Variety reports that Universal Media Services (UMS) and FOX have finally come to an agreement to renew the popular series House, M.D for an eighth season. The two parties have been trying to come to terms for months, with the network (FOX) wanting a reduction in the licensing fee it pays producer Universal.
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FOX has argued that the series ratings have recently declined, which justifies a reduction in the amount it pays UMS to air the series. UMS airs reruns of House on its BRAVO and USA cable stations and also produces the series DVDs.
Of the cast, nearly all of whom had contracts up for next year, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, Olivia Wilde and Hugh Laurie are all signed on for next season. Negotiations are ongoing for Lisa Edelstein and Jesse Spencer among the main series cast.
At the very least, a Season 8 will give House, M.D. a final season to bring House's journey to an end, giving both the doctor and the audience some closure.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - savtaof5
I'm really disturbed by reports that Lisa Edelstein is being pressured to take a pay cut and less of a role in her new contract. Ridiculous doesn't even come close the answer she should give them. She has been an integral part of the show for so many.
Cuddy and House's chemistry have really contributed to this hot property for the past couple of years.
2 - Yore
R u suggesting there's gonna b just 22-24 more episodes of house after the end of this season, only?? WTF !!! It's like the only reason to live....
3 - Morphine, a violin, a friend, and a mystery
Bobby and Alex back! House back! Lola rocks!
I'm in tv heaven!
Now just bring back McCoy and I will be so happy I'll do the dance of joy!
4 - The Other Barnett
Happy to See House Back.
Am wondering now if Shore and the writers messed with the Cuddy character to make her being de-emphasized less painful for fans.
The argument Fox is making with Universal is sensible, but it kind of shoots itself in the foot if it wants the show past next year, too. And Universal may be making money now with USA and Bravo, but they only have to look to what happened to West Wing when it went off NBC - it did not last in syndication or BRAVO, either for long. You only keep making money on DVD sales when you keep the show going.
There are more opportunties for this show to even hit the big 1 - 0 if it gets away from soapy stuff and focuses on real plots and real puzzles.
5 - Boeke
Cuddy should be de-emphasised. She's obviously the wrong woman for House. 13 is much more interesting both as a doctor and as a social reference for House. She's consistently tougher than Cuddy and a better match for House, who needs someone to accomodate his erratic destructive behaviour as a natural event.
6 - Jane E
I am glad they came to terms, but I do not understand why they would cut back episodes on certain cast members. A billion dollars world side is what House makes and they you would cut these actors who for 7 years have given us such enjoyable television. House needs Cuddy,and Lisa has given great preformances year after year. Chase has matured so much since season 1 and so has Jesse Spencer as an actor.
7 - barbara barnett
No one's been cut, as far as I know. The episode order can be (and often is) changed. It was changed this year from 22 to 23 episodes, which is up from last year, which was down from the year before....
There are always episodes during the season when Cuddy or Wilson do not appear (or only briefly). The contract guarantees x number of episodes, I don't even know if that would result in a really perceptible impact on the show as we've known it these past seasons.
I'm interviewing Katie Jacobs tomorrow, and will talk about the next season as well as this one...
8 - RedTulip-Ana
Good House coming back for season 8....
Ony I have a BUT...Lisa Edelstein asked for less money and less episodes and screen. Bad in my opinion when I remenber she did the best promotion ever did for this show last year, almost in Europe. Bad in my opinion when I remember the People Choice she won for this show. Bad in my opinion when I remember the woman who was Cudddy all these years. And bad in my opinion because now I must to think how could be her role on the series next year...far too far from House.
HouseMD ratings go down fastly and they decide cut screen to IMO one of the most value actress of the series...for me the most important after Hugh...I think this is a big mistake, and as much DS wants, OW never will be LE for this show...even more when S8 will Be the last.
This is only an opinion of a big House fan who wants to express her support to the actress who gave more support all these years to this show.
9 - RedTulip-Ana
Good House coming back for season 8....
Ony I have a BUT...Lisa Edelstein asked for less money and less episodes and screen. Bad in my opinion when I remenber she did the best promotion ever did for this show last year, almost in Europe. Bad in my opinion when I remember the People Choice she won for this show. Bad in my opinion when I remember the woman who was Cudddy all these years. And bad in my opinion because now I must to think how could be her role on the series next year...far too far from House.
HouseMD ratings go down fastly and they decide cut screen to IMO one of the most value actress of the series...for me the most important after Hugh...I think this is a big mistake, and as much DS wants, OW never will be LE for this show...even more when S8 will Be the last.
This is only an opinion of a big House fan who wants to express her support to the actress who gave more support all these years to this show.
