Jove

Now we know Number 13 has Huntington Disease and sort of likes women.

m0rpheus

A friend sent me this.
http://itsnotlup.us/

__________________
"it never got weird enough for me." - Hunter S. Thompson

guthmund

That's fantastic.

I really dug this season. Not so much about the disease, but more about the cast, which is just fine and dandy as far as I'm concerned. I really had no feelings for Amber either way, but I am kind of glad to see her go because now we'll get to some nitty gritty Wilson/House stuff, which is sure to be pretty good.

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No signature. None. Seriously.

KellyC

The thing that impresses me the most is that House finally acknowledges he's miserable. He says everybody lies and here he is living a lie the whole time.

I'm actually looking forward to some awkward tension between House and Wilson next season. There are a lot of rooms for drama with that premise.

__________________
Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe?
Me: Shit happens.

MovieNut

M0rpheus--that's fantastic! Thanks for sharing that. Why the hell isn't that a trailer for House? I guess it's sort of an inside joke to regular fans. but still...

__________________


I like these calm little moments before the storm. It reminds me of Beethoven. Can you hear it? It's like when you put your head to the grass and you can hear the growin' and you can hear the insects. Do you like Beethoven ?

Starshine

Oooo, I need that on a shirt for sure!

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I fly like paper, get high like planes

Daval

Kutner!?!?!? WTF!

__________________
"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill

Grasshopper Green

I'm pissed. Kutner was my favorite character besides House!

__________________
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

KellyC

Aww damn, something happened to Kutner??!!

__________________
Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe?
Me: Shit happens.

Bear Cub

Awesome episode! Curious to know how they're going to carry it into next week.

__________________
Living in the United Socialist States of America.

NoSoup

Yeah... I don't think I'd go the "Awesome Episode" route, but to each their own.

I'm a little confused as to why it was so sudden - anyone know if he got fired or something?

Also, has anyone gone to the memorial site? FOX Broadcasting Company: House: Lawrence Kutner 1975 - 2009.

Creepy...

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I have an aura of reliability and good judgement.

Just in case you were wondering...

ShaniFaye

I knew a death was coming....they'd been talking about it for weeks, I was praying it wasnt Wilson. Kutner wasnt my fav, but if I'd had to pick I'd have picked Forman or13 or Taub. I guess I just still miss Chase and Cameron working with him

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

Daval

'House' exclusive: The shocking story behind last night's big death

Apr 7, 2009, 05:20 AM | by Michael Ausiello

Categories: House

Kalpennhouse_l DEFCON 1 spoiler alert! If you haven't seen last night's House, stop reading now. Everyone else, onward and downward!

Here are the six things you need to know up-front about last night's House:

• Yes, Kutner was the subject of my "suicide" blind item.
• No, his death wasn't a figment of House's Vicodin-impaired imagination.
• Yes, Kal Penn has left the show for good.
• No, he wasn't fired. He asked to go. (And man, wait 'till you find out where he's going.)
• Yes, this was the "cataclysmic" event that Hugh Laurie has been teasing all year.
• Yes, the trio at the center of this grim turn of events -- exec producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs, as well Kal Penn himself -- spoke to me exclusively about the surprising story behind Penn's exit, the decision to have the seemingly well-adjusted Kutner take his own life, and whether the tragedy will drive House-Cuddy and Cameron-Chase closer together or further apart...

Part I: Kal Penn

I understand it was your decision to leave House. True?
KAL PENN: Yes. I was incredibly honored a couple of months ago to get the opportunity to go work in the White House. I got to know the President and some of the staff during the campaign and had expressed interest in working there, so I'm going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They're basically the front door of the White House. They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House. It's similar to what I was doing on the campaign.

Will you actually be working in the White House?
PENN: This particular office is in the executive building. The White House has two buildings: the actual White House and an old Navy building called the Old Executive Office.

Are you there as long as Obama's in office?
PENN: A lot of that stuff is up in the air. This is a relatively recent development.

Safe to say you're taking a huge pay cut?
PENN: Oh, yeah. There's not a lot of financial reward in these jobs. But, obviously, the opportunity to serve in a capacity like this is an incredible honor.

How long has this been in the works?
PENN: I've been thinking about [moving into politics] for a while. I love what I do as an actor. I couldn't love it more. But probably from the time I was a kid, I really enjoyed that balance between the arts and public service. I went to a performing arts high school, but I still took a bunch of those dorky political science classes. It's probably because of the value system my grandparents instilled in me. They marched with Gandhi in the Indian independence movement, and that was always in the back of my head. So the past couple of years I thought about it a little more. And in '06 I started this international studies program at Stanford, where they actually let you do most of the course work online. So it was something I could do while I was acting. And I thought this might be the right time to go off and do something else. The ultimate irony, of course, is that I love being on House. There's not a smarter group of people that I've been surrounded by in television. So I thought about it for a very long time before I went and talked to David and Katie.

