Guide to the TV Show

Show Info. ::  David Shore: Creator, Executive Producer

From The Globe and Mail" "The House that Shore built" by John Doyle HOUSE 100th EPISODE PARTY & NAMI CHARITY CELEBRATION: HOUSE Executive producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs arrive on the red carpet during the HOUSE 100th EPISODE PARTY & NAMI CHARITY CELEBRATION at STK and Coco de Ville in Los Angeles,CA, Wednesday, Jan. 21. © 2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: Kevin Winter/FOX "David Shore is 46. He's a lawyer and is now at the very top of the TV game in Hollywood. The credits on House read 'Created by David Shore' and he runs the show. The series has won Emmy Awards and, recently, a prestigious Peabody. It is one of the most-watched shows on TV. In Canada, the first part of this week's two-part episode drew 2.3 million viewers, according to Global. "Shore, who began his career in TV on the Canadian series Due South (while still working as a lawyer in Toronto) has a lot to be proud of. Yet when I asked him for his official bio during our e-mail exchange, I got one brief paragraph. "Usually, top creative types in TV compile a bio, with every single achievement noted, and sometimes subtly exaggerated. "This is what I got from Shore: 'Since his first staff writing position on cult favourite Due South, David Shore has quickly made his way up the ladder on many of television's most respected shows. He wrote episodes of NYPD Blue and EZ Streets, served as head writer and supervising producer on Traders, which he developed for Canadian television, and was part of the writing team of the Emmy Award-winning first season of The Practice. From there, Shore was twice nominated for an Emmy as a producer on Law & Order. He executive-produced both Family Law and Hack before creating House. Shore recently won an Emmy in the Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series category for his House episode Three Stories.' "That's pithy and plain and, obviously, there's more to his story. But Shore doesn't give everything away. Our e-mail correspondence, which follows, included some questions that brought no answer at all. Still, one can certainly hear the pithy, scornful and joking tone of Dr. House in some of Shore's responses." [Selected quotes:] "I started thinking that I should move to Hollywood and be funny (turned out I was more dramatic than funny)." "We do take liberties with our team doing things and procedures that a nurse would normally do.... House trusts no one except his team." "The odd time that I get a chance to catch a movie, I frequently walk out realizing that I could have stayed home and seen a better story, better told by just turning on the TV. Movies have too often become about the event while television is almost always about the story." "Canadian television so often fails for the same reason American movies so often fail: They're not controlled by writers. Now I'm biased on this one and there are obviously great, smart directors out there and great, smart producers but no one knows the story like the writer. American movies are controlled by directors; Canadian television is controlled by producers; American television is controlled by writers." In his Emmy Acceptance Speech for Writing "Three Stories", Mr Shore said in part: "...I want to thank... Hugh Laurie for making me look like a better writer than I am.... and my parents for making me happy and well adjusted enough to enjoy this. But I also want to thank all the other people who have come into my life and made me miserable, cynical, and angry beecause this character wouldn't be the same without them...." . From The London Free Press" "The House that Shore built" (sent to us by the webmaster of The West Wing Episode Guide) "London-native David Shore... after snaring... a prime-time Emmy.... It makes his gut decision to pack in a law career and chase his writing dream in L.A. more than 10 years ago seem all the more golden.... 'It's not about the medical stories as much as it is about that character who's so clever, philosophical and ethical,' explained Shore, who drew two previous Emmy nominations as a producer on Law & Order." EMMY WINNER DAVID SHORE Who: A former London lawyer, Shore earned an Emmy Sunday night for writing an episode of the Fox hit, House, a series he also created and executive produces. (Airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Fox and Global). Other TV credits: A writer for Due South, NYPD Blue, EZ Streets and The Practice, Shore drew two Emmy nominations as a producer on Law & Order. He was executive producer of Family Law and Hack before creating House. Born: July 3, 1959 at Victoria Hospital, London, the son of Londoners Marvin and Cecile Shore. His brothers, twins Philip and Robert Shore, 44, are rabbis conducting outreach programs in Israel. Education: Attended Masonville public school; A. B. Lucas secondary school; University of Western Ontario and University of Toronto's law school. Personal: Shore is married and lives with his wife, Judy, a former TV producer, and their three children (Jesse, Sydney and Rory) in Encino Hills, Calif. From Fox Broadcasting Company David Shore's writing and producing credits include serving as executive producer of "Hack" and "Family