I guess I was still hoping against hope. George is my favorite character, and Gizzie my number 1 couple. I feel like my heart just got stomped.
Amy Says: July 12th, 2009 8:57 PM
I love Izzie but when has she ever be backburnered? I hate Lexie. I only liked her friendship with George and she's on all the freaking time.
George was my favorite. If Shonda planned this cliffhanger at the beginning of the season, she knew George might leave from the beginning and she couldn't even give us George fans a fitting ending.
That makes me so mad.
Why did we get to see all the other characters but George? He was the one leaving.
If she had, maybe I wouldn't feel so cheated out.
George's story doesn't feel finished at all. How can I accept him dying especially seeing him so unhappy at the end?
George was the sweetest, he deserved better.
I also can't get over the lack of Gizzie.
Their connection is what I always loved most about the show. I feel so cheated and so aangry!
Angela Says: July 12th, 2009 8:52 PM
Of course, the priest isn't for a marriage. It's going to be sad. I love George. And the post-it note wedding is going to have reverberations...I'm not looking foward to this season. We lose George and problems for Merder, i'm so don't have any expectations anymore.
!greys Says: July 12th, 2009 2:28 AM
actually telena or whatever...i dont feel like going up the screen to find out haha, but i don't even like alex...i like george way more than i've ever liked alex...i like lexie and izzie, and mark! and 2 of 3 of those characters are usually backburned!
I don't think anybody could play George as well as TR. I don't want another actor, but I also don
Dior Says: July 11th, 2009 10:13 PM
Well this is an article about George, like it was said before. It is exactly the place to talk about it.
If people were talking about it in an article about another character, I would agree, but this is a George article so we George fans have the right to say our opinions.
I'm really disturbed at the attempt to try and shut people up. If you don't want to read about George, then don't go reading the comments under a George article.
It's that simple.
TR is George. Recasting him would be as abd as killing him. I want George to survive and be sent somewhere to recover.
If he dies, it's final, and I can't accept that. George's my favorite.
Deb Says: July 11th, 2009 9:41 PM
Did you ever think perhaps that the reason George is so unrecognisable is because they are going to bring his character back, but with a different actor?
Ace is awesome THANK YOU ACE! I'm going to say this one last time if people want to stop watching grey's then you can stop but please make your own forum on the website and stop using other forums so these arguments can stop. If any other character was treated this way I would still watch and there were parts in this season that I did not like @ all! (lack of george,*shudder* GHOST SEX!, no balance among the characters)So I wish TR knight the best in whatever else he will do.
Frank Says: July 11th, 2009 6:10 PM
Ace, Shonda could have George contemplate leaving to the army. If he left, they would have said he went. If he stayed, he would have stayed at the hospital.
That way, he wouldn't have died.
They did it in season 3 when George contemplated leaving.
Killing him didn't have to be done.
Actors leave all the time without being killed, please.
And Shonda focusing a season on George? In what world?
He's not Izzie. Shonda hasn't cared about George in a long, long time.
According to all sources, TR asked Shonda if he was going to have a story and she told him no. She never planned to write him in.
Like her buddy Isiah, she felt it was time for George to go, to get rid of the reminder of why her best friend Isiah was no longer on the show.
Everyone knows TR left because Shonda refused to write for him and had nothing planned for him.
She could have easily written a big recovery story, but she didn't want to waste time on George when she could focus on the fascinating love story of Molesexie or Izzie's never-ending travails or Callie's lesbian adventures du jour or ghost sex.
Who wants a real complex interesting characters like George when you can put any random hot characters together and have them have sex all episode long?
Telania Says: July 11th, 2009 6:03 PM
Grow up yourself, Grey. I hope they do the same thing to Alex. Let's see how you react to that. Some Alex fans kept whining he had no story and he's had a lot more airtime than George over the seasons.
I'm pretty sure if Alex ahd been backburnered all season, then killed, you'd be complaining too.
If it happens, I'll be the first one happy about it.
Shonda turns very easily on her actors so Justin and all of them better be very careful not to annoy her.
Telania Says: July 11th, 2009 6:01 PM
OK, so you think it's ok to erase a beloved character for a year so you can shock the public for two minutes? Really?
