# Lisa Edelstein Quitting 'House,' Report Says



## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

> Lisa Edelstein will not return to House next season.
> 
> Fox renews House; Robert Sean Leonard, Omar Epps sign new deals
> 
> ...


Full Article


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Will be interesting to see who they put in charge of Dr. House.

I believe this coming season will be the show's last. Fox ought to be in a panic right now until someone figures out how to make this work.

Or maybe it's just a bargaining strategy.


----------



## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

She, Epps, and Leonard were asked to take a pay cut. She opted out. Epps and Leonard agreed to the pay cut. I'm sorry to see her go.
http://www.tvguide.com/news/lisa-edelstein-leaving-house-1033199.aspx?rss=breakingnews


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Sorry to see her go as well. Wonder who they bring into the new head administrator role.


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

BubblePuppy said:


> She, Epps, and Leonard were asked to take a pay cut. She opted out. Epps and Leonard agreed to the pay cut. I'm sorry to see her go.
> http://www.tvguide.com/news/lisa-edelstein-leaving-house-1033199.aspx?rss=breakingnews


She couldn't take a pay cut for one final season and know she has a job? She'd rather go job hunting? Selfish if you ask me...


----------



## Ira Lacher (Apr 24, 2002)

She won't be without a job for long. There's got to be a ton of roles for an engaging actress with her looks.


----------



## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

Ira Lacher said:


> She won't be without a job for long. There's got to be a ton of roles for an engaging actress with her looks.


Conversely, how many have left never to be seen in big roles again. I predict LMN movie roles in her future.

I think her leaving will have a major impact on HOUSE.


----------



## bills (Nov 7, 2002)

did any one see nics last night? any thoughts on who the traitor is?


----------



## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

RunnerFL said:


> She couldn't take a pay cut for one final season and know she has a job? She'd rather go job hunting? Selfish if you ask me...


I'm sorry but you've lost me there. Selfish to not feel insulted by being offered a pay cut? Selfish to not stay and be unhappy that you decided on security vs challenge?

You do understand that it was quite likely Fox's hope that they'd save money with pay cuts or by being able to hire cheap replacements. The selfish one is FOX.


----------



## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

bills said:


> did any one see nics last night? any thoughts on who the traitor is?


I was lost with your question until I figured out that you meant NCIS. I did not worry about who was the traitor. I almost didn't watch it because I knew there would be a cliffhanger at the end.


----------



## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

bills said:


> did any one see nics last night? any thoughts on who the traitor is?


i think it is the new female agent who went on extended leave. Remember seeing her cut something out of her dead agents wrist. that was strange.


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

TBoneit said:


> I'm sorry but you've lost me there. Selfish to not feel insulted by being offered a pay cut? Selfish to not stay and be unhappy that you decided on security vs challenge?


Yes, selfish on her part. Is she so poor that she can't take a pay cut to see out the run of a show she's been part of for years? I'm sure she has no problems putting food on her table. She just wanted more money, and that is selfish.



TBoneit said:


> You do understand that it was quite likely Fox's hope that they'd save money with pay cuts or by being able to hire cheap replacements. The selfish one is FOX.


I guess you don't understand how TV works behind the scenes. They weren't trying to save money to be selfish. They are trying to save money in this crappy economy. By lowering the costs of House they are able to get one more year out of the show to tie up everything. If they couldn't cut costs on the show it would have been cancelled.


----------



## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

RunnerFL said:


> Yes, selfish on her part. Is she so poor that she can't take a pay cut to see out the run of a show she's been part of for years? I'm sure she has no problems putting food on her table. She just wanted more money, and that is selfish.
> 
> I guess you don't understand how TV works behind the scenes. They weren't trying to save money to be selfish. They are trying to save money in this crappy economy. By lowering the costs of House they are able to get one more year out of the show to tie up everything. If they couldn't cut costs on the show it would have been canceled.


From what I read prior to this, that despite the ratings, Fox was on the fence on renewal due to climbing costs of the show. So, it does make sense. You keep you cast with pay cuts, or cut characters and replace them with cheaper ones.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

RobertE said:


> From what I read prior to this, that despite the ratings, Fox was on the fence on renewal due to climbing costs of the show. So, it does make sense. *You keep you cast with pay cuts, or cut characters and replace them with cheaper ones*.


