MONDO EXTRAS

SM: The balconies do make sense, and I love how you add one to the set every season.

GL: I like that. I mean, part of that is truly a function of becoming a hit show: you're able to expand your set. And [I hope] in a good way -- I like making use of the balcony up above the lobby that's new in Season 3, and it's not as if it hadn't been there before; I don't think it's a problem with consistency. I think we've never looked up there before and now that it's there. We can actually stage scenes up there and have people throw things down at people.

SM: Ha! I loved that scene.

GL: Yeah, and I believe we'll be doing more of that, because what else can you do when you have a second floor besides bother people below?

SM: So when you're writing the show, do you use any real-life influences?

GL: Into the characters or into the stories?

SM: Both.

GL: Uh, not into [House's] character. I can't say I've ever met anyone exactly like Dr. House.

SM: That's probably for the best.

GL: I try to think about how I used to behave toward my sister when we were growing up, that's pretty much how I write House. I don't think she ever appreciated it that much, but it's paying off. Clinic stories, a lot of times, come from real-life experiences or something doctors have told us. Certain medical beats come from personal experience. My dad's on death row, that's were I got that idea.

SM: Really?

GL: No.

SM: Wow, I was like, "Uh oh, that's heavy." So your dad is LL Cool J. How do you get the medical facts for the show? I know you have some doctors on staff to help out, right?

GL: Yeah, there's Dr. David Foster, who is now also a writer for the show.

SM: He wrote the Joel Grey episode.

GL: Yeah, that one, and he wrote "TB or Not TB" and "All In" as well last year. He wrote some fantastic episodes, and he's also absolutely crucial in helping us come up with our stories. And then, to be able to construct these stories, we end up consulting six, seven, eight doctors.

SM: Wow.

GL: 'Cause we have a hard time constructing a mystery when [we] have no idea what any of the medicine means or what any of the bacteria are.