The series premiere of House M.D. is titled “Pilot.”
The episode introduces Gregory House, his diagnostic team, his dependence on Vicodin, and the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Its central case involves a kindergarten teacher who develops severe symptoms after collapsing, giving the show its first extended diagnostic puzzle.
“Pilot” establishes the series’ format: a difficult case, competing medical theories, tests that change the team’s assumptions, and House’s unconventional final deduction. It also introduces James Wilson, Lisa Cuddy, Eric Foreman, Allison Cameron, and Robert Chase.
The episode aired on November 16, 2004, on Fox. It should not be confused with “Three Stories,” an early episode that later won major awards, or “Everybody Dies,” the title associated with the series finale.