House, M.D. executive producers and writing partners Russel Friend and Garrett Lerner have penned some of the best and most significant episodes during the five seasons they’ve been with the series. “Skin Deep,” “97 Seconds,” “Broken,” and “Locked In” are but four of the episodes with which they are credited. Co-executive producer Peter Blake, with the series since season one, has written such memorable episodes as “The Mistake,” “The Itch,” and “Remorse.” All three writers collaborated with David Foster and Doris Egan on the stunning season four finale episodes “House’s Head,” “Wilson’s Heart.”
In the midst of preparing for season seven (the writers are not currently on hiatus), the three writers took a few minutes out of their packed schedules to talk to me by phone about the stunning season six finale and planning season seven.
Forgive me for starting at the end of the episode, but what an ending. And it was an ending no one knew about — it wasn’t even on the media screeners (which ended as House sits on the bathroom floor contemplating the events of the day — and his Vicodin). Why all the secrecy?
Peter Blake: Obviously, it was a big change… a big development in the direction of the series and we just didn’t want it to leak out.
Garrett Lerner: So we took a lot of effort not to let too many people know about the ending. None of the scripts that we handed out to the cast and crew or the writers included the final scene.
Russel Friend: Unfortunately the crew didn’t know the ending and thought they were going to be able to go home finally, and then we brought out those pages at around 2 a.m.
Was the final ending always a part of the original plan? Russel, your video blog (available in the iPhone/iPad InHouse app) caused quite a stir in the fan community because some interpreted what you said as meaning the final scene was added later.
Russel Friend: It wasn’t, although it sort of seemed that way on the video blog. When we first recorded the video blog, we still hadn’t told many people about the ending, so it couldn’t be on the video blog. But this had always been the planned ending for the episode. But we didn’t tell anyone except a very few people. Of course Lisa [Edelstein] and Hugh [Laurie], knew about it. And then after we filmed the ending, I did another video blog talking about the ending.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - barbara barnett
I want to thank everyone for contributing their questions for consideration. I tried to use as many as I could.
2 - Christina
Fantastic interview!!!! You asked many of the questions I wanted answered and I'm glad to see them open to the exploration of a relationship between House and Cuddy and ready for fresh new start in season 7. I hope they are realy giving the couple a chance, because let's face it, like they said, they have earned it, especially House, after all the torture he has been through.
I just hope they understand that having Cuddy admitting she loves him after all these years, after putting up with his addiction, after lying for him on the stand, after everything he has put her through and she has done for him, means that she accepts him as he is, an SOB... but a romantic one!! ha!
Can't wait to see what they come up to next year. Hopefully this new development will give the green light for the comeback of the sexual tension, the games and more funny moments that we soooooooooo missed this season. Thanks for the interview Barbara! :)
3 - janine
Great interview. I can't wait to see season seven!!!
4 - blacktop
What a superb interview with the writers of this terrific final episode. Thank you, Barbara, for delivering such a fine column today and for all your strong work this season.
I was especially gratified to learn that the final scene of "Help Me" was not in fact "tacked on" as some in fandom had erroneously implied. In watching it, this scene felt to me to be an organic development of the themes elaborated in the episode up to then, as well as the natural culmination of the character growth for House that we have experienced this entire season. I am so glad that the writers have now confirmed this for us.
Can't wait to see what this talented crew have in store for us in season seven.
5 - sdemar
Great interview, Barbara. I echo Blacktop's comment about being relieved that final scene wasn't an add on. And I am thrilled that DS & KJ felt everyone deserved for the finale to end on a happy note. I know I was.
BTW, great job with your reviews over the course of the season. They are always a delight to read.
6 - Susanne
I don't know about the episode.
I liked it until I saw House/Cuddy get together, sure I know they wanted House to be happy but at the same time I feel that they have a narrow view of what happiness is. It just seemed all about romance. What would have been better was the scene showing House deciding for himself that he doesn’t want to go back on the pills on HIS OWN without cuddy. To learn the harsh lesson of life on his own, accpeting the notion that you can do everything right but still be let down by life or events or by people. I would have loved it if he just flushed the pills on his own without any "I love you" from Cuddy and just sat down and played the piano and accpeted the lesson for what it was. That would have been more true and more in tune with reality. Harsh life lessons and that would have signaled TRUE growth from House instead of this ending with him getting what he wants. Trying to be independant and open minded to other relationships with other people and just accepting life for what it was. That would have had more meaning for me personally. It doesn't feel right.
Personally what I loved about the show before it went a little unrealistic and soap operish for me was that it looked at the harsh lessons of life without trying to sugarcote it. There are a lot of meant to be relationships that never do happen or are lost very early. I just felt that this was a cop out to me. But other than that I loved the rest of it.
