It's Official: 'House' Will End After This Season

At last, the speculation can end: this spring on FOX, "House" comes to an end.

Co-executive producers Katie Jacobs, David Shore and co-executive producer/Emmy-winning star Hugh Laurie released a joint statement announcing they'd decided together that this current eighth season would be the titular complicated, cantankerous diagnostician of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital's last.

With the show produced under the Universal Television Productions banner, Entertainment Weekly reports that speculation arose that NBC might pick up and resurrect the drama much the same way ABC adopted and continued "Scrubs" another two seasons. Sources say that's not currently in the cards. NBC entertainment executive Robert Greenblatt said this past January that the show was too long in the tooth and too expensive to give NBC a good return on investment.

Though "House" reruns air regularly on Universal-owned USA Network, there aren't plans to continue the series there the way NBC shifted the last "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" seasons to USA. No other networks have stepped up and expressed interest as yet, either.

"The decision to end the show now, or ever, is a painful one, as it risks putting asunder hundreds of close friendships that have developed over the last eight years - but also because the show itself has been a source of great pride to everyone involved," Shore, Jacobs and Laurie's statement said. "The producers have always imagined House as an enigmatic creature; he should never be the last one to leave the party. How much better to disappear before the music stops, while there is still some promise and mystique in the air."

Certainly, "House" has maintained admirable ratings this season despite main player and House love-interest Lisa Edelstein departing before this season began. So far, it's averaging 9.8 million viewers and a 3.9 rating in its 8 PM ET/PT slot, according to EW. One could argue that the numbers don't lie and there's life for House yet to live, but fan response tells another story.

This past fall, Laurie speculated in an interview that he would probably end his decades-long television acting career once "House" at last called it a day.

"I think I have been rather spoiled here," he said. "I can't imagine there will be another one quite like this . . . I think I am extremely lucky to have had the one shot that I have had at it and I wouldn't go looking for lightning to strike twice." Comments when we reported this past November that Laurie maybe saw the end ahead suggested some already felt it inevitable that this was it.

"This season is the worst in the show's history," said Yidio reader "Madison." "It's completely banal. They never recovered from the damage done to House's character from the events in the [season seven] finale, Laurie's performance this season seems uninspired, the two new characters are a flop with the audience and to top it off, the departure of Cuddy has weakened the show in many important areas.

"I have no idea if they will revew the series but if they do, these are all things they need to fix or they shouldn't bother."

Reader "Spoilerchicka" remarked, "While I loved the show until the crap [season seven] finale, I do feel the show has lost its edge and is a shell of what it once was. That can be blamed squarely on the narrow shoulders of David Shore who's [sic] loss of partner Katie Jacobs and lead actress Lisa Edelstein is painfully obvious in the rather now misogynistic drama."

Laurie, himself? He said this past November that he would leave without a regret to mention.

"We have done 170-odd shows, that's about 56 feature films' worth," he says. "That's a huge amount of experience and that sort of experience gives you a confidence, in a way. I think that I have a confidence that I might not have had."