Hey if that was your favorite character that was done to, I think you would be singing a different tune.
George was used as a prop device all year long.
He was invisible and now he's dead, and we're suppose to forgive her for that and buy her stupid excuses?
Why doesn't she tell the truth? She has never forgiven TR for having to fired her best buddy Isiah, and he hasn't had a story the last two seasons because of it.
TWO seasons, not one.
And I agree, she would never treat any other character that way, never, because she respects them and has never shown TR any respect since he came out of the closet.
We begged her all year to give George a story, and she never did. Then we begged her to not kill him so he could come back and visit, and she still din't listen.
I guess the George fans just don't matter to her at all.
!greys Says: July 11th, 2009 5:55 PM
omg guys grow up! hahahah dude ace is my hero! HE knows what hes talking about!
wardall clark Says: July 11th, 2009 5:39 PM
Enlisted George was gone as a surgeon, whether he lives or dies. By the time Hero/John Doe recovers from the injuries inflicted in the episdode, the gang who interned with him will be attending physicians rather than residents. Based on the creator's unwillingness to confirm that either of them dies, I think they are going to let him live. I think that was always the intention, otherwise the woman he saved would not have been given so many scenes.
Gihane Says: July 11th, 2009 5:39 PM
Oh and wonder why the other actors decided to stay? Because they were actually used, not backburned the entire season and erased for one lame cliffhanger!
For me, Shonda made it very clear TR and George were nothing more than props used for cliffhanger and shock favtor, and that she didn't value the character at all or the love the fans have for him.
So no, I won't be watching season 6 and I am also quitting Private Practice at that instant. I won't be encouraging anything this lying vindictive loser does.
Gihane Says: July 11th, 2009 5:36 PM
Oh please. You don't backurner one of your main actors an entire season to set up a lame cliffhanger. Do you think she would have dared treated Katherine Heigl or anyone that way? NO! Nobody is buying this excuse.
Is that also why he was backburnered all of season 4?
So she knew TR Knight was going to leave months before and she still decided to do the cliffhanger instead of giving the George fans the closure they needed and some great moments to hold on to? WQow, that shows just how much George and his fans mean to Shonda. Notr much.
She would NEVER ever have done this to Izzie or Mer or Derek or Mark.
Never!
And George was shown this season;. Are you kidding me or som ething? He showed up a grand total of 2 minutes per episode.
He was cut away from the fab 5.
And anyone with two eyes and with any knowledge of the show knew this was George the moment they did a big focus on his eyes.
Anyone who didn't is incredibly slow on the uptake or don't know George at all.
I'm incredibly outraged that I was robbed of great moments with my favorite character for two seasons for some lame cliffhanger that ended up being given away mere weeks after the finale.
And then to make it worse, she kills him off so he can never come back.
And she thinks anyone will be stupid enough to believe this is nothing persdonal against TR? Only naive blind people could believe her lame excuses.
All the critics also said they were mad as hell that Shoinda couldn't even give George one episode.
Is one lame cliffhanger worth killing an amazing character and robbing his fans of moments with him for two years?
I don't think so.
I'll never forgive her.
She forced him to quit.
Gihane Says: July 11th, 2009 5:36 PM
Oh please. You don't backurner one of your main actors an entire season to set up a lame cliffhanger. Do you think she would have dared treated Katherine Heigl or anyone that way? NO! Nobody is buying this excuse.
Is that also why he was backburnered all of season 4?
So she knew TR Knight was going to leave months before and she still decided to do the cliffhanger instead of giving the George fans the closure they needed and some great moments to hold on to? WQow, that shows just how much George and his fans mean to Shonda. Notr much.
She would NEVER ever have done this to Izzie or Mer or Derek or Mark.
Never!
And George was shown this season;. Are you kidding me or som ething? He showed up a grand total of 2 minutes per episode.
He was cut away from the fab 5.
And anyone with two eyes and with any knowledge of the show knew this was George the moment they did a big focus on his eyes.
Anyone who didn't is incredibly slow on the uptake or don't know George at all.
I'm incredibly outraged that I was robbed of great moments with my favorite character for two seasons for some lame cliffhanger that ended up being given away mere weeks after the finale.
And then to make it worse, she kills him off so he can never come back.
