Taub Gnome Spotted Somewhere in Germany

Oh, well spotted TMK!!

Talking House with DS and KJ (a bit about the mole on set)

LOS ANGELES -- The Vicodin-popping Dr. House has been tormenting doctors and captivating fans for half a decade.

Now in its sixth season, the unconventional medical drama House on News Corp. ( NWS - news - people ) network Fox is charming 16.9 million viewers on a weekly basis, up more than 50% from last season, according to The Nielsen Company.

The show's executive producers, Katie Jacobs and creator David Shore, spoke to Forbes about luring viewers, breaking rules and dealing with a major morale problem on set.

Forbes: In your sixth season you're still growing your audience. How? 

Shore: We certainly didn't come out of the gate huge [in the first season] and I think that has sort of helped us. People have come to our show rather than have the show thrust upon them. I think that's helped us in the long run. When something becomes more of a phenomenon than a show, there's a certain pushback or resentment from the audience. Our audience has, for the most part, simply found us and has remained loyal to us. And we try very hard not to let it get tired, so I'd like to think that that helps as well.

If the show were debuting today, would a broadcast network have the same patience to let it find an audience?

Jacobs: We weren't doing that poorly. [laughs]

Shore: There's this myth around us that we had eight viewers. We weren't doing great, I'll be the first to admit that, but we were doing better than everything else they had.

As a broadcast storyteller, what's the biggest challenge facing you today?

Shore: If you're referring to broadcast, as opposed to cable, there's obviously a difference, but I have very rarely felt hamstrung in my storytelling. We obviously can't show nudity, we can't curse and we have to have commercial breaks built into it, but the essentials of the story wouldn't be any different anywhere else.

Jacobs: We don't feel particularly restrained or hemmed in by being a network show in terms of the stories we want to do. Every season, we've managed to do a few episodes that really break the format of our show and the network has been incredibly supportive of that. I'd put those up against the shows I love on cable and I'd say they feel equally as innovative. The only thing I see as a pain is having to produce six acts each week. Really, I don't see any other disadvantages; only huge advantages.

What are those huge advantages?

Jacobs: 20 million [viewers].

Shore: The advantage is broad-casting. We get a very large audience, and there's no point in telling stories unless you're telling it to people.

During the writers' strike, there was a lot of talk about ushering in a new era of cost-conscious television. Any evidence of it?

Shore: No, I don't think things happen that dramatically or that quickly. In truth, I think we happen to be living in a very good time for television. There's a lot of really high-quality TV out there. Television will always exist in one form or another--the medium of delivery may change but there will always be a demand for high-quality storytelling and good shows. I feel very confident about that.

As the storytelling platforms or delivery systems proliferate, how has the process been impacted?

Shore: It really hasn't. It may one day, but we've been on the Fox television network for six years and our budget has gone up over that time. They haven't asked for different kinds of stories or anything like that. I think we're lucky because we're a hit so they leave us alone and let us tell the stories we want to tell for the most part.

Jacobs: Really, a bigger thing that impacts us is the fact that [General Electric ( GE - news - people )-owned] NBC Universal is our studio and we air on Fox.

What sort of challenge does that present?

Jacobs: Historically speaking, regimes are made and remembered for the shows that they brought to the air. So we're team players and we understand why we're on at 8 p.m., but we could certainly be doing higher numbers if we weren't on at 8 p.m. Having been on for awhile, what's harder for us is that we don't think we're over and we want the same care and attention [as other shows get.] The fear is that the powers that be at both the studio and network are basically making their brand name by the new shows that they bring on. That's the fear.

Is it the reality?

Jacobs: Well, I'm not going to piss off my bosses ...

House turns one of TV's golden rules--a lead has to be likable--on its head. Has that proved challenging?

Jacobs: He's not likable? [laughs]

Shore: Writers have always wanted to write unlikeable characters and networks have always wanted to put on likable characters. I'll say this: Fox never pushed back on it. I think the reality is that saying you want a likable character is very simple and perhaps cowardly. Write characters that people like to watch. Historically, network television has been rather narrow-minded on that, but I really have to give Fox credit because they never asked us to give him a puppy.

Though you were able to keep Dr. Kutner's suicide a secret last season, you weren't able to keep Dr. Cameron's upcoming departure under wraps this season. What impact does a leak like this have?

Shore: It's very annoying. It's really important to us that we be able to tell our stories and have our audience enjoy them the way they were intended to be delivered. We work hard to keep story points secret, but the reality is all it takes is one person to screw up that secret.

Jacobs: What annoys us is we know exactly how it happened and we know how it continues to happen, we just aren't completely sure of who's doing it. Mike Ausiello, who writes for Entertainment Weekly, has, as he calls it publicly, a "mole" on the set. David and I have gone down to the set and warned them. We've said, 'We all put in long hours and we want to feel comfortable where we work.' It's actually a real problem--a problem with morale as it takes away from the job we're trying to do.

