14 DAY TRIAL // As “House M.D.” continues to be one of the most critically successful and popular shows on television, talk of a spinoff is again starting to pick up. The idea is not new, Michael Ausiello of The Ausiello Files says, but it’s just now that the two executive producers of the original series have started thinking of ways of actually making that happen soon.
As fans must know, the idea initially was to have a spinoff series based on Michael Weston’s character, the private investigator Lucas Douglas that House hires at one point to spy on Wilson. It would have made sense too, since Douglas is the only person that House actually warms up to, and even admits to doing so but, as the two executive producers soon found out, it was impossible to put into practice for reasons that fans can only speculate on.
“The Michael Weston-fronted House spinoff may have been condemned, but Fox remains keen on expanding the franchise. Network president Kevin Reilly tells me the hit’s EPs, David Shore and Katie Jacobs, have a ‘standing offer’ to create another series. ‘It could be a direct spin-off or a completely new show,’ says Reilly. ‘Ideally, I would love David and Katie to have their own [two-hour block].’ Regarding the duo’s first stab at a House offshoot, the one that would’ve focused on Weston’s private detective, Lucas Douglas, Reilly says they ‘kind of stuck their toe in the water and just didn’t feel like it worked. The [character] worked [on] House, but [he] didn’t really work as [his] own thing.’” Ausiello writes.
Moreover, fans should rest assured that this is not just something the two and Fox are doing for the money, as some might be easily tempted to believe. In fact, neither Shore nor Jacobs would ever do a show just because opportunity arises: just like in the case of the first idea with PI Douglas, they’re looking to do this the right way. If they weren’t, the spinoff with the PI would already be on air.
“I would like to do a 9 o’clock show,” Jacobs tells Ausiello. “Maybe a spin-off or maybe just another show from the two of us. [This is] the only way I seem to be able to penetrate the 9 o’clock hour. As a producer, you would never pick Mondays at 8. But having said that, the network put [House] there, and it seems to be working so I think they’re smarter about these things than we are. So we’re probably going to stay at 8,” the executive producer adds.