And she thinks anyone will be stupid enough to believe this is nothing persdonal against TR? Only naive blind people could believe her lame excuses.
All the critics also said they were mad as hell that Shoinda couldn't even give George one episode.
Is one lame cliffhanger worth killing an amazing character and robbing his fans of moments with him for two years?
Desmond, let me preface this by saying that my knowledge of the sports-arena is lacking so please forgive me. Say you've been on your team for five years, and for the first four years, you've been utilized as much, if not more on certain games, as your teammates. Then on your fifth year, your coach underutilizes you, for that one season. You still play, but you're not as visible as you were in the previous seasons. Now, your contract with the team is for seven seasons. Because you were under-utilized for this one season, do you request to the owners and coaches to be let out of your contract so you can no longer play even though that the owners and managers will still let you play for two more seasons?
I would think you would.
TR Knight's contract wasn't expiring; the original cast were all contracted to stay with GA for seven seasons. Seven. The only exception to that was IW because of the incident that happened mid-season 3 and ABC had to answer for it. TR Knight was offered renewal. TR Knight refused.
As for your question, I can't speak for Shonda nor do I know the motives behind it, but what I do know, in accordance to what she had stated in an interview, that the lack of George in Season 5 was to set up the finale. And George did play, granted not as visible as in previous seasons, but he did play. Now for me, it made sense cause there were numerous reviews out there that the first 3/4 for the finale (both halves of part 1, and the first half of part 2) that stated they were so used to George not being there that it was that much of a shock once George was revealed to be John Doe.
And for those that state that they knew it was George from the beginning, congratulations on your intuitiveness, but you're the exception. Out of an average of 14 million viewers (excluding online-users), you're the exception.
And as for sports analogy goes, if your coach benches you for an entire season, isn't it most likely that they're just going to trade you to another team or drop you completely? That wasn't the case with TR: he was offered renewal, and he refused.
Now it terms of TR moving on to do what's best for him, I wish nothing but complete success in whatever he does. But he made a choice to leave. He's not a victim. He chose to leave. He was offered renewal. He chose to refuse it.
I don't blame Shonda or TR for their decisions. They aren't bitching or moaning about it; both were very respectable and cordial and professional. Other than heresay, they left on good-terms.
However, the major hardcore bias of George fans are ridiculous because TR is such a victim and he had to leave and oh woe is him and Shonda is the devil. Please. TR is an adult. He made a decision. Shonda (if the death is for real) reacted towards that decision.
And for those that say, well Shonda knew he was leaving, they should have catered a proper goodbye to him...
Seriously?
This is Grey's Anatomy. What kind of heartfelt goodbye would there be? The finale was shot and filmed and writted before TR confirmed he was leaving. Is she seriously going to base an entire 'goodbye' episode to a character that has an actor who may or may not be coming back next season, and that decision is dependent on the actor? Seriously? Not going to happen. If anything, the cliffhanger was shot so that if TR Kinght refused to come back, there was an exit vehicle and if he did come back, the story would focus on him on Season 6.
Do you honestly think ABC executives, Shonda, or the writing staff would pen an episode with the basis of a 'maybe'? Seriously? In the wonderful world of TV magic, writers don't reveal the future: this is why they're called cliffhangers, for you to tune into next season.
What's that expression? "Leave them wanting more."
At the end of the day, TR refused to come back. There, that's why George is dead.
Desmond7065 Says: July 11th, 2009 1:12 PM
i'm sorry Ace but you are wrong. TR left now. Answer me why Shonda didn't use him the last season? He was still part af GA cast. But he didn't play. why? I'm a soccer player. My contract is expiring and now i look my options so i can decide what's best for me. But until my contract expires i still play for my team. They don't leave me in the bench, because my coach thinks i'm an important player. So can we say that George character was so important that until TR contract expires he should play? i'm sorry for my english, i hope you understand.
Oh cry me a river already. It's well known industry practice that the writing staff does not get together and start drafting the next season until the actors have been sent their renewals and accepted.
For primetime shows, they had until June 30th to distribute renewals. GA-actors got their renewals mid-to-late July. TR declined. TR left. TR QUIT.
So, if Shonda killed off George O'Malley, it's because TR no longer wanted to be part of the show.
