A/N: Thanks Ann, for fixing my wickedly poor grammar.
A few people have asked me what my take is on the firing of Brooke Smith, as well as my thoughts on the exit of Dr. Erica Hahn who got to play the only lesbian on prime time TV for two whole weeks and the ending of the Callie/Hahn relationship on the most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
I am crushed. I am heartbroken. I am appalled. I have been a fan of Brooke Smith for some time. I last watched her regularly on Crossing Jordan’s final season and I remember being intrigued with her Hahn-like character, Dr. Kate Switzer, and feeling bummed when the show was cancelled. When I caught her on an episode of GA, I was thrilled, even if it was just a guest role. Plain and simply, I like seeing Brooke Smith on my TV screen. When they made her a GA regular, I was in heaven.
What impressed me with Brooke and the Erica Hahn storyline is that she never offered apologies for Hahn as a character. She embraced the unlikeable role and made it her own. She was a huge proponent for bringing a lesbian character to the show, and when the storyline finally turned in that direction, she grabbed hold and ran with it. Brooke’s nuanced performance as Hahn always left me wanting more.
Brooke’s enthusiasm in developing a true-to-life representation of a woman coming out late in life was refreshing. Over the past few years, I have gotten the impression that some actresses will portray a bi/lesbian character simply to improve their professional status. The fact that ABC and GA had Brooke (oblivious to her fate) cheerfully doing promotional interviews mere weeks before she was fired sickens me. They fired Isaiah Washington for his homophobic slurs, then they fire an actress who volunteered to play a homosexual? Something that would help make amends for Washington’s sins? Fail, ABC. Major FAIL!!!
And how many of you know that immediately after her final ep aired, the official ABC GA site removed all of the Erica Hahn/Brooke Smith bios as well as the photos that had been part of the collage at the bottom of the screen. What the hell, ABC?!
Some have said that Brooke was fired because she is too old and not hot enough to play a lesbian on television. Uh, yeah, cause we're all 22 years old and a size two. I have stated many times that one of the things about Brooke that appeals to me most is that she is a woman who looks like a woman. Not a pipecleaner with hair, but an honest to god, curvey woman. And I would hit that over a Melissa George-type actress ANY day!
Shonda Rhimes claims that it was a 'lack of sustainable magic and chemistry' between Brooke and Sara Ramirez that resulted in the end of the storyline. Funny, cause their magic and chemistry sustained me for the past six months- four of which had no new episodes. And gee, Shonda, weren’t you the one who saw the chemistry between them first? I sure hope you are seeing the 'magic' when Brooke gets an Emmy nod for the "glasses and leaves" speech. Hope she ignores your 'chemistry' when she makes her acceptance speech.
I haven’t been so pissed off about seeing a television character leave since Xena lost her head in June 2001. I only started watching GA because I stumbled across an episode and Hahn was on screen. She was bold, she was brash, she was blonde and of course, I fell for her immediately. She was my new Alex Cabot and Helen Stewart all rolled up into a hot shot cardio-surgeon that took shit from no one. Many viewers found her honesty and abrasiveness to be a turn off, but I found it to be a welcoming change to the juvenile character behavior that had turned me off the show during the first season.
Dr. Erica Hahn was a hardass that told it like it was, yet on occasion, we were allowed a rare glimpse into her personal vulnerability and those brief gems became moments to treasure. Remember when she struggled to keep her emotions in check as she told Karev why her heart transplant patient deserved the heart? Remember when she massaged the heart she transplanted into Denny Duquette and pleaded with him to, “Come on, Denny, beat for me?" Remember when she fought to save the patient with the infected sternum and chanted, “You will not die,” over and over again? Remember how she reached out physically to calm the mom in the plastic bubble? Yet, most viewers will only recall the way she treated Yang like shit (which I quite enjoyed), fought with Bailey, and threatened Meredith Grey with a hyperbolic steak knife.