10 - RedTulip-Ana
Sorry for the two post. My phone did stange things. Barbara you should have reason and maybe we will not note the absence of some actors in episodes, and last season happened the same...but maybe now we are more senssible than ever due the actual development of the series..Wish you have a nice interview with KJ...:))
11 - RedTulip-Ana
Sorry for the two post. My phone did stange things. Barbara you should have reason and maybe we will not note the absence of some actors in episodes, and last season happened the same...but maybe now we are more senssible than ever due the actual development of the series..Wish you have a nice interview with KJ...:))
12 - SJ
Yay! Happy to hear it will get a season 8! And I'm glad Robert decided to stay on it.
As for the show itself. IMO Wilson is the most important person to House, even before Cuddy. As a viewer I don't mind if either character gets less episodes/screentime. The show (for me) has always been and always will be House, it's when he gets less focus in an episode it falls a bit flat and boring.
So I hope they(the writers) will plan out the whole season so we can get a good closure on House and end on a high note as this show and everybody involved deserves. (BUT please no killing off anybody!)
13 - Val
Glad to see House come back, but also glad to see it is the last season. I hope every on character will get a proper "closure".
14 - Nancy
Guessing Peter Jacobson has moved on to other projects?
15 - Committed
I'm very happy House will be back. It needs a final season to tie everything up but note to TPTB - ratings do matter. Call it bad timing but things haven't been the same since Bombshells and now Team House is going to be impacted by it in a very real way. You should be reaping your reward now, not making concessions. The fact that LE might have to take a salary cut is sickening. Maybe the ratings have been slipping the past few years but they have dropped off much more the last few weeks since she has been playing a lesser role. She shouldn't have to be the one to take the cut - that's all I'll say about that.
Final note to TPTB and then I will stop - people want to watch this show and they care about this character. Don't make him a dark, hopeless mess continually repeating the same mistakes - your writers and producers are far more talented than that not to mention your actors. You have one of the most talented and versatile lead actors out there - be bold, try something different. For God sakes, he can be smile and be happy now and then cause what your currently doing isn't working.
Thanks Barbara for letting me get that off my chest. I look forward to the rest of this season's reviews as well as the next. I hope you continue to write. I would miss it if you didn't.
16 - Jaim
I think that the original cast should be able to keep their current rates and have OW and PJ take the cuts. Lisa has seniority over OW and shouldn't have to accept less money and screen time when this other actress wasn't even on set for almost half a year. It's ridiculous. They're trying to phase Cuddy out to make room for OW and probably make her House's love interest and I just feel like that is a complete affront to what LE has done these last seven years. I am so tired of the shit women, especially older women, have to go through in this fucked up Hollywood industry.
17 - KrispyKreme
Still no review for episode 21? :( I'll wait patiently
18 - Nina
I can't think of a bigger turn-off for House fans than the prospect of a House/Thirteen romance being quite literally shoehorned in out of nowhere. Olivia Wilde is pretty, but she doesn't have the talent necessary for anything other than being the token love interest in action movies. Lisa Edelstein is a very gifted character actress and that's why Cuddy has always been an amazing character. At this point, rising star or no, Olivia Wilde ought to be cut from the show so there's enough money going around for the big stars that keep us coming back.
19 - barbara barnett
Krispy and others waiting for my "formal" "Fix" review.
Between the renewal announcement and getting the screener for After Hours last night, I also scheduled an interview with Katie Jacobs for this afternoon. I am working on something for "FIx," but these things have delayed it. I will try to post it today, and if time does not permit me to finish writing it (more likely), I will wrap my commentary into a preview for "AFter Hours" which I will get up at BC By the weekend. Lots going on, so feel free to comment here or on The Fix's Open Thread.
20 - Susan
What about a renewal for Peter Jacobson? He's the only team member who makes me laugh.
I agree with #18 Nina - get rid of 13 and use the money to pay Lisa Edelstein. Also, the thought of a House/13 romance turns my stomach.
#1 Savtaof5 (nice name by the way) - where did you read reports that LE is being pressured to take a pay cut and smaller role? Barbara, have you heard that? We need more LE, not less.
21 - BrokenLeg
Seems there will be an 8 season. And that is a good notice. Almost all actors had renewed or had remaining time in their contracts too (I’m sure LE will sign her new one soon, too, maybe affected by some cut, but less cut than we all think, so the delaying of the signature) Others have signed last years and are luckier, yes; sad and unfair, maybe, but in crisis times that happens in all companies.
Seems that this season, maybe a shorter one, will be the last one of [H]ouse. Good enough.
So it is time to GET A WORTHY CLOSURE END to all [H] characters as they deserve. And that deserve the actors who portrayed them. HL/LE and also RSL above all them. They’ve been during all this years the “tripod” that have sustained the series. Supported by a good all others, yes, but supported. [H] series would have survived without these supported characters or they could be changed, and in fact, some of them are no originals(OW in her inside-outside timing, PJ), others disappear (JM&KP), or other stay a while (AT). Others are some kind of main-secondary but original ones (OE & JS). But Greg House can’t be understood without his loved one and his only friend. Both balanced his darker side.