What was that conversation like?
PENN: We had a very long discussion. And I remember David saying, "Are you telling me that you're unhappy with the show and that you want to leave so you can go off and do a different show?" And I was like, "Not at all. I'm actually saying the exact opposite, which is I'm having an incredible time, but there's something aching in me to do something completely different and take a break from the acting thing for a while." And with their blessing, we were able to work it out.

Are you retiring from acting?
PENN: Not necessarily. Who's to say where any path leads? I still have a passion for it. But for the time being, I won't be acting.

How did you react when you found out how they were writing Kutner out?
PENN: One of the things I love about our show is you never know what's going to happen. So that news struck me in the same way we hope it strikes the audience: there was a little bit of anger and some depression. You really go through those emotions, especially when somebody dies in that fashion. Ultimately, it was a really interesting choice for them to make. We don't really know why he did it, unless it's resolved in the episodes after [I left], which, of course, I'm not privy to anymore. At least in [last night's] episode, we don't really know why he did it. There's no note. There's no explanation. And as a testament to David and Katie, that's a huge risk. 'Cause it is going to make people upset, and it is going to piss off some of the audience. And, ultimately, in my opinion, that's what art really is -- when you can conjure up those kinds of emotions. And it's rare nowadays to be able to do that on network television, but they managed to.

Were you disappointed that you didn't get to shoot the requisite good-bye scenes with your co-stars?
PENN: From my selfish perspective, you want one last scene with Hugh, you want one awesome bantering scene with Peter, you want something where you and Olivia [Wilde] are doing a diagnostic together. But I had known a couple weeks beforehand [that Kutner would just abruptly commit suicide], so I was conscious in previous episodes of, 'Okay, this is probably the last time I'm going to get to do a scene with Peter, and this is the last time I'm going to be on screen with Robert.' And, of course, we're all still really close friends, so I've seen them a ton of times since I stopped shooting.

What were your emotions like on your last day?
PENN: It's always emotional when something incredible comes to an end. The feeling would have been very different if I was not enjoying myself, and if I didn't love the job. But because I loved the job and the character and the people I'm working with, I think bittersweet is the probably the best way to describe it. The contrast of knowing that I want to move on and do something completely different, with the incredibly violent and incredibly depressing thing that happens to my character... I think bittersweet is the only way to describe it.

Are you bummed you won't be around to experience firsthand the fallout from Cuddy and House having sex?
PENN: Do they really?

That's the buzz.
PENN: See, I didn't even know that. If that's the case, yeah, it's a bummer to not be involved in an episode like that. It's the emotional stuff that really gets the characters riled up, so if that's actually happening, it would be neat to see. [Pauses] Well, not see. To be part of scenes like that. [Laughs]

Part II: David Shore and Katie Jacobs

When did you first learn Kal was thinking of leaving House?
DAVID SHORE: It was very early in the process that he told us that he might [at some point] want to move on and work in politics. He has been involved in a number of other things [while working on House]. He worked very extensively for the Obama campaign and he's been teaching at Penn. Kal is a man with broader ambitions than the entertainment industry. So he spoke to us and said, 'I love the show and I love working with these people, but there are things that I would like to do.' And you sort of think, 'That's admirable, but there's no way he's going to do it.' This is a good gig he's got here.
KATIE JACOBS: As time went on, it was still on his mind. And then we took a writers retreat right at the beginning of December and David sort of had this "A-ha" moment about how to both free Kal up to pursue other things and, most importantly, service where David wants to go at the end of the season with House's story.
SHORE: The fact that it happened over a long period of time allowed him to pursue his goals as a human being, but also allowed us to make it work within the confines of the show.

So why not just have Kutner take a new job at a different hospital?
SHORE: The suicide was essential to [the story]. The lack of reason behind it -- the lack of answers -- was what I responded to and is what I got excited about. House, the man of answers, doesn't have an answer about this guy who he has worked with for two years.
JACOBS: And he didn't see it coming. It gets under his skin. He is the man who can't rest until the puzzle is solved. So the idea that he worked in such close proximity to Kutner and didn’t see it coming [was an interesting story to us].
SHORE: It makes him question the most important aspect of himself, which is the ability to find answers. It's the one thing about himself that he feels good about.

If anyone on House's team was going to kill him or herself, the likelier candidate would have been Taub (Peter Jacobson). Were you intentionally setting up a bait and switch?
SHORE: A little bit. But also, oddly enough, we wanted it to be a character who didn't make sense -- or didn't superficially make sense. Obviously, there are reasons, but the notion that the reasons are too complicated for even House to figure out is what was drawing us to it. I like the fact that Kutner is almost the least likely guy to do this. And it gets down to the issue of, "Do we know anybody? You work with somebody for two years, but do you really know them?"