Hahn was not a perfect television character. She didn’t resonate with the majority of the viewing audience, and with the recent additions to an already bloated cast, Hahn was the one voted off the island. It pisses me off that people claim that this character was the most logical choice for termination because, aside from the relationship with Callie Torres, Hahn had no connections to other characters. Break up Callie and Hahn and she has no one to interact with? What about her continually challenging the Chief about the way he's run the hospital into a mockery of itself? What about an explanation as to why she hates Yang? What about her past with Burke? What about a confrontation over Callie with Sloan? What about repairing, and perhaps building upon, her professional relationship with Bailey? What about seeing her character through her sessions with Dr. Wyatt? Hahn had plenty of non-Callie related stories left to explore. Shame she wasn’t the central character, because I really think I preferred watching Hahn’s Anatomy.
I thought her final professional storyline was fitting. Hahn always knew that Seattle Grace had stolen the heart from her patient; in fact, she mentioned it to Burke during her next appearance on the show. What she did NOT know was how the heart was stolen. She did not know that Izzie had cut the LVAD, and she definitely did not know the extent of the cover up. Viewers may wonder how she wasn't able to connect the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic with what had happened, but why would she? Denny had been a patient in and out of the hospital for years. Many long term patients make bequests in their wills for the facilities where they received treatment.
And what kind of message was ABC and Shonda sending by having Erica come out on episode and disappear the next. Thanks for encouraging people to stay in the damn closet, guys!
What I didn’t like about her final professional storyline was that there was no closure. Sure, those that continue to watch may see something to this effect in the next episode, but a character as loud and bold and exciting as Dr. Erica Hahn deserved more of an exit than a defeated walk to her car.
Do I think they will kill the character off? No. I think the scene in next week’s promo of Callie crying (with Sloan behind her) is Callie finding out that Erica has left Seattle Grace and/or Callie telling Mark that Erica broke up with her, and Callie is just now realizing a) how much she cared for Erica and b) how much responsibility she holds for losing Erica in both her personal and professional worlds. And that brings me to my thoughts on the end of the Callie/Hahn storyline.
When we first met Dr. Erica Hahn, she was fighting to save a patient’s heart. When we last saw her, Erica Hahn was fighting to save her own. She and her kinda girlfriend, Dr. Callie Torres found themselves ending their fledgling relationship in the same spot where it had begun - right outside the hospital doors.
You all remember that night, don’t you? Callie walked up to Erica and kissed her outside of the hospital and my heart stopped. Mrs. CB reminded me that I practically cheered when they finally showed Erica reciprocate the kiss. That was the night that Shonda Rhimes started passing out the lesbian-flavored Kool-aid, and like a child who doesn’t understand that extreme thirst needs to be quenched slowly, I foolishly chugged every single paper cup she handed me.
Many people have said that compared to last season, there was lack of chemistry between Callie and Erica this year. I have to agree, but only in respect to how the episodes were written. You cannot display chemistry between a lesbian pairing when one half of said pairing is suffering from chronic Gay Panic Syndrome and constantly running away. Mark Sloan’s “Dirty Cupid” should have been limited to taunting Hahn (because that was amusing) and verbally, not orally, coaching Callie through her gay-sex fears. And on that note, why was there so much emphasis placed on the physical aspects of this relationship instead of the emotional? The closest we ever got to one of them professing their feelings was when Hahn told Callie that,to her, Callie “was glasses." Had we been allowed to see more of an emotional journey between these women, not only do I think the storyline would have succeeded, but I think people would have found the character of Hahn more likeable.
I will say that I loved the chemistry that was allowed to shine between this pairing. The final scene of the season premiere (“We can be scared together”) was fabulous. Erica’s little smile when she sat down to talk to Callie in the lounge was adorable. Callie walking to the elevator, while Erica stared and smiled, was amusing and endearing. The date scene was simply gorgeous, in respect to the actresses, the dialogue, and the set dressing. And Erica’s revelation that she was The Gay was so beautifully written and acted that it brought tears to my eyes. And then there was the scene where Callie confessed that she’d slept with Sloan, not once, but twice. Erica said, “Okay,” but personally, I felt it was not okay. Days later, I knew it wasn’t.
