[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

Everyone keeps calling for Shonda to say something. What exactly do you want to hear from her? As far as I can tell, nothing she could say would satisfy folks.

I don't need to be satisfied by her statement (I probably won't and am fine with that), I just want to hear her version. 

 

She did and people don't like what she said because it wasn't a love note to Dempsey.

 

From what I saw, it's not that it wasn't a love letter, just that it wasn't that genuine, for lack of a better word. Given her prior "love notes", let's call them that, this didn't seem like something Ellen wrote but a crafted statement. I doubt that she'd gone "OMG he's the best man ever Adonis with the best hair in human history blah blah" but you know, just put a "we will miss him on the show" in there. Takes less than five seconds to type it. Or perhaps it's a spoiler.

 

I do think the anger at her is wrong though. She didn't write his exit, no need to blame the messenger. 

 

I have seen tweets to the cast about people not eating for days because they are so upset, throwing up, crying non-stop, etc. and I took her statement as a gentle reminder that in the big scheme of things, this is the death of a fictional character and we will get through it. She mentions that people are going through horrible tragedies everyday, and there is a lot of that right now.

With this context, I agree. Yeah, those tweets are extreme (and a total lie, let's be honest). 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

However, she seems to speak pretty honestly, both about the show and her personal life so perhaps it was ABC who stopped her from going on the show.  I think she was probably just too busy, given what we know about how far behind they are with filming.

Maybe it was both? I think ABC thought it was convenient to maybe let things calm down before she had to be the one to fix the mess (because let's face it, Shonda won't do it) but this tweet today seems like they're having trouble placing a decent response to the backlash. 

 

It also sounds to me like a reminder that real horrors are going on in the world and that maybe people should get a little perspective.

 

 

Yeah but...this show has never been about that and that's what bugs me about this whole statement. Sure, tragedies happen but why incorporate them on a show that has ghost sex? 

 

At this point, everyone's letting the show's dysfunctional history write the story: 'Shonda killed a character, ergo the actor must have been difficult.'

And PD can afford to take some of the blame for that; he was clearly ambivalent about continuing with the show. But I think he's also had more interaction with the fans over the years, so he knew what kind of backlash awaited the person responsible for ending Merder. He didn't want to be the one blamed for THAT. And now he's free; so what if there are rumors about him being a "diva?"

The problem is that in some cases, that has been the case. The bad part is that in cases when the actor hasn't been difficult or really shares the entire blame of the problem, everyone is led to believe that is the issue when it may not be. Shonda has the Hollywood capital (sort to speak) to let that to be believed (because KH was, IW was) but in this case, so does Patrick, mostly because he is in interaction more with fans than Shonda seems to be and talks and mostly agrees with them on certain things. 

 

I do believe that Patrick's ambivalence towards the show did influence SR (maybe not so much in ABC at the end) but I still don't understand how is it that they didn't see this backlash coming. He said he was anxious about the response. My guess is he did know what was coming (or at least had some sort of idea) and let them have it and frankly, they deserve it (not the death threats and that crap, that's always a no) because it was terribly written and it was cruel at some level. 

 

I also do believe that they're waiting for things to calm down, maybe until next week to address it. If they ever do. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

People pay to cover things up. That is how Hollywood works. Who knows what Shonda's reasoning is....maybe she got tired of working around him or maybe he is that diva jerk. There have been plenty of blinds and rumors for years, that he isn't a very good guy.

Then why did Charlie Sheen didn't? Or Alec Baldwin? They have been actual assholes and yet, everyone knows. I'm assuming that they didn't pay then?

 

Blind items aren't proof. Show me Patrick pulling a stunt like AB and I will believe that. Until then, it's all rumors. Maybe of a resented person. 

 

I read that one story where he talked about being spread too thin, and that he wanted to spend more time with his kids...then left for Dubai to race.  odd.

As I'm assuming you don't follow him that often, there were pap pics, almost daily where he was spending a lot of time with them. Although I'm not going to assume anything else about this because parenting is different for everyone.

 

I'll bet Shonda wrote it.