Thanks for the review. I hope to see more House/wilson I couldn't care less about Huddy coz I was never invested in it to begin with especially since they pushed it too hard in season 5 and season 6 with all the anvils coming down my head with how much House/cuddy love eachother. So shrugs i'm being honest here. I just hope I don't hear another comparison of Huddy and Tracey and Hepburn otherwise I will really blow my fuse.
7 - Bea
Amazing! Thanks for this fantastic interview with theses brilliant writers. They created one of the best season finales in TV history
8 - maya
Very nice interview, Barbara. It’s so awesome to have someone who loves and understands the show doing this for the fans. Thanks!
Looking forward to everything these talented writers have in store for us in season seven.
9 - Val S
Thanks for the interview Barbara. Always a treat.
I really enjoy your column and it (along with the great comments) makes my House experience more complete. I mentioned this in my other post, but I think if anyone can make a committed relationship work in primetime, it's Team House.
Thanks for the great season of reviews!
10 - Kerry
Yay House and Cuddy are FINALLY together! I'm so pleased, couldn't have faced another season of Luddy and Will-they-won't-they angst. Seeing House in a relationship is a new direction for the show. Apart from references to Stacy and some passing flirtations with other women, we've never seen House loved up and I like the idea of it, however long it lasts :)This tiny scene made me forgive the show for the poor season this has been
11 - laura
Barbara, thanks for the interview and all your reviews in the past months!
I agree with Susanne though. I never liked the idea of Huddy and been always a House/Wilson fan. For my taste there was enough of Huddy in Season 5. I would have preferred if they had ended the epi with House sitting alone on the bathroom floor contemplating taking the pills or not. I would be a lot less frustrated now and I can't say that I am dying to see the first few epis of S7. Season 6 had some good epis, but a few rather boring ones aswell and I expected something fresh and surprising in the next season. But it looks like we just get left-overs again.
On another note: I might be the only one out here, but I somehow hate to see Thirteen go. I would have preferred Taub to leave and take his wife with him. It really bores me that they keep going on about his marriage and his inclinations towards infidelity. Like Susanne said, HOUSE got a little soap operish and actually reminds me quite often of "Grey's" nowadays.
12 - marykir
Hmm... I guess my "listening for comprehension" skills need improvement. Sorry if I started any trouble by thinking RF said there was a new ending :(
13 - KHC22
Barbara - you are my hero!! Thanks for a great interview
14 - barbara barnett
Thanks everyone for you kind words...Marykir, RF said that he could understand how it could have been misinterpreted. I saw the vidblog, and I thought as you did. You started no trouble, and thanks for pointing it out to me.
15 - SueElio
Great interview! Thanks, Barbara. I also echo everyone's sentiments that it's great the final moments were what they were leading to over course of the season and not a last ditch effort at anything. It really was a great finale!
16 - Nancy
Not bad. Would have liked to see a question about Thirteen. She's obviously sick, but has held on so far. Unlike Kutner, her death would be expected.
17 - Donna
Great interview. Always love hearing the back story of an episode idea from the story's inception through it's evolution into script form and then it's finished visual product on our television screens. I congratulate each of these talented gents on this magnificently written episode.
Marykir and Barbara, I also had the same interpretation of RF's vidlog. Glad he made the clarification.
18 - Kim in California
Great interview. However, I am disappointed in this season (except for a handful of episodes) and in the finale's last few minutes. Yes, I wanted House to have some happiness in the end and thought it was appropriate for him to be rewarded for all the work he has done this season, but basing happiness and your rewards in life on another person (Cuddy) is a naive view of what happiness is. I think it would have been better if he had received his reward some other way. I feel as if House MD is fast becoming a novella or another Gray's. I enjoyed House and Wilson living together as comic relief and the new emotionally vulnerable House, but I hope that the writers get back to what made House so great in the beginning--the medical puzzles, the ethical questions and just enough personal drama to make the character interesting without making the show so melodramatic. I'd love to see the clinic come back and if they have to pair House with someone, bring back Mirna Sorvino...now there was some chemistry. We all knew that the writers were going to cave in to the Huddys, but I had hoped they would wait until House rode off into the sunset. However, Shore keeps reminding us that he doesn't think House can stay in a relationship,that he will never be truly happy, so I don't see House and Cuddy lasting too long. And despite what the writers said, I'm not sure House made the wrong decision about his leg--it's just that the wrong decision was made for him by Stacy and Cuddy. It is very possible he might have lived through the cytokine storm without gauging out the muscle. However, if the writers think he made a mistake and is now acknowledging it, then House should have an amputation, it's not too late. If he really believes it's a mistake not to have an amputation, then that should be the first episode of next season. Something tells me that House and the writers still likes his leg, despite the pain.
