He had been teamed with executive producer Paul Attanasio, who knew the networks were looking for fresh medical shows. Shore tried to dissuade him from pitching an idea based on the Diagnosis column of the New York Times Magazine, of a procedural with germs instead of criminals. "What makes Law & Order interesting is why people do it. Germs don't have any whys. They just do it," protested Shore, whose credits include Law & Order and NYPD Blue. "No germ kills another germ because the other germ is having an affair with the first germ's wife, then hides the knife under the liver. I thought it was a terrible idea."

Attanasio pitched it to ABC anyway, starting a bidding war between networks which was eventually won by FOX. "I wasn't there telling them germs don't have motives," Shore shrugged. "I could either get on the phone with ABC and talk them out of it, or go along for the ride."

Out of his own disinterest in the premise, he was forced to create what would ultimately prove to be the key to House's success – the central character who battles his own demons along with his patients' germs. "Had it been what I considered a better idea, Dr. House likely wouldn't have existed. I would have been much lazier about the concept," Shore admitted, saying he procrastinated for months in writing the script. "I just kept thinking, how can I make this interesting? Then the character developed and grew and I became interested in it at that point."

Though he felt his tastes are common enough that people might respond to what he liked - and he finally did write a show he liked out of the premise he doubted - the enormous success came as a surprise. "I always felt there was an audience for it if they gave it a chance. I never expected this kind of audience."

Ali LeRoi - Everybody Hates Chris

Ali LeRoi, co-creator with Chris Rock of Everybody Hates Chris, explained the success of any show as quality meeting good fortune. "You can't write a hit show, but you can write a good show." The rest, he said, relies on a convergence of events to allow a series to succeed.