I second this. She can't do that herself, given the huge amount of backfire she has received, so she puts EP to clean her mess. I feel bad for EP because she's being the one to take the hit for this. 

[S11.E21: How To Save A Life]

There's really no need for a debate.  Will dying maybe was also a jerk-ass shock tactic, but it's not like Will Garner was lying on top of a huge pile of other corpses, like Derek's rotting corpse is.    A show can pull this kind of move once, MAYBE in extraordinary cases, twice in it's existence.  But when you go to the well too often, it runs dry.  There's no more gravitas to the deaths, just fans rolling eyes.

This is one issue. The other one is that the aftermath of Will's death is still dealt with. It wasn't forgotten or pushed behind, like you say, on a pile of corpses. It was given proper treatment that Will deserved. I can guarantee you that after next week's episode, Derek will barely be a memory. He won't get the respect of the weight his character brought to the show. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

She chose to kill Derek, and I'm sure she plans to show Meredith rebuilding her life without him. I think Shonda is saying, "Having a husband isn't necessary to have a fulfilling personal life."

This is what disgusts me: why not? Why isn't having a husband part of a fulfilling personal life? Some really find that to be a fulfilling life. I am not there (and not sure I'll ever be) but I don't understand why women who want to marry and have a husband and have that husband be their sun and shit isn't part of that woman's fulfilling life. I'm pretty sure the last season will be Cristina returning and have their happy ever after raising Meredith's children and blah blah blah because men bad, women good. 

 

Ugh, GA and it's "lessons". 

 

That must be why they had EP scheduled on Jimmy Kimmel... to do the same for PD's exit. Only she wouldn't or couldn't do it. So PD did it, with the EW reporter.

I wonder why. I do believe that if anyone will be on serious damage control will be her but I wonder when they'll begin. 

 

There's a change.org petition going around wanting to bring him back. 12K+ signatures so far. This will obviously reach nowhere but Vulture, E!, Time, among others, are reporting it a lot lately. I'm not sure if ABC expected this. It's amusing to see it develop though. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

Easy, when you consider three women delivering babies, teach took off a matter of weeks (ellen pretaped episodes), when others took extended periods of time for car racing, adoption, marital strife, rehab etc.  Seriously? lol

It just doesn't seem to be on the same scale.

Are you being serious here or just being sarcastic? I'm not sure with what answer to proceed, so I want to be sure first because I do hope that you see how one isn't like the other.

 

I'm sure PD's exit from his contract covered how he was to handle the PR, and he must be receiving some financial consideration from ABC in exchange for not saying, "I FUCKING TOLD HER THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!"

 

Probably. I doubt ABC would have let him go without the proper instructions in how to handle it. From the looks of it, ABC let PD to have the good publicity and have GA deal with the storm (as it has before and is still standing) and see how it goes. I doubt ABC will get very involved here but surely when SR comes out in any interview and is asked, we will get a better insight.

 

And it was a fucking bad idea.

 

And if the big picture is for Meredith to never really have a happy ending then I guess they've succeeded. According to Shonda, you can't be "the sun" and be fulfilled in your personal life.

 

And this is why nobody should take GA or Scandal as what feminism is. But let's face it, Derek barely got to be Uranus. Yes, I made a joke. I know it's bad. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

Karin Gleason said on twitter that Derek had to leave "completely" (hmm...wonder who decided that) and the only way to get rid of him like that would be a breakup or death.

Shonda has also tweeted that before, so it doesn't surprise me that Karin used the same line. She said she wouldn't break them up again unless someone dies and if PD was set to be out permanently, death was her "only" option. Now, normal storytellers would be able to use the divorce/separation as a way out with a possibility of return but can't say she didn't follow through.

 

Maybe I'm naïve, but I don't think those Izzie storylines were supposed to be bad.

 

 

Gizzie was. I can't find a way that it makes sense. At all. It was supposed to be bad. Who thought it was a good idea anyway?

 

The Denny stuff was terrible but I agree, it wasn't supposed to be. It was bad storytelling. I think it'd be more receptive had ghost sex hadn't happen and it had been less shoved down our throats. 

 

Everytime a cast member asked for time off, or took time off, their characters wound up gone.

