The TV Zone

There was a bloodbath in the season finale of "House" a couple months though not in the usual TV meaning of the word "bloodbath" but a bloodbath in the sense that everyone – either sick or tired of dear old irresistible House (Hugh Laurie) - seemed to tell him where to get off, and they either quit or were fired.

As such, yesterday's "House" session at the critic's tour had to be one of the major events of the week, if only because those who were so recently gone were right up there on stage and quite obviously BACK.

And so it goes in a hit TV show (or one that isn't “Lost” or "24"): Big stars go and big stars return.

Just to untangle the tangled web, Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) quit. Chase (Jesse Spencer) was fired. Foreman (Omar Epps) said adios too. That leaves, by my count, just one or two original members of House’s team, like Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), who for all I know was also fired, or thrown out a window, or was otherwise colorfully dispatched by House during a commercial break.

But what were they doing up there on stage yesterday, and all acting so very nice to Hugh Laurie, and he to them?. Katie Jacobs, one of the executive producers (David Shore was no where to be seen; had to take his kids somewhere), explained that "the truth is, everybody is back eventually. And everybody is back having changed and in different capacities....You know, the last two seasons we’ve done an arc [where] we started out with arcs that involved other characters as a way to explore more deeply House's character. But I think their three-year fellowship...had naturally come to an end [and] in the first episode [next season] House is alone and House is trying to solve cases by himself. Of course, Cuddy [Lisa Edelstein] is [p'oed] and Robert thinks he's losing his mind...Cuddy will insist that he hire a new team but he will do it in a very Housian way..."

“So over the first bunch of episodes, he's going to call in all the candidates, all the resumes on his desk - 40 I think - and we're going to see who survives. We're going to play a 'House' version of 'Survivor' and see what candidates really make the best part of House's team.'"

Added she: "This felt the most truthful. How many years can you stand working beside House? Or, how many years can he stand working with you and getting close to you? And does he really want that kind of intimacy?...Things are going to be different."