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Is the end really near for 'House'? Maybe it should be

In the coming days, "House" executive producer David Shore is due to meet with Fox and Universal TV to discuss whether this season of the show really is going to be the last.Apart from actual meetings (i.e., it's not just talk now!) about the life expectancy of the show, Hugh Laurie, the man behind the odious-yet-magnetic Dr. House, has a contract that only keeps him on through this current season
Is Hugh Laurie really prepared to walk away from \"House\"?
Is Hugh Laurie really prepared to walk away from \"House\"?Larry Watson / Fox / Today

In the coming days, "House" executive producer David Shore is due to meet with Fox and Universal TV to discuss whether this season of the show really is going to be the last.

Is Hugh Laurie really prepared to walk away from \"House\"?
Is Hugh Laurie really prepared to walk away from \"House\"?Larry Watson / Fox / Today

Apart from actual meetings (i.e., it's not just talk now!) about the life expectancy of the show, Hugh Laurie, the man behind the odious-yet-magnetic Dr. House, has a contract that only keeps him on through this current season, and he has given no outright indication that he has any intention of extending it. In fact, all signs point to the opposite. Laurie's been exploring his other interests more fervently, recently releasing his first blues album in his spare time. And he's also been open about his attitude toward his and the show's massive success. "I think I’m the kind of person who’d always want to be doing the thing I’m not currently doing. I’ve got this perennially mournful, wistful aching to be doing something else," he told the Telegraph in one interview.

So, what should happen when producers and execs have their summit? I've never tried to mask my admiration for this show and its lead actor, so any reader or viewer of mine should know that it's with a very heavy heart that I admit: it might be time for the show to go. There are some possibilities that could circumvent the outright ending of "House" --  if Fox doesn't want the show, another network could take it -- but for some reason that doesn't feel right. And I've tended to be a big believer that no actor is really bigger than his/her own show, but in this case, I don't think you can just pass the cane along to someone else, and have anything resembling the same show.

And, let's be realistic: You've got a lead actor who's keen to do other things -- we already know it's never lupus, and I've heard the term "sarcoidosis" enough to last several lifetimes (and by the way, it's never sarcoidosis, either). So, maybe Fox, et al, we just end this one on top? I'd be so sad to see Laurie and the team go, but I'd much rather see it end now, than watch another great television show flatline before our eyes.

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