David Shore (born July 3, 1959) is a Canadian television writer. Shore worked on Family Law, NYPD Blue and Due South. He created the series House and more recently, Battle Creek and developed The Good Doctor, an American adaptation of the South Korean series of the same name.

Early life

Shore was born in London, Ontario, Canada to Cecile Shore and Marvin Shore, a politician. His younger twin brothers, Ephraim Shore and Raphael Shore, are Aish HaTorah rabbis.[citation needed]

After graduating from A. B. Lucas Secondary School with distinction, he subsequently attended the University of Western Ontario for an undergraduate degree, and the University of Toronto for his law degree in 1982. Following his education he initially worked as a municipal and corporate lawyer in his native Canada before he moved to Los Angeles to break into television.

On June 20, 2018, Shore received an honorary degree in law from the University of Western Ontario.

Career

Television

Shore in 2009

Shore wrote for the television series Due South — about another Canadian transplanted in America, albeit a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police — before he became a producer on the ABC drama NYPD Blue. His work on that series was nominated for two Emmy Awards.

Shore then moved on to the series Family Law, Hack, and Century City, but these were not commercial successes.[citation needed]

House

In 2003, producer Paul Attanasio — who had previously worked with NBC on such shows as Homicide: Life on the Street and Gideon's Crossing — approached Shore to request a procedural, as he knew the network was looking for another one to follow up on the success of Law & Order and to imitate CBS's success with CSI and NCIS. Attanasio's idea was to apply the police procedural genre to a show about medicine. While in most procedurals the characters are secondary to the mystery, Shore decided that a medical procedural should place the mystery secondary to the hero. He therefore conceived of a hero similar to the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes.

That hero was Dr. Gregory House, the main character of House, played (with an American accent) by the British actor, comedian, and musician Hugh Laurie. Although NBC took a pass on the series, Fox picked it up, and by the end of the first season, it was their biggest new hit of 2004–05. Shore wrote or co-wrote five episodes of that first season, including its pilot and the Season One pre-finale, "Three Stories", in which he intricately wove the stories of three patients, while also revealing the reason for Dr. House's limp and Vicodin addiction. The latter of these won the 2005 Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Shore made his directorial debut on the series House directing the Season Two finale "No Reason". Due to the success of House, Shore was granted a generous contract for fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons. The sixth season began with a two-hour season premiere titled "Broken", which he co-wrote. Shore and his co-writers won the Writers Guild of America Award for episodic drama at the February 2010 ceremony for the premiere.

House was renewed for a seventh season, which began airing on September 20, 2010, as well as an eighth and final season.

After House

In 2009, Shore finished production of the short-lived police TV show Winters starring Famke Janssen.[citation needed]

In February 2013, Entertainment Weekly reported that Shore would write for an upcoming ABC television show titled Doubt, about "a 'charming low-rent' lawyer battling his demons" starring Steve Coogan.[citation needed]

In August, 2015, Amazon Video released a pilot episode for Sneaky Pete, a show Shore and Bryan Cranston created. The first season of Sneaky Pete was exclusively released in its entirety on Amazon Video on January 13, 2017.

In 2019, as WGA Co-chair, Shore joined other WGA members in firing their agents as part of the WGA's stand against the ATA and the practice of packaging. In May 2021, he and his Shore Z Productions company renewed his first look deal with Sony.

Filmography

The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

Key
Denotes television programs that have not yet aired.
TitleYearCredited asNetworkNotes
CreatorDirectorWriterExecutive producer
The Untouchables1994NoNoYes (1)NoSyndication
Due South1994–98NoYes (1)Yes (7)NoCTVProgram consultant (season 1: 8 episodes) Story editor (season 1: 14 episodes)
The Hardy Boys1995NoNoYes (1)NoSyndication
Traders1996NoNoYes (5)NoGlobal Television NetworkSupervising producer (season 1)
The Practice1997NoNoYes (2)NoABCStory editor (season 1) Executive story editor (season 1: 5 episodes, season 2)
NYPD Blue1997NoNoYes (1)No
Law & Order1997–99NoNoYes (7)NoNBCProducer (season 8) Supervising producer (season 9)
The Hunger1997NoNoYes (1)NoSci Fi Channel The Movie NetworkAnthology series
The Outer Limits1997NoNoYes (1)NoShowtimeAnthology series
Beggars and Choosers1999–2000NoNoYes (4)NoShowtimeConsulting producer (season 1)
Family Law1999–2002NoNoYes (21)YesCBSExecutive producer (Pilot, seasons 2–3) Co-executive producer (season 1)
Hack2002–04NoNoNoYes
Century City2004NoNoYes (1)NoConsulting producer (8 episodes)
House2004–12YesYes (2)Yes (19)YesFox
The Rockford Files2010YesNoNoYesNBCUnsold pilot
Doubt2013YesNoYesYesABCUnsold pilot
Battle Creek2015YesNoYes (4)YesCBS
Sneaky Pete2015YesNoYesYesAmazon Prime VideoLeft the project after the initial Pilot.
Houdini & Doyle2016NoNoNoYesFox ITV Global
The Good Doctor2017–2024DeveloperYes (3)Yes (15)YesABC
Accused2023–presentYesNoNoYesFoxAnthology series

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominee(s)ResultRef.
2005Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Writing for a Drama SeriesDavid Shore (For House, S01E21 – "Three Stories")Won
2018Humanitas Prize60-Minute CategoryDavid Shore (For The Good Doctor, S01E01 – "Burnt Food")Won

External links

  • at IMDb
  • at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television