series near the end of season 5 after Penn took a position in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs.[59]
House is often filmed using the "walk and talk" filming technique,[6][16] popularized on television by series such as St. Elsewhere, ER, Sports Night, and The West Wing.[60] The technique involves the use of tracking shots, showing two or more characters walking between locations while talking.[60] Executive producer Katie Jacobs said that the show frequently uses the technique because "when you put a scene on the move, it’s a… way of creating an urgency and an intensity".[6] She noted the significance of "the fact that Hugh Laurie spans 6’2” and is taller than everybody else because it certainly makes those walk-and-talks pop".[6] Nancy Franklin of The New Yorker described the show's "cool, 'Fantastic Voyage'–like special effects of patients’ innards. I’ll bet you didn’t know that when your kidneys shut down they sound like bubble wrap popping."[61] "Cameras and special effects travel not only down the throat" of one patient, another critic observed, "but up her nose and inside her brain and leg."[62] Instead of relying primarily on computer-generated imagery, the interior body shots tend to involve miniature effects and motion control photography.[31] Many of the sets are dressed with a variety of unscripted props that allow Laurie to physically improvise, revealing aspects of his character and the story.[6]
The pilot episode was filmed in Canada; primary photography for all subsequent episodes has been shot on the Fox lot in Century City.[33] Bryan Singer chose his hometown, Princeton, New Jersey, as the show's fictional setting.[11] Princeton University's Frist Campus Center[a] is the source of the aerial views of Princeton‑Plainsboro Teaching Hospital seen in the series.[63] Some filming took place at the University of Southern California for the season 3 episode "Half-Wit", which guest-starred
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