While watching Hahn’s final episode, I realized that the ABC execs that had chosen to terminate the storyline had obviously de-gayed the script because other than the last few lines between Callie and Hahn, there was nothing that indicated that the two were, or ever had been, together. No touching, no personal talk, nothing. There were three scenes in the episode that set up the end of their relationship:
1. Erica asked Callie about Izzie and Denny, and Callie offered up the 411 as if the two of them were sitting in Joe’s shooting the shit. It was only when Erica explained the connection to her current patient and stormed off that Callie realized she had lit the fuse on a Hahn-bomb.
2. Callie was in the OR and her apology to Dr. Owen Hunt evolved into a diatribe on her current personal relationship:
Callie: Sorry about before, everybody’s up in everybody’s business around here, ya know.
Hunt: Better to keep things professional.
Callie: Yes, 'cause one minute you’re working with people, then you’re friends with them, then you’re…whatever, and then there’s all this pressure to define what you are, it’s black and white, it’s either this or it’s that….
Hunt: You do realize that you are doing it again.
3. The final scene:
Callie: No, this is that. Look, I don’t know what happened between Denny Duquette and Izzie Stevens that night, but unless you were in the middle of that situation, I don’t see how you can make a judgment.
Erica: Easy. There’s right and there is wrong. And this was wrong. And illegal. There is no gray area here. You can’t kinda think this is okay, you can’t kinda side with Izzie Stevens, and you can’t kinda be a lesbian.
Callie: Yes…I can
VO: Because you sure can’t count on anything in life.
Erica: I can’t believe I didn’t know this.
Callie: Erica, the Chief is right.
Erica: No…you.
Callie: [stunned look]
Erica: I don’t know you at all.
Callie: [Shocked look]
Erica: [walks away]
VO: Life is the most fragile, unstable, unpredictable thing there is.
In the final scene, many people saw Erica being a bitch who didn’t acknowledge that Callie can be bisexual. I saw it as Erica finally standing up to Callie’s constant faltering about the relationship. The conversation Callie had with Hunt in the OR told us that regardless of Erica’s declaration of “Okay” after Callie confessed to sleeping with Sloan - twice, things were actually not okay between the two women.
It is my opinion that had Brooke Smith not been fired, this scene would have still been a natural part of the storyline. Callie and Hahn would have broken up, Erica would have quit (temporarily) in protest of Izzie’s part in LVADgate, the bi-sexual intern would have made a play for Callie, who would come to the realization that the only woman she is interested in sexually and emotionally( finally!!), is Erica, and then she would fight to get her heart surgeon back. Then the rest of Shonda’s original storyline would then play out: coming out to co-workers, friends, and Callie’s father. But we won’t see this now because Shonda and TPTB sacrificed a great character and a potentially wonderful love story to appease their uncomfortable sponsors and the homophobic masses. Brooke said she was told that the writers couldn’t write for her character anymore, but I think they found a way to write for all of us in Hahn’s final scene:
C: You’re gonna report this to UNOS and cost this hospital its transplant certification? Cost our patients organs? Cost people their jobs? Cost Izzie Stevens her career?
Shonda: ABC says I have to make a choice. Hahn and the lesbian storyline go, or they cancel Private Practice
E: So you’re taking Izzie Stevens side in this? Over mine?!
Fans: You are selling out the actress and the fans?
C: She’s a doctor, one of our doctors, there’s a reason we have each others back, Erica
Shonda: I gotta protect my totally bad spin-off.
E: (interrupts) Oh please do not talk to me about a code, because this is not that
Fans: WTF?
C: No, this is that. Look, I don’t know what happened between Denny Duquette and Izzie Stevens that night, but unless you were in the middle of that situation, I don’t see how you can make a judgment.