Those are the facts. Remove all the rumors, all the crap you heard, all the theories, and all the unconfirmed and unsubstantiated heresay: boil it down to this, George O'Malley is dead because TR left.
Plain and simple.
It's Shonda's character. If she kills George, then so be it. As creator of GA, she giveth and taketh away. Other than George's image, TR Knight has no claim, no bearing, no possession of George O'Malley. He left. For whatever reason it was, he left.
It's so easy for you hardcore George-only fans to lay ALL blame and ALL accountability on Shonda for the demise of George when TR Knight, YES, was also to blame. He QUIT! You weren't there. You don't know what happened. So don't cry out to the heavens damning ONLY Rhimes because you have bits and pieces that you synthesize so it makes TR Knight a victim. Please. It's spinning at best and complete bias at worst.
He wasn't fired, he wasn't dismissed, he left. He quit.
Yes, she could have left the door open for him to return in a more pleasing and convenient way, but COME ON people, this is Grey's Anatomy, when has the premise been ever pleasing and convenient?
And when has death every closed the door to return? Hello Bonnie. Hello Nurse Fallon. Hello Dylan. Hello Doc. Characters have all died. Characters that still came back. And they came back because the actors that played those characters did come back. Denny died in season 2, and he came back as a disembodied voice in Season 3, and during fantasy/tumor scenes in Season 5. DEATH does exclude the possibility of coming back. That door is still open, AND, it will always be open. It's up to TR to walk through it again.
And again, there is NO confirmation that George has actually died! It's circumstantial evidence at best. Hello, this is Shonda Rhimes, misdirection is a keynote trait of Grey's Anatomy. Beginning of Season 5, they had Derek Shepherd dead. A dream. Who's to say this isn't a fantasy scene or whatever?
And for the record, I loved George. I thought he was an awesome character and I thoroughly enjoyed TR's portrayal of him. I thought Shonda wrote and created a very interesting character and gave him a unique voice that TR conveyed. But I loved George as much as I loved Meredith, and the rest of the original interns. For me, I don't watch GA just for one character, I watch it for all the characters because each one contributes to the story of GA. I was saddened that TR has left, but that's life. People move on. I don't begrudge TR Knight and I don't begrudge Shonda.
I don't know what happened, whose to blame, whatever, I don't care. Grey's Anatomy still moves on. And I still continue to watch.
Oh and btw, the statistics of TV rankings is taken out of context. Yes, viewership is on a decline for over the past five reasons, but those ranking preclude online streaming and third-party providers because the availabilty of technology. From 2004 to 2009, TV shows have substaintially shifted their position by offering their products through online-distribution. Um, hello, that's what the WGA strike in 2008 was about, online distribution and how writer's contracts had to be altered to take a fair share of the online revenue that consumers are utilizing. Also, take into the context what those numbers mean in respect to the rest of the TV industry.
Season 1) Ranked 9 Season 2) Ranked 5 Season 3) Ranked 8 Season 4) Ranked 10 Season 5) Ranked 12
Failing? Seriously? For a show to stay in the top 10-15 for five years while competing with reality shows such as AI and DWTS not to mention new TV shows that premiere during that time is difficult. And for a show to be nominated by an multiple emmys (other than actors, such as writing, directing, etc.) consistently between those seasons is again difficult.
Failing? Seriously?
Again, this is an example of how one-sided information can truly get. Yes, from the Nielson ratings, the show is "failing". But that's one biased, very agenda-pushing perspective. Get the entirety and the context of those ratings, and guess what? No... NOT FAILING.
So for those hardcore George-only fans, you're looking only at the Neilson ratings without any context, and then crying out failure only on Shonda's part.
Kentia Says: July 11th, 2009 11:45 AM
TR might have decided to quit, but he might have changed his mind later on. That's something he won't be able to do because Shonda KILLED his character, and that is all on her.
Killing him is unforgivable, and I won't be watching anymore.
Callie: I don't wanna have kids if it means I can't be with you. Arizona: We'll have kids. We'll have all kinds of kids... I can't live without you and our 10 kids.
July 13th, 2009 3:41 AM
I love you, Ace! Tell it like it is!
July 12th, 2009 11:45 PM
George is boring.