While likely kills the show anyway. Cuddy's role will likely be filled by a new person holding the same job in the hospital - who knows - maybe someone "interesting" will be tagged.

One of my top Series Link shows...a fan since the first episode.


----------



## raoul5788 (May 14, 2006)

RunnerFL said:


> Yes, selfish on her part. Is she so poor that she can't take a pay cut to see out the run of a show she's been part of for years? I'm sure she has no problems putting food on her table. She just wanted more money, and that is selfish.


Did she want more money, or would she not accept less? Big difference!


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

RobertE said:


> From what I read prior to this, that despite the ratings, Fox was on the fence on renewal due to climbing costs of the show. So, it does make sense. You keep you cast with pay cuts, or cut characters and replace them with cheaper ones.


Oh, it makes complete sense. But for an actor, who has a fanbase, to not do the last season of a show because she refuses to make a little bit less, to help out the show, is selfish. You'd think she could "take one for the team" and do the last season for less money, others are.


----------



## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

RunnerFL said:


> Oh, it makes complete sense. But for an actor, who has a fanbase, to not do the last season of a show because she refuses to make a little bit less, to help out the show, is selfish. You'd think she could "take one for the team" and do the last season for less money, others are.


The actors who took a cut in pay sold themselves short and hurt their negotiating ability with future role offers. Lisa could have done a "Jimmy Stewart" and worked for a percentage in lieu of a salary but with the show nearing the end of it's run was probably not a option.


----------



## gilviv (Sep 18, 2007)

I really hope this is just bargaining strategy from Ms. Edelstein's camp, otherwise the last season of _House_ will fall short in comparison to previous ones. We are big fans here, hate to see it end poorly.:nono2:


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

MysteryMan said:


> The actors who took a cut in pay sold themselves short and hurt their negotiating ability with future role offers.


I disagree. I think it will turn out in their favor. Any network they go to for a new show, or stay with FOX, will see that as a willingness to help out the network in their "time of need" and will value them as an "employee".


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

gilviv said:


> I really hope this is just bargaining strategy from Ms. Edelstein's camp, otherwise the last season of _House_ will fall short in comparison to previous ones.


It definitely will without her.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

gilviv said:


> I really hope this is just bargaining strategy from Ms. Edelstein's camp, otherwise the last season of _House_ will fall short in comparison to previous ones. We are big fans here, hate to see it end poorly.:nono2:


I think the situation is final.

Sad to see her go, but they can certainly finish one more season with a bang if they find the right replacement. Since its a one-year commitment, perhaps they can get somebody impressive.


----------



## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

RunnerFL said:


> I disagree. I think it will turn out in their favor. Any network they go to for a new show, or stay with FOX, will see that as a willingness to help out the network in their "time of need" and will value them as an "employee".


Post "House" scenario: Memo from producer to casting. The pilot was a success. We're contracted for a full season. Make sure you sign Epps and Leonard. They work cheap! :sure:


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

I think it's entirely fair to refuse a pay cut.

Do you understand how syndicating works? With another season, Fox will make more money. At the moment, "House" is almost a license to print money in the secondary market. It is NOT unfair to want a portion of that.

That has risks involved. She decided to take those risks. She also mentioned "producing" opportunities meaning she might see that her time in front of the camera might be coming to an end. Hollywood doesn't treat women in their 40s and up very well when it comes to camera time.


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

MysteryMan said:


> Post "House" scenario: Memo from producer to casting. The pilot was a success. We're contracted for a full season. Make sure you sign Epps and Leonard. They work cheap! :sure:


I doubt it. This doesn't give them a bad name, it does the opposite.


----------



## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

RunnerFL said:


> I doubt it. This doesn't give them a bad name, it does the opposite.


Never said it gives them a bad name. But unless you have a vested interest in the company it just doesn't make sense to take a cut in pay. All that does is tell everyone you'll work for less and in today's world that is something that will be taken advantage of.


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

MysteryMan said:


> Never said it gives them a bad name. But unless you have a vested interest in the company it just doesn't make sense to take a cut in pay. All that does is tell everyone you'll work for less and in today's world that is something that will be taken advantage of.