Shonda: Obviously, Brooke wasn’t fired for playing a lesbian. She simply had no magic, but I do so Callie is now the token, non-sex getting lesbian, and we will re-edit last week’s ep to reflect that before the DVD’s go into production.
E: Easy. There’s right and there is wrong. And this was wrong. And illegal. There is no gray area here. You can’t kinda think this is okay, you can’t kinda side with Izzie Stevens, and you can’t kinda be a lesbian.
Fans: Again, WTF? We are not stupid. We know why this happened and it’s wrong. And it SHOULD be illegal. There is no in-between here. You can’t kinda think we wouldn’t care. You can’t kinda side with the execs and refuse to back your cast when you were pushing for the storyline yourself, and you can’t kinda promise a groundbreaking lesbian storyline and then yank it without expecting a major backlash.
C: Yes…I can
Shonda: Yes...I can
VO: Because you sure can’t count on anything in life
E: I can’t believe I didn’t know this…
Fans: I can’t believe I fell for this…
C: Erica, the Chief is right.
Shonda: Fans, ABC is right…
E: No…you
Fans: No, Shonda…you
C:[ stunned look]
Shonda: [stunned look]
E: I don’t know you at all
Fans: We don’t know you at all
C: [Shocked look]
Shonda:[ Panicked look]
E: [walks away]
Fans: [walk away in droves]
VO: Life is the most fragile, unstable, unpredictable thing there is.
Amen to that.
I wish that some of the rumors were true. I wish that this was indeed an elaborate publicity stunt that Shonda and ABC concocted to entice viewers for sweeps. I wish they needed to explain the actress's extended absence because she needed personal time. I wish that there was such a significant fan backlash that they would see their mistake and bring back the actress, character and the storyline. And finally, I wish this had all been a bad dream. I was so much happier a week ago.
Goodbye ABC. Goodbye Grey's Anatomy and Goodbye, Dr. Erica Hahn.
Brooke, I can never say Goodbye to you. There will always be a Hello cause I'll follow you to any program. And if you need someone to write a project for you, just gimme a call.
A few people have asked me what my take is on the firing of Brooke Smith, as well as my thoughts on the exit of Dr. Erica Hahn who got to play the only lesbian on prime time TV for two whole weeks and the ending of the Callie/Hahn relationship on the most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
I am crushed. I am heartbroken. I am appalled. I have been a fan of Brooke Smith for some time. I last watched her regularly on Crossing Jordan’s final season and I remember being intrigued with her Hahn-like character, Dr. Kate Switzer, and feeling bummed when the show was cancelled. When I caught her on an episode of GA, I was thrilled, even if it was just a guest role. Plain and simply, I like seeing Brooke Smith on my TV screen. When they made her a GA regular, I was in heaven.
What impressed me with Brooke and the Erica Hahn storyline is that she never offered apologies for Hahn as a character. She embraced the unlikeable role and made it her own. She was a huge proponent for bringing a lesbian character to the show, and when the storyline finally turned in that direction, she grabbed hold and ran with it. Brooke’s nuanced performance as Hahn always left me wanting more.
Brooke’s enthusiasm in developing a true-to-life representation of a woman coming out late in life was refreshing. Over the past few years, I have gotten the impression that some actresses will portray a bi/lesbian character simply to improve their professional status. The fact that ABC and GA had Brooke (oblivious to her fate) cheerfully doing promotional interviews mere weeks before she was fired sickens me. They fired Isaiah Washington for his homophobic slurs, then they fire an actress who volunteered to play a homosexual? Something that would help make amends for Washington’s sins? Fail, ABC. Major FAIL!!!
And how many of you know that immediately after her final ep aired, the official ABC GA site removed all of the Erica Hahn/Brooke Smith bios as well as the photos that had been part of the collage at the bottom of the screen. What the hell, ABC?!