Law," and he was nominated for an Emmy Award as supervising producer on "Law & Order." He was a consulting producer on "Century City" and the cable series "Beggars and Choosers." In addition, Shore has served as head writer and supervising producer on "Traders," which he developed for television. Shore has also written episodes for such series as "NYPD Blue," "The Practice," "EZ Streets," "Due South" and "The Outer Limits." From Writers Guild of America: an interview (excerpts) Written by Dylan Callaghan David Shore is as blunt as the acerbic doctor he created for his new Fox medical drama House when describing why he got involved with writing for television. "It really was one of those stupid decisions," he says of giving up his career as a municipal and corporate lawyer in his native Canada and moving to Los Angeles in 1991 to pursue writing.... What were the origins of House? It was sort of a two-fold origin. We knew the network was looking for procedurals, and Paul (Attanasio, co-executive producer) came up with this medical idea that was like a cop procedural. The suspects were the germs. But I quickly began to realize that we needed that character element, I mean, germs don't have motives.... On a more philosophical level, it asks the question: What's more important --Kindness or Truth? ...There's a doctor named David Foster who works with us on the show. To some extent we work backwards. We start with the disease and then work back through the character of Dr. House.... We're looking to create the same thing that most shows are: drama and an opportunity for people to examine various ethical issues.... From The Canadian Jewish News" "Emmy winner took a chance on television writing" By FRANCES KRAFT "...while television allows him to be creative, he maintains that all jobs have a creative aspect. 'I think the entertainment industry pooh-poohs everything else as being a lot drier than it really is. I think I had to be pretty creative as an attorney, and I don't mean that in a negative way. I had to think creatively, but it's just more obvious when you're writing shows for TV.' "In fact, he wouldn't recommend television writing as a career. 'If you succeed, it couldn't be any better. It's an opportunity to entertain people and touch their lives. But it's a tough business. Even if you have talent, you may not succeed.' ...Shore, 46, is the oldest of three brothers who grew up in what he called 'a typical Reform-type Jewish household.' He had his bar mitzvah at London's Conservative synagogue, Congregation Or Shalom. He now belongs to a Conservative synagogue in L.A., and his brothers, twins two years his junior, are Aish HaTorah rabbis in Jerusalem. "...The winning episode revealed the medical history of title character Dr. Gregory House, a top diagnostician with an abrasive manner, a limp, a cane and an addiction to painkillers. "Shore remembers thinking the episode, titled Three Stories, was either the worst thing he'd written, or the best. 'I honestly wasn't sure.' "...To ensure medical accuracy, in its first season the show used a physician consultant, who has since joined the writing team. 'We read stuff like the New York Times magazine and the New England Journal of Medicine,' said Shore, citing some of the starting points for story ideas. 'And people at parties tell us stories,' he added. "He sees the show as a 'dramatic exercise... I think what makes it interesting is the human stories.' Religion plays a minimal role in House, although one of the characters (Dr. Wilson) is Jewish, Shore said. 'Generally television goes to great lengths to ignore religion, and I think that's really artificial. Even if someone's not religious, religion is a significant part of their life, especially at times of crisis.'" The Toronto Star: "The wry House that Shore built" Jun. 20, 2006. 07:35 AM by VINAY MENON (selected excerpts from article): "Soft-spoken, affable and modest, Shore is nothing like his 'character.' That would be Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), the gruff misanthrope with the bedside manner of a rabid pit bull." "I sat down with Shore last week at the Banff World Television Festival, where the writer-director gave a master class and was honoured with the festival's Award of Excellence. "House... was inspired by the Diagnosis Column in the New York Times Magazine, is built around a simple but jarring concept: a doctor who hates his patients.... "'I think it's a dramatic show, I think it's a character-driven show, I think it's a procedural show and I think it's a comedy, all at the same time,' says Shore. 'And to make all of those things work at the same time can be a challenge.' "...At 46, Shore recently signed a two-year development deal with NBC Universal Television Studio, which produces House. His credits also include NYPD Blue, The Practice, Law & Order, Family Law, Hack, EZ Streets, Due South and Traders."

Quotations, etc. Copyright Heel & Toe Productions, Bad Hat Harry Productions, et al. Pictures from the show copyright Fox Broadcasting Corporation Questions, Comments (remember we are not related to the show): bewarne@housemd-guide.com And if you are in Europe: See The New York Times article about the FitBit. MIS, Inc. for Website Hosting, Development, Design & Promotion