So, what is needed now is a really GOOD writing team. If someone is tired enough, or lacked of ideas, please let the place to fresh creativity.
To the creator, DS, if renewed too, please do a good job as you’ve done in first seasons. For once, be humble, listen out there, and ask yourself if this year falling ratings has something to do with the bad scripts of a previous doomed relationship, and with the break of the show creative writing integrity when you do not know how to develop one plot (the relationship and the break up was soapy instead an excellent character’s exploration opportunity!).
Please do not be a superb one. You create and rule the show, but it belongs to the viewers (on the other hand they sustain your business) as the buildings one architect design belong to their users. Balance creativity with generosity.
Understand that “people don’t change” as you say is untrue. People evolve. Adapt themselves. Mature during their living journey. It’s a simply nature rule for every living being, not only humans. No one “is not designed to be happy” as you’ve said recently. One can be happy when come to terms with him/herself. And can be able to reach different levels of comfort and happiness. Please, do not be such nihilist and deterministic. That leads to the late darkness of the show, and tires as a “déjà vue”.
This season have been written in a childish, bad and superficial way (for example, 15 episodes,- script timeline almost a year-, of a high school, teenaged and unexplored relationship of two of the most attractive, dysfunctional, tortured and adult characters of the TV, in which there was no signs of leg’s pain, and, suddenly, in a script timeline of few weeks, the pain appeared as such intolerable one to make House act in such a foolish and dangerous way…to find a “bang end”) Please, come on! You had gold in your hands but wasted it turning it into common sand.
Respect women. And learn how to write good XXI century female roles. Cuddy was from the beginning of the show since “Unwritten” a good one, the only one well written. Witty, sharp, intelligent, humor sensed woman, able to be House’s good counterpoint, “bossy” in a sexy way. After that, she becomes a grumpy, possessive and selfish one. Almost a bitch. And the others: 13 is a beautiful one whose character has done all the fruit that has inside, but who occupied the images foreground more than deserved( not to mention that the hinted H/13 sentimental relationship will be the most destructive one ever) Masters is a “freaky” one, Rachel Taub a stupid housewife needed of a therapist, Cameron and her stupid frozen sperm dilemmas… And the secondary sporadic ones: Arlene’s? Wasted CB talent and wasted HL/CB acting duet, is a “jewish mother” and worldwide mothers’ caricature. Julia? She is more a fool sister of the brilliant one than any other thing. Dominika? Simply offensive and bad taste affair (one of the overstepped limits), and on the other hand, so disrespectful with immigration. Hookers? Please, not even the luxury ones, are that funny girls as appear. With all the respect to that profession, no one chooses freely to become a hooker if has other career opportunities.
The funny mocking of political correctness of the show , that made it so attractive, has always limits that cannot be overstepped so far as this season have been.
And recover again the richness and wittiness of the [H ] language without the rudeness of “sausages” and “buns” of this year. And good POTW.
If all this is reached, we’ll have a good last season, a worthy end and a closure of them as the series deserve.
22 - Elisabeth
What is the official release date for "Let Them Talk" in the US?
23 - Committed
@22 Elisabeth -
It will not be released here in the US until the fall.
You can order it from the UK through Amazon. Not sure if other sites offer it but it seems to me that they offer the best price. I ordered it through them and the price was right - it should be in my mailbox by the end of this month. I just checked Amazon and they have a couple available so don't wait if you want it sooner than the US release date.
Hope that helps.
24 - Committed
@21 - BrokenLeg -
Here, here. I totally agree with you.
25 - The Other Barnett
There is only one reason for the drop in ratings...the rise of Dancing With the Stars. Look at the wikipedia review of ratings for House, when DWTS hit the pop-culture bloodstream, the ratings went down for House.
As for the slams on 13, one does not have to like Olivia Wilde to be hating on Lisa Edelstein (or likewise with the characters, either). It makes sense for some kind of friends with benefits thing to start with House and Remy. She is negative about life and feels doomed (which used to be the MO for House), but a quality doctor who has the ability to cut through the niceties of life to get to the diagnosis.....like House. She is very much like a man in relationships, so maybe that is what House needs, too.
It would serve as a respite from Huddy for the fandom...cleansing of the palate. Imagine the last half of the 8th season where 13 starts to suffer more from Huntington's and deteriorates right in front of House's eyes - causing him to become more human and "present through pain"...and maybe prepared to "be worthy" of Cuddy, while Cuddy takes notice of her flaws, too. This could then set up a dramatic final story arc that ends with a dead 13 (imagine a scene with Hadley holding House's hand and convulsing as she says "Go to her, you know she loves you and you love her" before he gives that final fatal injection) and a renewed Huddy.
So all you 13-haters should see where she fits in at bringing Huddy together again. :)