July 12th, 2009 9:58 PM
I guess I was still hoping against hope. George is my favorite character, and Gizzie my number 1 couple. I feel like my heart just got stomped.
July 12th, 2009 8:57 PM
I love Izzie but when has she ever be backburnered? I hate Lexie. I only liked her friendship with George and she's on all the freaking time.
George was my favorite. If Shonda planned this cliffhanger at the beginning of the season, she knew George might leave from the beginning and she couldn't even give us George fans a fitting ending.
That makes me so mad.
Why did we get to see all the other characters but George? He was the one leaving.
If she had, maybe I wouldn't feel so cheated out.
George's story doesn't feel finished at all. How can I accept him dying especially seeing him so unhappy at the end?
George was the sweetest, he deserved better.
I also can't get over the lack of Gizzie.
Their connection is what I always loved most about the show. I feel so cheated and so aangry!
July 12th, 2009 8:52 PM
Of course, the priest isn't for a marriage. It's going to be sad. I love George. And the post-it note wedding is going to have reverberations...I'm not looking foward to this season. We lose George and problems for Merder, i'm so don't have any expectations anymore.
July 12th, 2009 2:28 AM
actually telena or whatever...i dont feel like going up the screen to find out haha, but i don't even like alex...i like george way more than i've ever liked alex...i like lexie and izzie, and mark! and 2 of 3 of those characters are usually backburned!
July 11th, 2009 11:55 PM
I don't think anybody could play George as well as TR. I don't want another actor, but I also don
July 11th, 2009 10:13 PM
Well this is an article about George, like it was said before. It is exactly the place to talk about it.
If people were talking about it in an article about another character, I would agree, but this is a George article so we George fans have the right to say our opinions.
I'm really disturbed at the attempt to try and shut people up. If you don't want to read about George, then don't go reading the comments under a George article.
It's that simple.
TR is George. Recasting him would be as abd as killing him. I want George to survive and be sent somewhere to recover.
If he dies, it's final, and I can't accept that. George's my favorite.
July 11th, 2009 9:41 PM
Did you ever think perhaps that the reason George is so unrecognisable is because they are going to bring his character back, but with a different actor?
July 11th, 2009 8:34 PM
Ace is awesome THANK YOU ACE! I'm going to say this one last time if people want to stop watching grey's then you can stop but please make your own forum on the website and stop using other forums so these arguments can stop. If any other character was treated this way I would still watch and there were parts in this season that I did not like @ all! (lack of george,*shudder* GHOST SEX!, no balance among the characters)So I wish TR knight the best in whatever else he will do.
July 11th, 2009 6:10 PM
Ace, Shonda could have George contemplate leaving to the army. If he left, they would have said he went. If he stayed, he would have stayed at the hospital.
That way, he wouldn't have died.
They did it in season 3 when George contemplated leaving.
Killing him didn't have to be done.
Actors leave all the time without being killed, please.
And Shonda focusing a season on George? In what world?
He's not Izzie. Shonda hasn't cared about George in a long, long time.
According to all sources, TR asked Shonda if he was going to have a story and she told him no. She never planned to write him in.
Like her buddy Isiah, she felt it was time for George to go, to get rid of the reminder of why her best friend Isiah was no longer on the show.
Everyone knows TR left because Shonda refused to write for him and had nothing planned for him.
She could have easily written a big recovery story, but she didn't want to waste time on George when she could focus on the fascinating love story of Molesexie or Izzie's never-ending travails or Callie's lesbian adventures du jour or ghost sex.
Who wants a real complex interesting characters like George when you can put any random hot characters together and have them have sex all episode long?
July 11th, 2009 6:03 PM
Grow up yourself, Grey. I hope they do the same thing to Alex. Let's see how you react to that. Some Alex fans kept whining he had no story and he's had a lot more airtime than George over the seasons.
I'm pretty sure if Alex ahd been backburnered all season, then killed, you'd be complaining too.
If it happens, I'll be the first one happy about it.
Shonda turns very easily on her actors so Justin and all of them better be very careful not to annoy her.
July 11th, 2009 6:01 PM
OK, so you think it's ok to erase a beloved character for a year so you can shock the public for two minutes? Really?
Hey if that was your favorite character that was done to, I think you would be singing a different tune.
