“Three Stories” was the House M.D. episode that won David Shore the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. It is the 21st episode of the show’s first season.
The episode uses a teaching-session structure in which House presents three medical cases to a group of students. The stories gradually reveal information about House’s own leg injury and explain why he walks with a cane. Its nonlinear construction was widely praised because it made the medical puzzle mirror House’s personal history.
“Three Stories” aired in 2005 and became one of the series’ most acclaimed episodes. The title is sometimes confused with “House’s Head,” another highly regarded episode involving memory and diagnosis, or with the pilot episode. Shore’s Emmy recognized the writing of “Three Stories,” not the acting performance or the medical premise alone.