House, M.D.

Trivia

• The opening theme is "Teardrop" by Massive Attack, although due to rights and licensing issues this music is not used for the show in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
• The building used for external shots of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital is actually Princeton University's Frist Campus Center. It is named after the family of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN).
• Hugh Laurie auditioned for the role as Dr. Gregory House in a restroom in Namibia. He was rehearsing his role for the film The Flight of the Phoenix and claimed that the restroom was the only place with enough light.
• Hugh Laurie's own father was a real doctor. Laurie commented that he feels bad that he's being paid more than his father was for pretending to do his job.
• Hugh Laurie is English, despite Dr. House's Northeast-American accent. Laurie's American accent was convincing enough that when House producer/director Bryan Singer (unaware of Laurie's true nationality) saw his audition tape, Singer pointed to him as an example of a compelling American actor.
• Dr. House is seen in many episodes wearing Nike Shox shoes, and listening to an iPod, which may be examples of product placement (Dr. Cuddy has an iPod Shuffle). He has also been seen playing a Gameboy Advance and a Nintendo DS.
• The show's creator, David Shore, has said in an interview http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271%7C92770%7C1%7C,00.html that the character of Dr. House is partly inspired by Sherlock Holmes. Among the characteristics the two characters share are their ability to come to rapid conclusions after the briefest examination of a client/patient, their drug use (cocaine for Holmes, Vicodin for House), and the fact that each character has only one real friend (Watson and Wilson, respectively), who connects the cerebral hero to human concerns.