George was used as a prop device all year long.
He was invisible and now he's dead, and we're suppose to forgive her for that and buy her stupid excuses?
Why doesn't she tell the truth? She has never forgiven TR for having to fired her best buddy Isiah, and he hasn't had a story the last two seasons because of it.
TWO seasons, not one.
And I agree, she would never treat any other character that way, never, because she respects them and has never shown TR any respect since he came out of the closet.
We begged her all year to give George a story, and she never did. Then we begged her to not kill him so he could come back and visit, and she still din't listen.
I guess the George fans just don't matter to her at all.
July 11th, 2009 5:55 PM
omg guys grow up! hahahah dude ace is my hero! HE knows what hes talking about!
July 11th, 2009 5:39 PM
Enlisted George was gone as a surgeon, whether he lives or dies. By the time Hero/John Doe recovers from the injuries inflicted in the episdode, the gang who interned with him will be attending physicians rather than residents.
Based on the creator's unwillingness to confirm that either of them dies, I think they are going to let him live. I think that was always the intention, otherwise the woman he saved would not have been given so many scenes.
July 11th, 2009 5:39 PM
Oh and wonder why the other actors decided to stay? Because they were actually used, not backburned the entire season and erased for one lame cliffhanger!
For me, Shonda made it very clear TR and George were nothing more than props used for cliffhanger and shock favtor, and that she didn't value the character at all or the love the fans have for him.
So no, I won't be watching season 6 and I am also quitting Private Practice at that instant. I won't be encouraging anything this lying vindictive loser does.
July 11th, 2009 5:36 PM
Oh please. You don't backurner one of your main actors an entire season to set up a lame cliffhanger. Do you think she would have dared treated Katherine Heigl or anyone that way? NO! Nobody is buying this excuse.
Is that also why he was backburnered all of season 4?
So she knew TR Knight was going to leave months before and she still decided to do the cliffhanger instead of giving the George fans the closure they needed and some great moments to hold on to?
WQow, that shows just how much George and his fans mean to Shonda. Notr much.
She would NEVER ever have done this to Izzie or Mer or Derek or Mark.
Never!
And George was shown this season;. Are you kidding me or som ething? He showed up a grand total of 2 minutes per episode.
He was cut away from the fab 5.
And anyone with two eyes and with any knowledge of the show knew this was George the moment they did a big focus on his eyes.
Anyone who didn't is incredibly slow on the uptake or don't know George at all.
I'm incredibly outraged that I was robbed of great moments with my favorite character for two seasons for some lame cliffhanger that ended up being given away mere weeks after the finale.
And then to make it worse, she kills him off so he can never come back.
And she thinks anyone will be stupid enough to believe this is nothing persdonal against TR? Only naive blind people could believe her lame excuses.
All the critics also said they were mad as hell that Shoinda couldn't even give George one episode.
Is one lame cliffhanger worth killing an amazing character and robbing his fans of moments with him for two years?
I don't think so.
I'll never forgive her.
She forced him to quit.
July 11th, 2009 5:36 PM
Oh please. You don't backurner one of your main actors an entire season to set up a lame cliffhanger. Do you think she would have dared treated Katherine Heigl or anyone that way? NO! Nobody is buying this excuse.
Is that also why he was backburnered all of season 4?
So she knew TR Knight was going to leave months before and she still decided to do the cliffhanger instead of giving the George fans the closure they needed and some great moments to hold on to?
WQow, that shows just how much George and his fans mean to Shonda. Notr much.
She would NEVER ever have done this to Izzie or Mer or Derek or Mark.
Never!
And George was shown this season;. Are you kidding me or som ething? He showed up a grand total of 2 minutes per episode.
He was cut away from the fab 5.
And anyone with two eyes and with any knowledge of the show knew this was George the moment they did a big focus on his eyes.
Anyone who didn't is incredibly slow on the uptake or don't know George at all.
I'm incredibly outraged that I was robbed of great moments with my favorite character for two seasons for some lame cliffhanger that ended up being given away mere weeks after the finale.
And then to make it worse, she kills him off so he can never come back.
And she thinks anyone will be stupid enough to believe this is nothing persdonal against TR? Only naive blind people could believe her lame excuses.
