The next episode of House has two familiar names taking on unfamiliar assignments.

"Half-Wit," airing Tuesday, March 6 on FOX, features musician Dave Matthews acting in his first major television role, as a man who suffered severe brain damage as a child that rewired his brain to make him a musical savant.

House executive producer Katie Jacobs, who oversees casting as well as music, editing, production, post-production, and collaborating on scripts, had seen a sample from the movie Because of Winn-Dixie in a previous season, when she was casting for the role of a little girl. She was amazed to realize that one of the actors in that sample scene was the singer.

When it came time to cast "Half-Wit," she remembered Matthews, who also contributed the song "Some Devil" to an episode in House's first season.

Despite the fact that Matthews is a guitarist and singer rather than a pianist like the character, "I felt like somehow having a musician in the role would serve me well," said Jacobs in a recent interview. "He was my very first choice after seeing him in Winn-Dixie."

Another of Jacobs' duties is to choose the directors for each episode's eight-day shoot. For "Half-Wit," she gave the opportunity to a directing newcomer: Katie Jacobs.

"It was excellent to be right in there with them fighting for it to be the best it can be."

Though it's her first professional directing credit, it turns out the NYU grad went to film school and signed to the powerful ICM agency as a director. She then became "horribly afraid" and decided to work with writers to develop ideas instead.

"It's not like it's been burning inside of me for years. I've enjoyed what I've been doing," Jacobs said before explaining why she chose to finally direct an episode on House. "I was really strongly encouraged by the actors in particular, because I've been with them since the beginning, I'm so close with them, I adore them. I always want to see them do their best work. So I finally said, okay, I'll give this a try."

Though she's already heavily involved in all aspects of the show, directing gave her a slightly different perspective on the action, bolstered by the fun of doing something different. "We were all kind of excited about my trying out this new role. So it was very cool."

Her enthusiasm about the atmosphere of the show isn't limited to the novelty of her first foray into directing, despite the challenges of churning out 24 hours of high-quality television each year.