19 - madfashionista
I'm also glad he made the clarification, and glad in the NYTimes interview the writers said it was in real time, not "screen time." One of the things I've wondered about is how WILSON handles House being in a relationship. Maybe he's been House's fallback all of these years, but on the other hand, House has been relentlessly needy, which Wilson loves. Wilson might be in a relationship with Sam (which I'm guessing is doomed) but my guess is that he will have major adjustment problems with House and Cuddy getting together.
On the one hand, I look forward to the (I hope) inevitable squabbles and the whole thing crashing down around House. On the other, I'm not sure I want to see House happy, clean and sober. I'm also guessing new love endorphins will cause his leg to hurt less, and if things go sour, it will start to hurt again, BIG-time.
Barbara, thank you for this interview, and clearing up so many mysteries.
20 - madfashionista
Kim in California, if they amputate his leg, the whole season will be one huge CGI nightmare! :)
21 - Eileen
Thanks, Barbara, for a great season of reviews! You always do such a fine job.
Like Kerry above, I agree that the final few minutes of this season's finale "made me forgive the show for the poor season this has been."
22 - Delia_Beatrice
Thank you, Barbara, for the interview and for all your reviews this, and every, season.
I want to express my gigantic "thank you" to Mr. Shore, Mrs. Jacobs, Mr. Laurie, Ms. Edelstein, and of course Mr. Friend and Lerner. They should know that their sensational work is appreciated fully. In fact, they should know that, to me, fictional happiness of this intensity is just as good as real happiness, and i am an insanely happy person right now!
I feel like just reward, harmony and order have been restored in the universe, and that is an amazing feeling. I thank them for it
On the decision to pick up season 7 shortly after the end of "Help Me": i salute that decision.
The season 6 finale left House and Cuddy so humble in their silent joy... As they should be - they both gave been awarded (and awarded themselves) an incredible gift. I hope they will treat it with infinite care and humility, at least for a while, and i know that their delicate dance of building a relationship will be lovely to watch.
PS @ Susanne (#6): a person with such a traumatic childhood as House, and such self-worth issues, will never (and i mean literally never - therapy can only improve their functionality, sometimes with spectacular results, but those kind of wounds never really heal) find the supreme justification of their life in themselves.
I have explained this before (it so happens, i am currently working on a book on child psychology that discusses just that): House has never received any healthy acknowledgment of his right to live and his worth from his parents. He has a troubled identity, because of his paternity issues, and he never received healthy validation of his very existence.
The results of this are two defining characteristics of House: his recklessness in regard to his own safety, health and life & his endless pursuit of unconditional love, that he could cling to in order to restore his very fragile sense of self-worth and meaning of life. Unconditional love that he pursuits just like a child, by testing and pushing the limits and by presenting himself in the most crude light, allowing no deception, so that he can be sure that the affection he might receive is true in every way.
This kind of wounded souls can never rely on themselves to establish a healthy view on their own life and the reasons that justify their existence. They need someone else to give them what is called "a passport to life" and "the permission to be happy". This someone cannot be just anyone - it has to be a person whom they invest with that authority - an authority similar to parental authority. This kind of parental authority transfer (parental authority in the sense that parents give life and are the main responsibles for validating that life) is created upon a built up of respect, love, admiration and mutual loyalty.
Cuddy is that person for House. His relationship with her is deep enough and complex enough, his admiration and respect for her fully match the loyalty and protection he received from her. And he is both in love with her and also loves her - in a very layered sense, a very deep feeling that became nearly organic.
So she is invested with the power to bring him back to life, literally. She has signed off his passport for life and happines, her unconditional love and acceptance were a literal fountain of life for him and his low self-worth.
This is something he could have never accomplished on his own. So my opinion is that it's not "all about romance" in a cheesy cheap way. On the contrary, it's all about a very complex and deep concept of salvation and life-enabling through love - which is really the only way for somebody like House.
@madfashionista (#19): i do not, in any way, consider this relationship doomed. These two very complicated and screwed-up people will have difficulties adjusting to a life together, but i don't expect this kind of union to go down in flames in the blink of an eye. For every reason that i just stated above, i hope that this can build up to be a long-term relationship - in regard to the characters' psychology, i think my earlier explanation is clear.
In regard to the dynamic of the show, i think that House and Cuddy as a couple equal an amasing resource of exploration for the characters, a great challenge for the writers to create the best couple in television history and a very creative way to refresh the show, while allowing House to be the best version of who he is.
23 - ashby
Thanks, Barbara, for your great interview.
