How far in advance did the writers know (House spoilers)?

[The Nth Doctor]

I'm finally catching up on this season of House and loving every moment of it. Unfortunately, both CNN.com and the Washington Post spoiled me about Kutner's suicide, thus removing the shock value. That being said, I've been viewing the season with that knowledge and seeing how Kutner's character developed. I especially took notice of "Painless" which focused on suicide. Also, I can't help but notice the writers laying down groundwork with Taub's character, showing how depressed he is. My question is how far in advance did the writers know that Kal Penn was leaving?

Note: I've only seen the season through "Here Kitty," so please refrain from discussing episodes after that point.

 

[thedude]

I'm finally catching up on this season of House and loving every moment of it. Unfortunately, both CNN.com and the Washington Post spoiled me about Kutner's suicide, thus removing the shock value. That being said, I've been viewing the season with that knowledge and seeing how Kutner's character developed. I especially took notice of "Painless" which focused on suicide. Also, I can't help but notice the writers laying down groundwork with Taub's character, showing how depressed he is. My question is how far in advance did the writers know that Kal Penn was leaving?

Note: I've only seen the season through "Here Kitty," so please refrain from discussing episodes after that point.

It's my understanding Kal Penn planned to leave the show prior to filming that season even began, so I'm sure they had plenty of notice. He didn't pull a "Palin" and just up and quit.

 

[bigdaddy]

I thought the whole thing was planned piss poor no matter when he was planning on leaving. They never really developed any of the new characters, and then pulled this suicide out their asses to cover up the fact they can't think of anything better for the characters to do.

 

[sidious618]

I believe they said it was over the Christmas break that they figured out about Kutner's suicide.

 

[David cgc]

I thought the whole thing was planned piss poor no matter when he was planning on leaving. They never really developed any of the new characters, and then pulled this suicide out their asses to cover up the fact they can't think of anything better for the characters to do.

Except they did it because the actor was leaving, so that makes no sense.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Not only that, but I feel like the depressed Taub arc is a deliberate smoke screen to Kutner's eventual suicide.

 

[Islander]

I felt like a last minute thing to me. Remember, we didn't even see his body in that episode. I'm think Taub would have been the one to eventually commit suicide but the writters turned on a dime when Kutner was allowed to leave (he did have a contract, the network agreed to break it given the situation).

 

[Top41]

Not only that, but I feel like the depressed Taub arc is a deliberate smoke screen to Kutner's eventual suicide.

I thought I remember reading an interview with the writers saying that they kind of did use that as a smokescreen, to underscore the idea that suicide isn't something you can always see coming, and the person not always the one you'd suspect.

I imagine the writers were totally blindsided by Penn's decision and did the best they could. I'm sure a lot of ideas were thrown around, but they decided to go with something out of the blue and shocking that they felt would create the best storylines for the other characters. I imagine they wanted to avoid anything that was too similar to Amber's death half a season earlier, too.

 

[mrcoaster]

You never get a good "shower-scene-I-dreamed-the whole-season" sequence when you need one, you know?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Whoa, I just finished the season. First of all, I thought Kutner's suicide occurred in the finale, so suffice to say I still got a bit of a shock. But the real wow is all the crazy shit with House. First Amber returns to haunt House relentlessly and causes him to almost kill chasse. Then he slept with Cuddy, but then we learn it was all an hallucination! Holy fuck.

I love this show!

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Kal Penn was giving a lecture at my university and he was asked about his character's suicide on house. His first suggestion was that Taub actually killed him before being slightly more serious to say that the point of the suicide was because they wanted a mystery that even house couldn't solve. He was disappointed at first, but I guess he has sort of accepted it. But he has no idea why Kutner killed himself.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Hmmm...interesting...thanks for that insight.