Posted by Kathy Lyford

Here are the answers to your questions for “House” co-showrunner Katie Jacobs. She was pretty selective with the queries and answered the five that inspired her the most.

The show, about cranky diagnostician Dr. Gregory House and his co-workers and patients, has continued to rack up awards, most recently garnering is two Golden Globe nominations last week, for best drama series and lead actor Hugh Laurie, and two SAG nominations — for Laurie and the ensemble — just this morning.

Jacobs shares showrunner duties with David Shore — he runs the writers' room and she oversees the non-writing aspects of the show. She has also directed several episodes including “Half-Wit” with guest star Dave Matthews as well as the finale of both seasons three and four and this season's ninth episode — "Last Resort" — guest-starring Zeljko Ivanek, which aired Nov. 25.

Previously, Jacobs served as co-showrunner on ABC’s “Gideon’s Crossing,” starring the incomparable Andre Braugher, as well as CBS legal drama “Century City.” Before turning her focus to television, Jacobs produced several films, including Alan J. Pakula’s thriller “Consenting Adults” and the Carl Reiner comedy “Fatal Instinct.”

We'll start with the winning question. Diane will receive a DVD set of season four.

Q. How common is it for a non-writing producer to be a co-showrunner? It seems to make sense, since showrunning sounds like a huge job involving a lot of non-writing producing duties, but it doesn’t seem that common. Are you an anomaly? How do you split the duties with David Shore? — Diane
A. I feel like the show is best served by allowing David Shore and his writing staff as much writing time as possible. It is the voice of the show that makes it unique, the script and the words are king. Having said that, there are many other factors that contribute in making the show what it is. I spend most of my time casting, in post-production editing, selecting music, meeting with directors, writers, the network and actors… it’s a lot. But it’s an honor to run a show alongside David Shore.

Update: We received enough great questions to turn this around quickly so questioning is now closed. I have sent your queries along to Katie. I hope to post the answers on Monday. Thanks.

"House" exec producer/co-showrunner Katie Jacobs is our next Q&A subject, and it should be a fun one.

"House" is not your typical hospital drama, thanks to the tour de force performance from Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie (right) as the prickly Dr. Gregory House and the top notch writing, directing and producing.

Jacobs has been with the Fox show since its inception in 2004 and in addition to her exec producing duties she's directed episodes, including Season 3's "Human Error"; "Half Wit," the Season 3 ep that guest-starred Dave Matthews; and the powerful Season 4 finale, "Wilson's Heart."

Jacobs' latest directing effort airs Tuesday and is titled "Last Resort." It guest stars Zeljko Ivanek, the Emmy-winning actor from FX's "Damages." Catch a preview of the episode here.

Get your questions ready for this versatile and creative exec producer (pictured below with co-showrunner David Shore at the 100th episode celebration). You can ask her about anything, like your favorite episodes, the future of "Huddy" or how they come up with those crazy medical cases. Be inventive. And have fun.

1) Hit the comment button below and ask your question. We're going to try to turn this one around quickly. I'll see how many great questions we have by Friday at noon.
2) You may ask more than one question but we are looking for quality, not quantity. Asking more will not guarantee that you'll get an answer. In the spirit of fairness, we try to give plenty of folks a chance.
3) Read through the other comments to make sure you're not repeating something that's already been asked.
4) I'll email the very best questions to Katie. The answers will be posted shortly. I'm aiming for Monday but we may keep it open longer if necessary. Keep checking back.
5) The person who asks the question Katie likes best will win a DVD set of Season 4.

Thanks for reading Season Pass. While you wait for the answers to this Q&A, please read our completed sessions with showrunners and actors from your favorite series. Check out the menu there on the right for links.

Posted by Kathy Lyford

You've got to hand it to "House" for perhaps the most unique promotion of the year – and no, I'm not talking about Hugh Laurie's deadpan remark in character that he doesn't need cable on Tuesdays (the night "House" typically airs).

No, I'm talking about the ad that was a 30-second clip show showing Laurie's House doing nothing but popping pills, set to the tune of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab." ("They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no ..."). See the video here...

You just don't see that kind of commitment to black comedy from the marketing department every day, or any day, or certainly any day that the Super Bowl just aired. It wasn't "Leaving Las Vegas" or anything, but it was pretty edgy for a mainstream promo, and it really sold the spirit of the show.

That ad was the best thing about Sunday's special edition of "House" for a good chunk of the episode – and for those who didn't manipulate their DVRs to account for the ep starting and ending nearly 30 minutes late, it might have been the only good chunk they saw. Some (though I don't quite count myself among them) would argue that "House" has suffered from its own auto-immune disease, doing itself in with predictability and dead-end stories for its characters. Sure enough, the formula was in place this time around. You had the mystery disease that House keeps misdiagnosing, and you had some rather lifeless scenes for House's past and present medical staff to work through. In addition, there was what started out as a one-note perf from guest victim Mira Sorvino as Kate, an Antarctic psychiartist (based loosely on the case of Jerri Nielsen).

But rather nicely, the webcam flirtation between Kate and House became something both sassy and sweet, as our cold warm-weather doctor developed a little crush on our warm cold-weather doctor. One thing House doesn't do often is actually have feelings for someone, and it was cool the way they sneaked up on him and us.

In addition, the apparent throwaway storyline involving Cameron, cable and the three surviving newbies became integral to the plot, and there was even a nice twist in the end involving Wilson (who earlier in the seg had a laugh-out-loud scamper away from House) and his new but familiar gal pal.

In short, post-Super Bowl viewers got to see "House" continue to defy the odds and make the procedural form work.  Yes, there's a formula, but it's a winning formula.  Just like the winning formula Patriots – excuse me – Giants have patented.

– Jon Weisman