Some have said that Brooke was fired because she is too old and not hot enough to play a lesbian on television. Uh, yeah, cause we're all 22 years old and a size two. I have stated many times that one of the things about Brooke that appeals to me most is that she is a woman who looks like a woman. Not a pipecleaner with hair, but an honest to god, curvey woman. And I would hit that over a Melissa George-type actress ANY day!
Shonda Rhimes claims that it was a 'lack of sustainable magic and chemistry' between Brooke and Sara Ramirez that resulted in the end of the storyline. Funny, cause their magic and chemistry sustained me for the past six months- four of which had no new episodes. And gee, Shonda, weren’t you the one who saw the chemistry between them first? I sure hope you are seeing the 'magic' when Brooke gets an Emmy nod for the "glasses and leaves" speech. Hope she ignores your 'chemistry' when she makes her acceptance speech.
I haven’t been so pissed off about seeing a television character leave since Xena lost her head in June 2001. I only started watching GA because I stumbled across an episode and Hahn was on screen. She was bold, she was brash, she was blonde and of course, I fell for her immediately. She was my new Alex Cabot and Helen Stewart all rolled up into a hot shot cardio-surgeon that took shit from no one. Many viewers found her honesty and abrasiveness to be a turn off, but I found it to be a welcoming change to the juvenile character behavior that had turned me off the show during the first season.
Dr. Erica Hahn was a hardass that told it like it was, yet on occasion, we were allowed a rare glimpse into her personal vulnerability and those brief gems became moments to treasure. Remember when she struggled to keep her emotions in check as she told Karev why her heart transplant patient deserved the heart? Remember when she massaged the heart she transplanted into Denny Duquette and pleaded with him to, “Come on, Denny, beat for me?" Remember when she fought to save the patient with the infected sternum and chanted, “You will not die,” over and over again? Remember how she reached out physically to calm the mom in the plastic bubble? Yet, most viewers will only recall the way she treated Yang like shit (which I quite enjoyed), fought with Bailey, and threatened Meredith Grey with a hyperbolic steak knife.
Hahn was not a perfect television character. She didn’t resonate with the majority of the viewing audience, and with the recent additions to an already bloated cast, Hahn was the one voted off the island. It pisses me off that people claim that this character was the most logical choice for termination because, aside from the relationship with Callie Torres, Hahn had no connections to other characters. Break up Callie and Hahn and she has no one to interact with? What about her continually challenging the Chief about the way he's run the hospital into a mockery of itself? What about an explanation as to why she hates Yang? What about her past with Burke? What about a confrontation over Callie with Sloan? What about repairing, and perhaps building upon, her professional relationship with Bailey? What about seeing her character through her sessions with Dr. Wyatt? Hahn had plenty of non-Callie related stories left to explore. Shame she wasn’t the central character, because I really think I preferred watching Hahn’s Anatomy.
I thought her final professional storyline was fitting. Hahn always knew that Seattle Grace had stolen the heart from her patient; in fact, she mentioned it to Burke during her next appearance on the show. What she did NOT know was how the heart was stolen. She did not know that Izzie had cut the LVAD, and she definitely did not know the extent of the cover up. Viewers may wonder how she wasn't able to connect the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic with what had happened, but why would she? Denny had been a patient in and out of the hospital for years. Many long term patients make bequests in their wills for the facilities where they received treatment.
And what kind of message was ABC and Shonda sending by having Erica come out on episode and disappear the next. Thanks for encouraging people to stay in the damn closet, guys!
What I didn’t like about her final professional storyline was that there was no closure. Sure, those that continue to watch may see something to this effect in the next episode, but a character as loud and bold and exciting as Dr. Erica Hahn deserved more of an exit than a defeated walk to her car.
Do I think they will kill the character off? No. I think the scene in next week’s promo of Callie crying (with Sloan behind her) is Callie finding out that Erica has left Seattle Grace and/or Callie telling Mark that Erica broke up with her, and Callie is just now realizing a) how much she cared for Erica and b) how much responsibility she holds for losing Erica in both her personal and professional worlds. And that brings me to my thoughts on the end of the Callie/Hahn storyline.
