Lisa Edelstein On Why She Left House and Didn't Return For the Finale

[cuddyclothes]

This is a really great interview with Lisa Edelstein.  Seriously, the things the actors say after the non-disclosure agreements are always the best!

TVLINE | Is any part of you bummed that House and Cuddy didn’t ride off into the sunset together?
I don’t think that show was about happy endings. And the truth is, if someone drives a car through

Comments

[menolly_au]

I get the impression that she answered the question about House from the viewpoint of the character rather than the actor - because yeah, it totally makes sense that Cuddy wouldn't come back after what House did (although really, why should Cuddy have to be the one to leave in that circumstance?) And Cuddy wouldn't have come back for the series finale (unless in the funeral scene) it would have been dream!Cuddy. I would have liked to have seen her and for House to admit how wrong he was in what he did.

I'm glad LE is doing well - I think the show suffered in season 8 for her absence.

[yarroway]

Why Cuddy would leave is I think a function of the fact that she's on a TV show. House will be back in Princeton and at PPTH. That's the show so we all know it will happen and so does Cuddy. So if she doesn't want to see him she has to leave. Honestly she didn't have much to regret leaving. I'm sure she can get hired elsewhere, her family is dire, we never saw any friends, and Rachel is young enough to adapt quickly to a change of environment.

[sassyjumper]

I think S8 would've been worse if LE had stayed. Seeing Cuddy take House back (at work) would've been unwatchable. Of course, I'm sure you mean that S8 would've been better had the S7 finale never happened. :)

I wish we'd seen dream!Cuddy, too. But I don't blame LE for not doing the finale (even though JM did, and I wouldn't have blamed her for skipping it, either).

[menolly_au]

Of course, I'm sure you mean that S8 would've been better had the S7 finale never happened. :)

Oh yes - I wouldn't have wanted Cuddy in season 8 unless Moving On never happened (After Hours finished on a nice note -with House admitting to Wilson that something had to change. Let's end the season there).

I just meant that I think she brought something to the show, and to the role, a dynamic that was missing in Season 8.

[yarroway]

He drove a f-king car through her living room. With the baby and family inside. That’s crazy. You file a police report and you leave - and you don’t come back for the f-king [series] finale.

It's nice to know that LE and I agree on something.

[sassyjumper]

My thoughts exactly!

[cuddyclothes]

Yes!

[nightdog_barks]

Absolutely this. Good for LE.

[sassyjumper]

I still find the circumstances of LE's departure confusing. At least from what was reported at the time, LE's people were still negotiating her contract well after she knew what would happen in the finale. It sounded like the pay cut was the problem, not what happened in the finale. Maybe the pay cut was the final straw?

Anyway, LE had no reason to stay for S8. Her character would've lost all dignity by taking House back, and her role would most likely have been reduced compared with S7. I'm still bummed that the last time we see Cuddy is standing in that house, having her hairbrush handed to her by a smug domestic abuser.

[yarroway]

The interview is pretty confused. LE talks as if what happened to Cuddy actually happened to her. But it didn't. I think she was talking about her character and not about her own departure from the show.

[taiga13]

In "real" time Cuddy's last scene was her saying "If Greg House comes anywhere near me, I want him thrown in jail." That's how I choose to remember her.
I agree that S8 would have been unwatchable with Cuddy in it, and will never not be amazed that the showrunners thought that would work. As it was they never acknowledged that it was domestic violence.

[cuddyclothes]

There was no way Cuddy could stay in S8.

[flywoman]

I recently shared some of my House fic with a friend in London. He really liked it and looked very disappointed when I told him that the last couple of seasons had broken my heart and really poisoned me against the show, to the point where I can no longer write (and can barely read) House fic.

He has done some writing himself (not House) and had a couple of ideas that I quite liked. One was an AU (or even show reboot) in which House is a prosecutor instead of a doctor and can use his insight into human nature and brutal honesty to good effect. The other was a fic/episode in which House is trying to diagnose a patient, has conversations with his colleagues, etc. but ultimately realizes that he himself is unconscious on the operating table and will die if he can't communicate the correct diagnosis.

[cuddyclothes]

I like both of those ideas! As you know, AUs are what I write and I love yours.

Yes, poisoned. I own the first five seasons on DVD and that's it. When a S7 or 8 episode comes on tv I skip it.

[chocolate_frapp]

what I found really fucked up about the whole situation is David Shore and some of the other PTB almost treating trying to kill people with a car as some sort of joke! I can't cite a source in which he did this but I do remember an interview where somebody was all "how could you have House do that" and that was pretty much his reaction. (I notice Hugh did not in any way have that attitude.)

[yarroway]

I remember one where Shore said he thought it was funny, but I can't find it anymore.

[cuddyclothes]

Here's an interview with Shore

http://tvline.com/2011/05/24/house-finale-post-mortem-season-7-spoilers/

[cuddyclothes]

See below for an article link. Feh.