I am "on the fence" about the Huddy ending. I think I am on the fence because it seemed very contrived in the last moments of the show - maybe it was because of the other ep where he was hallucinating - but it just seemed very sudden - she suddenly realized she loved him in that very moment and shows up.
I thought it was well written apart from that abrupt shift on her part. But, as far as the prospects for next season, I think it's fabulous that they are trying to do something different with the relationships for House. For example, I loved his mayfield roomie coming back and how we got to see that "side" of House come out. And his being "happy" or at least TRYING for it- have been great. Very different - that the character evolves in some ways and doesn't in others. I think one of the running themes of the show has been "People don't change" and yet, here we see that they do - or do they? The dictotomy there is rich, rich, rich for drama.
Also, I thought it was interesting in the close of the ep that Cuddy said that she loved him but wished that she didn't. So, not everything is sweetness and light, there - some rocks are already in the path.
To everyone who most references "what makes House great" being the medical dramas/mysteries, I enjoy that but what I have always viewed as what makes the show great is how each character grows through those medical dramas. I love it best when the patient mirrors something the charater(s) are going through/learning. Also, I think that the best eps. this season have focused more on House and interactions or impressions other characters have of house. For example, I liked Taub's plot line most when House got involved with the whole pottery class thing and Taub realized H. was actually (in his own, bizarre way) trying to help...and then Taub thanked him. Similarly, my fave scene with 13 was when she took House to the FOXHOLE (Hillarious name, btw) - I just thought that was great. So, I'd urge the writers to keep throwing relationships - the whole spectrum- into House's path. Clinic, patients, co-workers, everything. In fact, the moment in the season finale that had me most upset, going 'nooooo!' was when Foreman confronted House in the lobby and then LET HIM pull the "as your employer" card. I really, really, really wanted the "these could be my friends" moment from the previous ep to flower in that moment when House most needed a friend - and of all of them (apart from Wilson) Foreman I think is the best suited.
So -- well done, writers and producers. I'm a bit let-down with the abruptness of the the BUT I LOVE YOU realization - but overall I TRUST you and am totally on the bandwagon for S7.
Oh and ps: I agree that the possibility of amputation should at least be DISCUSSED in an actual episode/arc--esp. if House really does believe insisting on keeping the leg was a mistake.
24 - Zay
As ever, Barbara, you are amazing and I love you to bits and pieces for making the originally fabulous House experience even better with your epic posts. Really.
As for my two cents on all this Huddy-ness...I'm happy. I agree with the writers - it was well deserved - and I agree with the commenters who say that this is a great way to get a new, fresh side of House. You've got to commend these people for having the ability to keep this show well and alive for six seasons. Yeah, I have my nitpicks with this season like everyone else; but overall, when it comes to House, I really do think that the whole is better than the sum of its parts. As a single unit, this season was actually quite good and ended on a lovely, surprisingly happy note. With David Shore at the helm, I can't guarantee how long we're going to be on honeymoon like that, but what they gave us was great and I can't wait to see where this goes next.
& like someone above said: I cannot wait for Wilson's reaction. After all his pushing and psychoanalyzing throughout season 5 (partic. in "The Itch") it will be intriguing to know how he takes this.
& another thing...I'm still in high school, not in the work force, so I can't be one hundred percent sure...but I don't think it's quite allowed to have the boss go out with an employee. That's another issue that adds complication to this already complicated relationship.
Plus, I mean, Cuddy's a mother. Her concern through S5 and S6 is that she needs someone to count on with her daughter. House is still, I think, too emotionally fragile to deal with fatherhood - he can barely deal with himself. What to do about Rachel is definitely a question I want to see answered next season - because it would anger a lot of fans, including me, to have House become soft, living with Cuddy and the baby and having a happy suburban little family. Even in a relationship, House is not a cookie-cutter guy. To think so would be an insult to the character and the show itself.
So like we're all kind of hinting at...let's see how this goes. S7 is only four months away...
25 - Jaim
I really am glad they are going to allow us to see the early beginnings of the House/Cuddy relationship. I would have hated for the season to start two months later. Also everyone always seems to think House wouldn't fair well around Rachel, but I think throughout the whole series his best interactions have been with his child/teen patients. He is a big kid himself and never dumbs things down to kids. I have also seen him show a kind of respect to kids that he very rarely gives to the adults. So, I'm sure he's a bit jealous of the place in Cuddy's heart that Rachel has, but I think that he will take to the little girl the more time he spends with her. Remember, he offered to watch Rachel in Known Unknowns before it was revealed that Lucas was there. So, he's willing to at least try to be there for the child because he knows how important she is to Cuddy.