When we first met Dr. Erica Hahn, she was fighting to save a patient’s heart. When we last saw her, Erica Hahn was fighting to save her own. She and her kinda girlfriend, Dr. Callie Torres found themselves ending their fledgling relationship in the same spot where it had begun - right outside the hospital doors.
You all remember that night, don’t you? Callie walked up to Erica and kissed her outside of the hospital and my heart stopped. Mrs. CB reminded me that I practically cheered when they finally showed Erica reciprocate the kiss. That was the night that Shonda Rhimes started passing out the lesbian-flavored Kool-aid, and like a child who doesn’t understand that extreme thirst needs to be quenched slowly, I foolishly chugged every single paper cup she handed me.
Many people have said that compared to last season, there was lack of chemistry between Callie and Erica this year. I have to agree, but only in respect to how the episodes were written. You cannot display chemistry between a lesbian pairing when one half of said pairing is suffering from chronic Gay Panic Syndrome and constantly running away. Mark Sloan’s “Dirty Cupid” should have been limited to taunting Hahn (because that was amusing) and verbally, not orally, coaching Callie through her gay-sex fears. And on that note, why was there so much emphasis placed on the physical aspects of this relationship instead of the emotional? The closest we ever got to one of them professing their feelings was when Hahn told Callie that,to her, Callie “was glasses." Had we been allowed to see more of an emotional journey between these women, not only do I think the storyline would have succeeded, but I think people would have found the character of Hahn more likeable.
I will say that I loved the chemistry that was allowed to shine between this pairing. The final scene of the season premiere (“We can be scared together”) was fabulous. Erica’s little smile when she sat down to talk to Callie in the lounge was adorable. Callie walking to the elevator, while Erica stared and smiled, was amusing and endearing. The date scene was simply gorgeous, in respect to the actresses, the dialogue, and the set dressing. And Erica’s revelation that she was The Gay was so beautifully written and acted that it brought tears to my eyes. And then there was the scene where Callie confessed that she’d slept with Sloan, not once, but twice. Erica said, “Okay,” but personally, I felt it was not okay. Days later, I knew it wasn’t.
While watching Hahn’s final episode, I realized that the ABC execs that had chosen to terminate the storyline had obviously de-gayed the script because other than the last few lines between Callie and Hahn, there was nothing that indicated that the two were, or ever had been, together. No touching, no personal talk, nothing. There were three scenes in the episode that set up the end of their relationship:
1. Erica asked Callie about Izzie and Denny, and Callie offered up the 411 as if the two of them were sitting in Joe’s shooting the shit. It was only when Erica explained the connection to her current patient and stormed off that Callie realized she had lit the fuse on a Hahn-bomb.
2. Callie was in the OR and her apology to Dr. Owen Hunt evolved into a diatribe on her current personal relationship:
Callie: Sorry about before, everybody’s up in everybody’s business around here, ya know.
Hunt: Better to keep things professional.
Callie: Yes, 'cause one minute you’re working with people, then you’re friends with them, then you’re…whatever, and then there’s all this pressure to define what you are, it’s black and white, it’s either this or it’s that….
Hunt: You do realize that you are doing it again.
3. The final scene:
Callie: No, this is that. Look, I don’t know what happened between Denny Duquette and Izzie Stevens that night, but unless you were in the middle of that situation, I don’t see how you can make a judgment.
Erica: Easy. There’s right and there is wrong. And this was wrong. And illegal. There is no gray area here. You can’t kinda think this is okay, you can’t kinda side with Izzie Stevens, and you can’t kinda be a lesbian.
Callie: Yes…I can
VO: Because you sure can’t count on anything in life.
Erica: I can’t believe I didn’t know this.
Callie: Erica, the Chief is right.
Erica: No…you.
Callie: [stunned look]
Erica: I don’t know you at all.
Callie: [Shocked look]
Erica: [walks away]
VO: Life is the most fragile, unstable, unpredictable thing there is.
