Each medical story begins with a real life case, but evolves with the dramatic needs of the show and the characters. "We've resisted a lot of weird stories because they don't fit the show," Shore said.

When an audience member who suffers from vasculitis and runs a vasculitis foundation asked why they'd chosen that disease as the possible diagnosis that seems to pop up in every episode, Shore quipped: "Because we're doing God's work" before adding: "No, we're just trying to entertain."

"My brother e-mails me when he thinks he's seen something wrong, and he writes 'ha ha' at the end," said Spencer, whose brother and father don't just play doctors on TV.

"The thing that's real is that doctors don't know," said Attanasio. "Most of the time when you walk in, it's a medical mystery. They put on the white coat because they don't know."

"The show is a hypochondriac's worst nightmare," laughed Singer.

Leonard revealed that every script comes with a vocabulary list, with definitions and pronunciations. Morrison said she used to obsessively look everything up so she could understand it completely. "I've stopped that," she grinned, but suggested that the actors have to know enough to understand what their characters are fighting for against House. "I don't know why we always argue with him - he's always right," she added.

Shore said that the memorable Housisms that pepper the show "just kind of happen" and that the writers' challenge is to not succumb to the allure of the brilliantly sarcastic one-liners. "That's one of the temptations we have to resist. That's the biggest challenge - to motivate the Housisms."

Singer's stock answer to questions about the possibility of future romances, revealing Cuddy's Ally McBeal-esque back story, or making House more likeable, was to yell "Sweeps!"

"He gets really nice in February and May," Morrison joked, before Shore promised that "House will never get soft and cuddly," provoking applause from the audience.

"I want to thank FOX," Shore continued. "That was the note everyone expected - 'make House more likable.' We never got that note."

New episodes of House return March 28 and are scheduled to run without further breaks until the season finale.