And again I disagree.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I don't see this as anything more than a career decision my Ms. Edelstein.

Yes, the cast was offered less money for the final season of House...but then...none of them likely get paid "poorly".

The regulars have gotten 7 years of good (and well-paid) time on this show, and everyone should just sit back and enjoy the final ride.

It's been a super show since day one, and the writing is nothing less than brilliant most of the time. Cuddy will be missed, but was appreciated for the last 7 years.


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Keep in mind that the 8th year will be important to syndication and many, if not all, of the principle cast members will get residuals from syndication. So over a lifetime the cast may be extending their "dry spell" income.

But I have a feeling that isn't a concern to Edelstein.

She may simply be tired, or tired of TV. When you look at her filmography on IMDb, she hasn't really had a significant break from TV in two decades.

Her acting interests are varied and up until "House" she avoided any potential for "typecasting." She did write and perform one of the earliest AIDS-related Broadway theater productions the musical "Positive Me." So she has the breadth of talent to move on.

I can understand why she might not want to spend her 45th year tied down to a "House" production schedule.


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

Seems like she really screwed the show...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/06/house.lisa.edelstein.ew/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


----------



## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

RunnerFL said:


> Seems like she really screwed the show...
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/06/house.lisa.edelstein.ew/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


Not so sure about that. They can definitely write in plausible reasons for her not being back. I mean, just look at how the season ended.

- Merg


----------



## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

RunnerFL said:


> Seems like she really screwed the show...
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/06/house.lisa.edelstein.ew/index.html?hpt=hp_t2


Depends if she led them on, or not. They may just have _assumed _she'd re-up. My guess is they wrote this season's final episode months ago, before she decided she didn't want to return. Otherwise, why _wouldn't_ she have given them an opportunity to send her off in style?


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

The Merg said:


> Not so sure about that. They can definitely write in plausible reasons for her not being back. I mean, just look at how the season ended.
> 
> - Merg


Sure, they can do that but since she didn't give them a heads up they already started working up ideas for next season. Her selfishness made their work moot and robbed them of their time.


----------



## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

I have to agree with Steve there. It seems they assumed she was returning. And you know what happens when you do that... 

She might not have decided to not return right when the contract was to be signed.

- Merg


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

They're dealing with a change, but not anything like losing the star like Charlie Sheen. From the article:


> "I don't know how exactly [I would have changed the finale]," Shore told EW during a special charity event for "House" Thursday that benefitted the Writers Guild Foundation. "I don't know what it would have been. It probably would have involved more closure on the character. I was really disappointed. I am still reeling from it but we just started meeting a few days ago, like we always do this time of year, to try to map out the first half of the next season, and we are having some very frank discussions about what we are going to do."
> 
> "House" scribe Peter Blake, who co-wrote the finale with Shore, said explaining Edelstein's departure will end up being the easy part. "Weirdly for me, I think the harder question to answer is, what would we have done with Cuddy if she was still on the show? I think both would have been hard, although we all wish Lisa was still here," Blake said. "The hardest part about her being gone is we lost an important character to write stories about. I think everyone knows that the writers have nothing to do with her departure. It is a big deal because the Cuddy-House dynamic is one the reasons people watch the show. It was one of the driving forces of the show and one of the reasons it kept bubbling up."


As a viewer who has seen every show, I would say the Cuddy-House relationship is just one of the dynamics of the show and, while interesting, IMHO became a little too dominant pushing into the background the dynamics of the team and the dynamic between House and Wilson.

Also IMHO it is unfortunate that Masters (Amber Tamblyn's character) is not a part of the final season as her character was an almost perfect foil (a subsidiary character who emphasizes the traits of a main character) that could have allowed a last season story arc finally dealing with the implications of House's pessimistic "everyone lie's" assumption that dominates his world view.


----------



## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

phrelin said:


> Also IMHO it is unfortunate that Masters (Amber Tamblyn's character) is not a part of the final season [...]


Do we know that for sure? That CNN article ends with this:


> Finally, Shore acknowledged that Olivia Wilde's got a thriving movie career now but "she will be back for at least *some* of the season. We want her for as many of them as we can get her for."