In the final scene, many people saw Erica being a bitch who didn’t acknowledge that Callie can be bisexual. I saw it as Erica finally standing up to Callie’s constant faltering about the relationship. The conversation Callie had with Hunt in the OR told us that regardless of Erica’s declaration of “Okay” after Callie confessed to sleeping with Sloan - twice, things were actually not okay between the two women.
It is my opinion that had Brooke Smith not been fired, this scene would have still been a natural part of the storyline. Callie and Hahn would have broken up, Erica would have quit (temporarily) in protest of Izzie’s part in LVADgate, the bi-sexual intern would have made a play for Callie, who would come to the realization that the only woman she is interested in sexually and emotionally( finally!!), is Erica, and then she would fight to get her heart surgeon back. Then the rest of Shonda’s original storyline would then play out: coming out to co-workers, friends, and Callie’s father. But we won’t see this now because Shonda and TPTB sacrificed a great character and a potentially wonderful love story to appease their uncomfortable sponsors and the homophobic masses. Brooke said she was told that the writers couldn’t write for her character anymore, but I think they found a way to write for all of us in Hahn’s final scene:
C: You’re gonna report this to UNOS and cost this hospital its transplant certification? Cost our patients organs? Cost people their jobs? Cost Izzie Stevens her career?
Shonda: ABC says I have to make a choice. Hahn and the lesbian storyline go, or they cancel Private Practice
E: So you’re taking Izzie Stevens side in this? Over mine?!
Fans: You are selling out the actress and the fans?
C: She’s a doctor, one of our doctors, there’s a reason we have each others back, Erica
Shonda: I gotta protect my totally bad spin-off.
E: (interrupts) Oh please do not talk to me about a code, because this is not that
Fans: WTF?
C: No, this is that. Look, I don’t know what happened between Denny Duquette and Izzie Stevens that night, but unless you were in the middle of that situation, I don’t see how you can make a judgment.
Shonda: Obviously, Brooke wasn’t fired for playing a lesbian. She simply had no magic, but I do so Callie is now the token, non-sex getting lesbian, and we will re-edit last week’s ep to reflect that before the DVD’s go into production.
E: Easy. There’s right and there is wrong. And this was wrong. And illegal. There is no gray area here. You can’t kinda think this is okay, you can’t kinda side with Izzie Stevens, and you can’t kinda be a lesbian.
Fans: Again, WTF? We are not stupid. We know why this happened and it’s wrong. And it SHOULD be illegal. There is no in-between here. You can’t kinda think we wouldn’t care. You can’t kinda side with the execs and refuse to back your cast when you were pushing for the storyline yourself, and you can’t kinda promise a groundbreaking lesbian storyline and then yank it without expecting a major backlash.
C: Yes…I can
Shonda: Yes...I can
VO: Because you sure can’t count on anything in life
E: I can’t believe I didn’t know this…
Fans: I can’t believe I fell for this…
C: Erica, the Chief is right.
Shonda: Fans, ABC is right…
E: No…you
Fans: No, Shonda…you
C:[ stunned look]
Shonda: [stunned look]
E: I don’t know you at all
Fans: We don’t know you at all
C: [Shocked look]
Shonda:[ Panicked look]
E: [walks away]
Fans: [walk away in droves]
VO: Life is the most fragile, unstable, unpredictable thing there is.
Amen to that.
I wish that some of the rumors were true. I wish that this was indeed an elaborate publicity stunt that Shonda and ABC concocted to entice viewers for sweeps. I wish they needed to explain the actress's extended absence because she needed personal time. I wish that there was such a significant fan backlash that they would see their mistake and bring back the actress, character and the storyline. And finally, I wish this had all been a bad dream. I was so much happier a week ago.
Goodbye ABC. Goodbye Grey's Anatomy and Goodbye, Dr. Erica Hahn.
Brooke, I can never say Goodbye to you. There will always be a Hello cause I'll follow you to any program. And if you need someone to write a project for you, just gimme a call.