GY Interview with Doris Egan on Twitter

FOX Scavenger Hunt

{H}OUSE The Game Developer Diary

House M.D., Developer Diary

So fresh off production of The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes and Emergency Room: Real Life Rescues, it seemed like a natural fit to combine the two elements and start on a game based on the TV series House M.D. I was very enthusiastic to start working on the project because I was a fan of the show, which is saying a lot because I don't watch very much television (I'm more of a movies-kind-of-guy) so finding a show that I've actually seen, let alone enjoy, is pretty challenging. (Nothing against TV programs per se, I just generally prefer to play games and watch movies.)

Coops (Producer Jonathan Cooperson), and House (Hugh Laurie)

All that aside, House M.D. has been one of the shows in recent years that has caught my loyalty. Perhaps it was the fact that there are many deliberate Sherlock Holmes references in the show (the number of House's apartment is 221B, for example). Or perhaps it was the amazing casting of Hugh Laurie, who has been in my sights as a comedic actor since the 70s (wow, that makes me sound old). I think it was all these things together that make it such a personally connected drama for me; I mean who can resist a sarcastic, genius with salt-and-pepper hair, beautiful blue eyes and a sexy, scruffy chin (or what I like to call: "The European Beard")?

Once I had worked myself into a frenzy of enthusiasm for the project, it was time to get back to reality and see just what it meant to embark on this daunting mission. First, it meant handing off the sequel to my Sherlock game to another producer. As painful as that was to do, there was no way to do both games at the same time. Fortunately my colleague Ryan Modjeski was willing to take over on it so I have no worries; the game is in good hands.

Next was to find a good writer that could handle the snarky witticism of House with a great mix of Sherlockian mystery and medical drama. Lucky for me, at the time, my assistant producer, Genaro Avila, and I happened to be attending the San Diego Comic Con working the IDW party for our release of the Igor game when he introduces me to a freelance writer for IDW who also happened to be the roommate of one of my best friends in college, Arie Kaplan.

Arie is an accomplished writer and comedian and has done a lot of great satirical work for Mad magazine over the years but I was happy to learn that he was also a big Sherlock fan. Well, when I casually mentioned House in conversation with him, he lit up like a Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. The rest is, as they say, history and Arie has come up with five great original "episodes" for the game and has honed the silly, misanthropic, sarcasm of Dr. Gregory House to an art form.

For example, in one of the earlier scenes in the game Taub and Thirteen are arguing of the correct diagnosis and after Taub suggest one diagnosis Thirteen cuts in by saying, "They [the symptoms] match Lyme Disease even more!" Taub rebuts with, "'Even more' what are you, eight?" And without missing a beat , in classic House style he cuts in with, "No, she's Thirteen. Keep up!" But, as with many Housisms, the best have to be taken in context (alas some of the best quips from the game are probably a bit too racy to print here also so I will leave plenty for you to look forward to). You know it's good when you find yourself laughing out loud when reading the script - for the third time!

Next up on the list is to find the right look and feel for the game. The balancing act has been figuring out how to create great gameplay, staying true to the essence of the show, all while avoiding the dreaded "M" rating (for Mature audiences only). The series tends to push the envelope on what kind of content they can get away with on TV but the folks on the ratings board at the ESRB seems to be a little more strict with video game content. Hopefully we can find a balance that is faithful to the show and doesn't make the game feel too "toned down" to the fans.

Speaking of the fans of the show (all 82 million of them across the globe), you gotta love them and fear them at the same time. After our first official announcement of the project we got all kinds of responses about the possibilities of the game and the fans' questions and concerns; my favorite being the request to be able to choose which season's hair style you want for Chase. Oh man, I love these guys!

That is also why I fear them at times. They can be so wonderfully engrossed in the world of the show that they leave designers like me very little room for creative license. All I ask of you fans is to please understand there are many difficulties when it comes to taking a licensed art medium and making it work for a completely different medium. But rest assured I will do my best, as always, since in reality I am just the same as you; a rabid fan doing my best with what I got.

There is one more thing I'd like to set the record on for you fans out there. I would like to reassure anyone who still had any questions on the matter of which characters from the show will be included in the game (we got a ton of worried responses on this since the press release couldn't mention everyone); all eight main characters currently in the show (that would be at. Alas, I'm sorry to inform that wonderful person mentioned above that all eight hairstyles of Chase will not be included. We must opt to spend our money and resources on much more fun and diverse gameplay options rather than hairstyles. the end of season 5) will be included

Well I must get back to the E.R. I promise more info and screenshots to come from the interactive department at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Am I getting to into this project?

Coop's desk

P.S. Coop is also a synonym for a type of house - Coincidence? Probably, but it's still kinda cool...

  Source:Jonathan Cooperson