Jacobs indicated that they brought the idea for the show to FOX because of their desire to work with then-entertainment president Gail Berman. "You end up with a marriage out of a blind date," said Attanasio, Jacobs' husband. "You don't know what network would be the best, yet it's one of the most important decisions you can make."

Jacobs mentioned that when they sold the show to FOX, House was supposed to be in a wheelchair. "FOX, to their credit, changed it," said Shore. "I will never again thank a network for changing a character."

They pondered a scar, then "Gail said canes are sexy," Jacobs said to some laughter and comments of "well, they are now" from the audience, before she added that Laurie uses the cane like a superhero, not only as an extension of his hands to open doors and grab items, but throwing and twirling it dramatically to punctuate a scene.

She also explained how the disability contributes to his psychology. "He's hiding. He doesn't want to see patients, but he also doesn't want them to see him."

"If he was just a healthy, good-looking guy, we wouldn't be able to do as many things with him," Shore explained, causing reluctant sex symbol Laurie to wonder if he'd intended a comma between "healthy" and "good-looking" in that sentence or not.

Congregating a Cast

Early on, the moderator asked what attracted the actors to the show. "It's going to be a boring answer," Leonard warned when it was his turn. "It was a great script, great writing."

"I don't find this boring," Shore countered.

"The stupidity is astounding in this town," Leonard said to the LA audience about the quality of scripts he tended to see, before explaining his attraction to the role of House's only friend, Wilson, and invoking an Odd Couple comparison. "I like being the guy who isn't the guy but that the guy counts on. Plus I've wanted to be Tony Randall all my life."

After commenting that the pilot script was "phenomenal," Epps tarnished his compliment slightly by mentioning that on meeting Bryan Singer for his audition, they "talked about life and everything but the script."

"Sorry," Singer called to Shore, who was sitting on the opposite end of the stage.

Hugh Laurie read for both the Wilson and House roles, though he discounted his chances of being cast as the "handsome man with the boyish, open face." Instead, he focused his energies on the irascible House. "He didn't try to be liked, and the show didn't try to be liked, and I found that very likeable," Laurie explained.

At the time, the show was simply called The Untitled Attanasio/Shore Project ("that title didn't test well"), and Laurie was only faxed three pages to his Flight of the Phoenix shoot in Namibia. So he was shocked to eventually find out that House was the central character.

Singer told the now-familiar story of being unfamiliar with Laurie's previous work — or at least, not recognizing him as the same actor — and his excitement at finally finding a red-blooded American to fill the role. "I'd said I didn't want to see any more fucking foreigners," he admitted.