There's an opening on House's team now. Will Chase or Cameron fill it?
SHORE: No, there's a different Chase-Cameron storyline coming up. We touch on it, but that's not really where we go with it.
JACOBS: There's fallout in every part of the hospital because of this. This will affect everybody.

Are you planning to fill the position?
SHORE: Not initially. It's not going to happen this year.

There are rumors that Chase and Cameron may be getting married. Care to comment?
SHORE: No. But [Kutner's death] does affect them as a couple. When somebody close to you dies under any circumstances, you take stock of your life and you want to go home and hug somebody. We worked hard to let everyone react [to the tragedy] in a different way.

Does it bring Cuddy and House closer together?
SHORE: The way House reacts ultimately brings House and Cuddy closer.

Any more cast changes looming this season?
JACOBS: This is the only one you'll see this season.

Okay, Ausholes: Take a few minutes to absorb everything you've read before... alright, minute's up -- react away in the comments section! Oh, and be sure to check out the eleborate memorial shrine Fox has erected in Kutner's honor.

source

__________________
"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill

balderdash111

Point of order on articles by other organizations...

Isn't it poor form to copy an entire article in a message board? (Not to mention, it might get the admins in copyright trouble) I thought the accepted practice was to link to the article, with maybe a choice excerpt or two.

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A little silliness now and then is cherished by the wisest men. -- Willy Wonka

KellyC

Dammit, I was really hoping it'd be Taub since no one seems to like him.

Edit: I prefer that Kutner simply went missing without any trace. The mystery would still be there but there's a chance of him coming back.

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Him: Ok, I have to ask, what do you believe?
Me: Shit happens.

mrklixx

I wonder how Peter Jacobson feels when a good majority of comments I've seen say "I wish it would have been Taub"? Is it a good thing, as an actor, that you are so talented at being annoying that people want your character dead? Catch-22

What I'd really like to know is whether Kutner owned a dog or not. Because if he didn't own a dog, House would know, and it would have been a lame excuse for Taub to use. If he did own a dog, where was it when they found the body?

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This post is content. If you don't like it then you are not content. Or perhaps just incontinent.

This is not a link - Do not click here

I hate animated avatars.

Jove

I thought it was a bit random that the show would suddenly kill off a character and then I read the interview/article and it all made sense. I really liked his character and it is unfortunate the way he died, but at least something exciting happened in the episode.

Bill O'Rights

Nah. We do it all the time. Appropriate credit was copied along with the article, so no foul. The only thing that I might have done differently would be to include quote tags. Daval's an old hand at this.

__________________
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

"Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus

It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

CinnamonGirl

Wow...I don't even watch the damn show and that episode made me cry.


On a lighter note, did anyone else find it amusing that Meat Loaf's character was named Eddie?

__________________
"...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world."


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

ShaniFaye

I wondered if anyone but me caught that!!! It made me giggle

__________________
I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

m0rpheus

Yeah I caught that too and it made me grin too.

__________________
"it never got weird enough for me." - Hunter S. Thompson

mrklixx

Maybe he shot the dog before he shot himself.

__________________
This post is content. If you don't like it then you are not content. Or perhaps just incontinent.

This is not a link - Do not click here

I hate animated avatars.

CinnamonGirl

hmmm... or maybe he used that excuse specifically... if someone knew him well enough to know that he didn't have a dog, they'd know something was up.

Or maybe Taub was just covering for him, and that's the first thing that came to mind.

__________________
"...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world."


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

Esoteric

What's everyone's thoughts about the last episode? The end caught me by surprise. Is House going crazy?

__________________
From a head full of pressure rests the senses that I clutch
Made a date with Divinity, but she wouldn't let me fuck
I got touched by a hazy shaded, God help me change
Caught a rush on the floor from the life in my veins

ShaniFaye

I cant wait to see where its going with Amber....last night USA reran the two parter where she died and lord I cried at the end just as much as I did the first time lol

__________________
I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

Daval

I'm not so sure I'm liking the whole bringing dead characters back. If it was for the one episode I could live with it, but longer than that its gonna get irritating like it did on Grey's Anatomy.

Having the bachelor party at Wilson's was fucking hillarious, and a pantless Wilson getting arrested while walking home from his own home is even funnier.

__________________
"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill

Bear Cub

It would certainly seem that way, though I wonder if they'll spin it off into some sort of medical twist as to what's causing his hallucinations.

__________________
Living in the United Socialist States of America.