Ugh, do I really have to admit in public that I am a more or less faithful viewer of ABC's middlebrow soaper Grey's Anatomy just because of a little distressing news?
I'll save my impassioned, self-exculpatory defense of what is undeniably one of the frommagiest dramas on the air right now for a later date. (i.e. never.) What concerns me now--'concerns'...be afraid of that word!--is the fact that, under probably enormous pressure from ABC executives, Shonda Rhimes, Grey's showrunner, has fired actress Brooke Smith and removed her (gay) character Dr. Erica Hahn from the show.
Not written-off, not killed-off. This isn't some fake antigay conspiracy like Joss Whedon's supposedly homophobic ouster of Amber Benson's Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so maniacally and stupidly promoted by rabid Willow&Tara shippers. According to EW's Michael Ausiello, the actress wasn't given any notice before being told to pack up her stuff. More tellingly, her character's exit wasn't even prepared for or even written at all. (Future scripts are being rewritten now to accomodate the sudden exit.) It's possible Rhimes wasn't happy with how Hahn's relationship with Sara Ramirez's Callie Torres was unfolding, but there is no way that a showrunner for a continuity-heavy soap like Grey's would unceremoniously cut off a major storyline midstream were she not being held at executive knifepoint.
Here's why this is more than just a fanboy's rant, or a Glaad fag's crying-wolf.
I'll save my impassioned, self-exculpatory defense of what is undeniably one of the frommagiest dramas on the air right now for a later date. (i.e. never.) What concerns me now--'concerns'...be afraid of that word!--is the fact that, under probably enormous pressure from ABC executives, Shonda Rhimes, Grey's showrunner, has fired actress Brooke Smith and removed her (gay) character Dr. Erica Hahn from the show.
Not written-off, not killed-off. This isn't some fake antigay conspiracy like Joss Whedon's supposedly homophobic ouster of Amber Benson's Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so maniacally and stupidly promoted by rabid Willow&Tara shippers. According to EW's Michael Ausiello, the actress wasn't given any notice before being told to pack up her stuff. More tellingly, her character's exit wasn't even prepared for or even written at all. (Future scripts are being rewritten now to accomodate the sudden exit.) It's possible Rhimes wasn't happy with how Hahn's relationship with Sara Ramirez's Callie Torres was unfolding, but there is no way that a showrunner for a continuity-heavy soap like Grey's would unceremoniously cut off a major storyline midstream were she not being held at executive knifepoint.
Here's why this is more than just a fanboy's rant, or a Glaad fag's crying-wolf.
1) Shonda Rhimes is one of the most powerful and successful writers and showrunners in network television right now. Grey's Anatomy's ratings might be slipping, but she has still made ABC/Disney scads of cash over the years. The fact that panicking executives currently wield the authority to rashly and radically alter a long-gestating storyline speaks really badly about the future of TV as a semi-, sorta-art form in the years ahead, and about the ability of even those writers at the top of the chain to exert some semblance of creative control over their projects. The whole thing speaks to the blighted post-strike landscape, where fewer and fewer shows compete for the networks' love and promotional attention while handing over more and more creative authority in exchange for the favor.
2) Brooke Smith
If you don't think you're familiar with Smith's work, you're wrong: she played Catherine Martin, the "it" of the immortal construction "it puts the lotion in the basket," in The Silence of the Lambs. She is also an actress who has excelled in representing female characters who are not size 2 or under supermodels. She is a radiantly pretty woman but she is not, by the glossy, bronzed and toned standards of most ABC show castmembers, gorgeous. ABC's willingness to drop the axe on her might not have everything to do with that fact, but I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't play some part.
Oh, and apparently Smith had just moved her entire family to Los Angeles so she could continue her work on the show. Nice!
3) Erica Hahn's ankling has not only removed the series' one unequivocally gay regular character. It has also resulted in the de-gaying of several other characters on the show: Melissa George, who joins the cast shortly, was to have been bisexual (possibly to facilitate some Smith-Ramirez-George triangle). They are currently scrubbing her bisexuality from existing scripts. Moreover, Sara Ramirez's Callie, who was interestingly being played as kind of ambivalent about her sapphic dabblings, is now being shoved either into the (homophobic, politically shitty) position of renouncing her gay experiences OR (creatively shitty) going unconvincingly whole-hog gay just so ABC/Rhimes can avoid charges of homophobia. Lame.
4) Grey's Anatomy, after flailing around in seasons 2-4, has actually seen a surprisingly-late-in-the-game creative renaissance this season. It's incredibly rare for a showrunner to restore a series that has lost its way, and I'll be amazed if Rhimes can pull it off twice in a row by pulling the Grey's ship around AGAIN in the wake of what appears to be such drastic network interference.
(UPDATE: Um, so it turns out actress Brooke Smith is a Nader supporter. As in, Nader For President 2008. I stand by everything I wrote above--Brooke Smith will remain one of my favorite actresses--but it's a little hard JUST AT THIS PARTICULAR MOMENT to concern myself over the professional fate of a Naderite! Sorry Brookie!)
Dear BOBO!
I am OFFENDED! I feel that this so-called "essay" seriously shortchanges the death of Tara (Amber Benson) of "Buffy." I will not be visiting this web blog again.
TARA: NEVER FORGIVE; NEVER FORGET.