I was there when the Fonz first put on a leather jacket, when Scully met Mulder and when Oceanic Flight 815 crashed. But I wasn’t there when Dr. House first wrote a list of symptoms on a blackboard…

You see, medical shows have never been a favorite of mine. I never watched “St. Elsewhere,” “ER” or “Grey’s Anatomy.” Who wants to watch the sad struggles of sick people? In fact, the only medical show I was ever a fan of was “Chicago Hope,” thanks to the bravura acting of Mandy Patinkin, plus the fact they often spent more time in a courtroom than in the hospital, as befits a David E. Kelley produced show.

But I have a friend that works as a script coordinator on television shows here in L.A. His name is Dustin Paddock and he used to work on another of my longtime favorite shows, “Monk,” before landing a job on the pilot of “House, M.D.” I missed a good part of the first season due to my predjudice against hospital shows, but Dustin kept pushing me to give it a chance, saying it was more like a detective show than your typical medical drama and that Dr. House solved mysteries a la Sherlock Holmes. So I took Dusty’s advice, watched an episode and loved it! I enjoyed the cantankerous title character (whose dialogue has only become funnier every season) and the constant reversals the team faced on the way to solving each week’s medical mystery.

In fact, my only problem with the show was that unlike a murder mystery where you can play along and try to guess the identity of the killer, only real medical professionals could hope to keep up with Dr. House’s diagnoses… although after watching a season or two,  I realized the medical terminology was sinking in and I could guess sarcoidosis or lupus as easily as Cameron, Foreman or Chase!

Dustin still works on “House,” and if you watch the show tonight, you’ll notice he’s gotten a one week only promotion. Not only will you see his name in the end credits as script coordinator, you’ll also see it in the opening credits because he co-wrote the episode!

I’ve read a few things Dustin wrote over the years while trying to get noticed as a writer. I remember early on, he wrote a movie spec script featuring a very dislikeable protagonist. I cautioned him that no one would ever buy a script featuring a hero like that, and no one ever did. I would have never guessed that Dustin’s big break as a writer would come writing about, yes, a dislikeable hero…

The episode is titled “Adverse Events,” and for Dustin Paddock, it’s anything but. Check it out tonight on Fox!