All the critics also said they were mad as hell that Shoinda couldn't even give George one episode.
Is one lame cliffhanger worth killing an amazing character and robbing his fans of moments with him for two years?
I don't think so.
I'll never forgive her.
She forced him to quit.
July 11th, 2009 4:01 PM
*if he IS dead. Which is why I'm tuning into Season 6.
July 11th, 2009 3:59 PM
Desmond, let me preface this by saying that my knowledge of the sports-arena is lacking so please forgive me. Say you've been on your team for five years, and for the first four years, you've been utilized as much, if not more on certain games, as your teammates. Then on your fifth year, your coach underutilizes you, for that one season. You still play, but you're not as visible as you were in the previous seasons. Now, your contract with the team is for seven seasons. Because you were under-utilized for this one season, do you request to the owners and coaches to be let out of your contract so you can no longer play even though that the owners and managers will still let you play for two more seasons?
I would think you would.
TR Knight's contract wasn't expiring; the original cast were all contracted to stay with GA for seven seasons. Seven. The only exception to that was IW because of the incident that happened mid-season 3 and ABC had to answer for it. TR Knight was offered renewal. TR Knight refused.
As for your question, I can't speak for Shonda nor do I know the motives behind it, but what I do know, in accordance to what she had stated in an interview, that the lack of George in Season 5 was to set up the finale. And George did play, granted not as visible as in previous seasons, but he did play. Now for me, it made sense cause there were numerous reviews out there that the first 3/4 for the finale (both halves of part 1, and the first half of part 2) that stated they were so used to George not being there that it was that much of a shock once George was revealed to be John Doe.
And for those that state that they knew it was George from the beginning, congratulations on your intuitiveness, but you're the exception. Out of an average of 14 million viewers (excluding online-users), you're the exception.
And as for sports analogy goes, if your coach benches you for an entire season, isn't it most likely that they're just going to trade you to another team or drop you completely? That wasn't the case with TR: he was offered renewal, and he refused.
Now it terms of TR moving on to do what's best for him, I wish nothing but complete success in whatever he does. But he made a choice to leave. He's not a victim. He chose to leave. He was offered renewal. He chose to refuse it.
I don't blame Shonda or TR for their decisions. They aren't bitching or moaning about it; both were very respectable and cordial and professional. Other than heresay, they left on good-terms.
However, the major hardcore bias of George fans are ridiculous because TR is such a victim and he had to leave and oh woe is him and Shonda is the devil. Please. TR is an adult. He made a decision. Shonda (if the death is for real) reacted towards that decision.
And for those that say, well Shonda knew he was leaving, they should have catered a proper goodbye to him...
Seriously?
This is Grey's Anatomy. What kind of heartfelt goodbye would there be? The finale was shot and filmed and writted before TR confirmed he was leaving. Is she seriously going to base an entire 'goodbye' episode to a character that has an actor who may or may not be coming back next season, and that decision is dependent on the actor? Seriously? Not going to happen. If anything, the cliffhanger was shot so that if TR Kinght refused to come back, there was an exit vehicle and if he did come back, the story would focus on him on Season 6.
Do you honestly think ABC executives, Shonda, or the writing staff would pen an episode with the basis of a 'maybe'? Seriously? In the wonderful world of TV magic, writers don't reveal the future: this is why they're called cliffhangers, for you to tune into next season.
What's that expression? "Leave them wanting more."
At the end of the day, TR refused to come back. There, that's why George is dead.
July 11th, 2009 1:12 PM
i'm sorry Ace but you are wrong. TR left now. Answer me why Shonda didn't use him the last season? He was still part af GA cast. But he didn't play. why?
I'm a soccer player. My contract is expiring and now i look my options so i can decide what's best for me. But until my contract expires i still play for my team. They don't leave me in the bench, because my coach thinks i'm an important player.
So can we say that George character was so important that until TR contract expires he should play?
i'm sorry for my english, i hope you understand.
July 11th, 2009 12:31 PM
Well said, Ace!!
July 11th, 2009 12:28 PM
*June. Actors got their renewals in June. My bad. Writing staff of GA got together in July.