----------



## 1953 (Feb 7, 2006)

phrelin said:


> They're dealing with a change, but not anything like losing the star like Charlie Sheen. From the article: As a viewer who has seen every show, I would say the Cuddy-House relationship is just one of the dynamics of the show and, while interesting, IMHO became a little too dominant pushing into the background the dynamics of the team and the dynamic between House and Wilson.
> 
> Also IMHO it is unfortunate that Masters (Amber Tamblyn's character) is not a part of the final season as her character was an almost perfect foil (a subsidiary character who emphasizes the traits of a main character) that could have allowed a last season story arc finally dealing with the implications of House's pessimistic "everyone lie's" assumption that dominates his world view.


Is it for sure that next season is the finale for House? If so, I now wonder if House will go out in a padded room or ..............:eek2:


----------



## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

1953 said:


> Is it for sure that next season is the finale for House? If so, I now wonder if House will go out in a padded room or ..............:eek2:


That same article speculates about whether or not Hugh Laurie plans to return after the upcoming season, so it doesn't sound like anything's been decided.


----------



## dennispap (Feb 1, 2007)

Steve said:


> Do we know that for sure? That CNN article ends with this:


Olivia Wilde is a different actress( she plays "13"). He was talking about Amber Tamblyn's character.


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Olivia Wilde, who plays 13, and already has been a part-timer.

Amber Tamblyn who played Masters








was to be a one-season character according to this interview:


> *TVLINE | House creator David Shore has made no secret of the fact that he would've loved to have kept you around full-time. At what point did you decide you were going to leave to pursue this new series with Ed Burns and Katie Jacobs?*
> I'll be perfectly honest. The three of us - me, Katie Jacobs and David Shore - were talking about doing something together. That was the original situation. And it just seemed kind of impossible for David to be working on more than one incredible show [at the same time]&#8230; I didn't really want to separate myself from either one of them. I think they're both so fantastic. But realistically, we knew it was not going to be able to work out that way, so Katie and I got his blessing and went and did our own thing&#8230; Thirteen episodes was always what I signed up to do. That was the plan all along. I never had any intention of staying longer than 13 episodes. That got really emotionally difficult toward the end because I didn't want to go. But Katie and I fell in love with this other project and I knew the time was right.
> 
> *TVLINE | Was there ever a moment when you considered sticking around?*
> I don't think I could've. I like to jump around a lot. I feel this way a lot about projects. I felt this way about Joan of Arcadia, because people were really upset about that ending and they always ask and I always say, "I think it's better to have two really fantastic seasons of television than&#8230; Who knows what would've happened after that?" I don't like to get comfortable where I am. I think it's dangerous to be too comfortable in what you're doing.


What isn't fully stated there is her well-known blunt statement after "Joan of Arcadia" was canceled: "I'd rather be a on a good show that only runs two years than on a dumb show that's a hit for like eight years, which is usually the case these days."

The following is from an interview of Katie Jacobs:


> ...She is also now venturing in a new direction to work on a project-with Amber Tamblyn (Martha Masters on House). "This is something that's so exciting. Amber is inspiring and amazing, I will tell you.
> 
> ...Although the project has yet to be named, the series is set in the "world of public education. Ed Burns, who co-created The Wire and Generation Kill is writing the pilot here at Fox, for Fox." The "school [at which the series takes place] is kind of a petri dish where all of these different ideas will be represented. [Amber's character] comes in to work in the school with her own very unique slant. And that is as much as I will tell you," she said also noting "there's a big-ass part in it for Lin-Manuel Miranda." House fans will recall that the Tony-winning Miranda plays House's Mayfield "manic Hispanic" friend Alvie in "Broken" and "Baggage" during Season 6. Miranda plays another teacher at the school in the new project.


It would be a pleasant surprise to me if Shore and Jacobs could talk Tamblyn into continuing her character into the coming season of "House."


----------



## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

dennispap said:


> Olivia Wilde is a different actress( she plays "13"). He was talking about Amber Tamblyn's character.


Ya, but Masters replaced 13 in the show. I'm just speculating that Amber might fill-in when Olivia's not around.


----------



## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Steve said:


> Ya, but Masters replaced 13 in the show. I'm just speculating that Amber might fill-in when Olivia's not around.


Both shows (Tamblyn's new one and _House_) are both on Fox (less contract issues), so that could be a possibility.

- Merg


----------

