After eight years, Dr. House is finally hanging up his cane.
House creator David Shore, executive producer Katie Jacobs, and producer and star Hugh Laurie made it official Wednesday night, announcing in a press release that the critically acclaimed medical drama will end this year.
“By April of this year, (the producers) will have completed 177 episodes, which is about 175 more than anyone expected back in 2004,” the release stated glibly.
“The decision to end the show now, or ever, is a painful one, as it risks putting asunder hundreds of close friendships that have developed over the last eight years — but also because the show itself has been a source of great pride to everyone involved.
“The producers have always imagined House as an enigmatic creature; he should never be the last one to leave the party. How much better to disappear before the music stops, while there is still some promise and mystique in the air.”
Added Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly, “While it’s with much regret, and a lump in our throats, we respect the decision Hugh, David and Katie have made. For eight seasons, the entire House team has given us — and fans around the world — some of the most compelling characters and affecting stories ever seen on television.”
House burst onto the scene in 2004, turning the typical medical drama genre on its head by creating a sarcastic, mean-spirited, troubled but brilliant doctor named Gregory House (Laurie), a man who drove everybody up the wall but whose skills as a medical practitioner were unrivalled.
As a result, everyone, from his fledgling medical students to his bosses, bit their collective lips and put up with his foibles, which have included a long-term addiction to painkillers that House has never shaken.
House nabbed an average of 13 million viewers in Season 1, an audience that grew to 17 million in Year 2 and spiked at almost 20 million pairs of eyeballs in Season 3. It now hovers close to 10 million viewers per week, which is still decent.
Along the way the program has claimed shelves of awards, including two acting Golden Globes for Laurie, a writing Emmy for Canadian Shore and a directing Emmy for Greg Yaitanes, who was behind the camera for this past Monday’s stellar “Nobody’s Fault” episode.
With Laurie’s contract up at the end of this season, Fox is battling to split production costs with NBC Universal — which also produces the program — and several new dramas jockeying for a spot in the network’s primetime schedule (The Finder, Alcatraz, Terra Nova), it makes sense for House to end its run.
House airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Global/Fox.
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