July 11th, 2009 12:27 PM
Oh cry me a river already. It's well known industry practice that the writing staff does not get together and start drafting the next season until the actors have been sent their renewals and accepted.
For primetime shows, they had until June 30th to distribute renewals. GA-actors got their renewals mid-to-late July. TR declined. TR left. TR QUIT.
So, if Shonda killed off George O'Malley, it's because TR no longer wanted to be part of the show.
Those are the facts. Remove all the rumors, all the crap you heard, all the theories, and all the unconfirmed and unsubstantiated heresay: boil it down to this, George O'Malley is dead because TR left.
Plain and simple.
It's Shonda's character. If she kills George, then so be it. As creator of GA, she giveth and taketh away. Other than George's image, TR Knight has no claim, no bearing, no possession of George O'Malley. He left. For whatever reason it was, he left.
It's so easy for you hardcore George-only fans to lay ALL blame and ALL accountability on Shonda for the demise of George when TR Knight, YES, was also to blame. He QUIT! You weren't there. You don't know what happened. So don't cry out to the heavens damning ONLY Rhimes because you have bits and pieces that you synthesize so it makes TR Knight a victim. Please. It's spinning at best and complete bias at worst.
He wasn't fired, he wasn't dismissed, he left. He quit.
Yes, she could have left the door open for him to return in a more pleasing and convenient way, but COME ON people, this is Grey's Anatomy, when has the premise been ever pleasing and convenient?
And when has death every closed the door to return? Hello Bonnie. Hello Nurse Fallon. Hello Dylan. Hello Doc. Characters have all died. Characters that still came back. And they came back because the actors that played those characters did come back. Denny died in season 2, and he came back as a disembodied voice in Season 3, and during fantasy/tumor scenes in Season 5. DEATH does exclude the possibility of coming back. That door is still open, AND, it will always be open. It's up to TR to walk through it again.
And again, there is NO confirmation that George has actually died! It's circumstantial evidence at best. Hello, this is Shonda Rhimes, misdirection is a keynote trait of Grey's Anatomy. Beginning of Season 5, they had Derek Shepherd dead. A dream. Who's to say this isn't a fantasy scene or whatever?
And for the record, I loved George. I thought he was an awesome character and I thoroughly enjoyed TR's portrayal of him. I thought Shonda wrote and created a very interesting character and gave him a unique voice that TR conveyed. But I loved George as much as I loved Meredith, and the rest of the original interns. For me, I don't watch GA just for one character, I watch it for all the characters because each one contributes to the story of GA. I was saddened that TR has left, but that's life. People move on. I don't begrudge TR Knight and I don't begrudge Shonda.
I don't know what happened, whose to blame, whatever, I don't care. Grey's Anatomy still moves on. And I still continue to watch.
Oh and btw, the statistics of TV rankings is taken out of context. Yes, viewership is on a decline for over the past five reasons, but those ranking preclude online streaming and third-party providers because the availabilty of technology. From 2004 to 2009, TV shows have substaintially shifted their position by offering their products through online-distribution. Um, hello, that's what the WGA strike in 2008 was about, online distribution and how writer's contracts had to be altered to take a fair share of the online revenue that consumers are utilizing. Also, take into the context what those numbers mean in respect to the rest of the TV industry.
Season 1) Ranked 9
Season 2) Ranked 5
Season 3) Ranked 8
Season 4) Ranked 10
Season 5) Ranked 12
Failing? Seriously? For a show to stay in the top 10-15 for five years while competing with reality shows such as AI and DWTS not to mention new TV shows that premiere during that time is difficult. And for a show to be nominated by an multiple emmys (other than actors, such as writing, directing, etc.) consistently between those seasons is again difficult.
Failing? Seriously?
Again, this is an example of how one-sided information can truly get. Yes, from the Nielson ratings, the show is "failing". But that's one biased, very agenda-pushing perspective. Get the entirety and the context of those ratings, and guess what? No... NOT FAILING.
So for those hardcore George-only fans, you're looking only at the Neilson ratings without any context, and then crying out failure only on Shonda's part.
July 11th, 2009 11:45 AM
TR might have decided to quit, but he might have changed his mind later on. That's something he won't be able to do because Shonda KILLED his character, and that is all on her.
Killing him is unforgivable, and I won't be watching anymore.