Top 50 Power Showrunners 2011

Eight seasons in, Fox's medical procedural is undergoing a reboot. Beleaguered love-interest Lisa Edelstein departed last season, and Odette Annable and Charlyne Yi have joined the cast that's led by six-time Emmy nominee Hugh Laurie. Says Jacobs, 48: "You have to decide early on what captures your interest. If you wait for the audience to tell you they don't like it, it's too late to switch gears." Shore, 52, a veteran of such shows as Family Law and Law & Order, oversees the writers room while Jacobs heads up everything else ("post, casting, publicity, crew, production," she says), including stepping behind the camera as a director. "I knew I wanted to do a show with David, and we made a blind deal to do something. House satisfied that promise," says Jacobs. Shore admits to having an enviable problem, being so far into the series' narrative. "It means I have to come up with that many more stories!" he says. Against all the odds (namely Dancing With the Stars), House still averages about 10 million viewers.