Heigl, Chyler, Dane and then Patrick. While female characters like Jcap, Ellen and Sarah all had babies and didn't seem to take more than a few weeks for maternity leave...all still around.

I don't know why asking for time off for personal reasons makes them "above" the rest of the cast. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

I don't get what spoilers he gave. In the interview he said that he considers leaving in 2 years soon and that was the comment that ABC got mad over.

Wasn't that he was going to "leave" soon and he disappeared for six episodes almost the week after? I thought that was what he was referring to but maybe I misunderstood.

 

I feel bad that it couldn't be worked out for him to stay if that's what he truly wanted. If improper wording in an interview is the sole cause of all this its ridiculous that it could not be ironed out in a couple of conversations. They could have just had him issue a statement clarifying and everyone would have gone about their day.

 

This is so true. Such a shame, indeed.

 

That is, Shonda wanted Derek to die in S11, PD (and ABC?) disagreed (he did have a contract, and maybe PD tried to play ABC against her or something) and that's when their relationship soured, not before. It would explain the "what changed?" and the timing of everything.

Honestly, that'd be so petty from her but I don't expect better, given how she has handled prior departures. I do believe that PD didn't put that much of an effort at the end. I mean, he wanted to stay and would have stayed but maybe thought that  it wouldn't do him that much good to him or his character if he stayed with that sort of soured relationship. Who knows what ridiculous SL Shonda might've given him as a way of retribution. Derek decides to be a stylist? 

 

It's anyone's guess at this point. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

EW's Full, Unedited Q&A

This is the good stuff.

 

So, he angered people at ABC for the spoilers. He seems to not have requested those 6 episodes he was absent (which I sure thought he was), Shonda and Ellen are in a good place with him, racing schedule may have played a part.

 

From this, I guess SR wanted to simplify her life by not putting up with PD anymore and he may not have fought it, ABC still wants him although isn't that mad about him not being on the show.

 

This whole thing now seems like a mutual "I didn't ask for it but I'm not going to fight it" situation. Now it's SR's turn. 

 

I still sustain that the writing of his death was terrible and unnecessary.

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

What confuses me is all the comments about Patrick making all the money for ABC, like he carried the show. He was part of the ensemble, and I think Sandra Oh was more important to the show that Patrick ever was.

ABC makes good money on marketing and promotion, Patrick did that considerably more than Sandra Oh did, despite that his role on the show was very limited and SO getting all the good material. It's not that Patrick carried that show but in terms of marketing and promotion, he did carry most of the GA weight. Sandra Oh didn't, at least in comparison to Patrick's. 

 

how is that between ABC and Shonda?

 

ABC didn't dismiss him. He still works there, technically. From the looks of it, ABC didn't have much of a problem with whatever Shonda's problem with Patrick was, that Patrick was unaware she was having and went to ABC with her decision.

 

How do you start to treat other people, boss other people around like you own the damn place?  There's a very good chance that's what happened here and it really got down to yeah, we can't take this anymore.

The odd part of it is that the crew never tweeted a bad thing about him. Not even silence. They all talked how about a great guy he is. Also, in terms of cast, most of his scenes were with Caterina and Ellen, and from the looks of it, he wasn't really having issues with them. So who did?

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

It sounds like PD got caught in the middle of what was basically a dispute between ABC and Shonda. It could explain why ABC's statement on PD leaving was so much more gracious towards him than Shonda's.

 

This actually makes more sense. I think you have something here. 

[S11.E21: How To Save A Life]

I have to wonder, though, if a lot of fans still would see that as a slap in the face to Patrick, given that his mother died from cancer and cancer research/treatment is his big cause that he supports.  I think I would've seen it as a slap in the face to him, but still far more dignified than dying due to contrived circumstances and medical incompetence.

This is the one reason I'm glad they never went with the cancer SL. There are many other terminal illnesses they can address without adding the personal element that cancer has with PD. 

 

But yes, ITA. 

 

I keep seeing Amelia called Amanda, and it's throwing me. Am I missing an inside joke?

I saw that too but I just thought it was an honest mistake. It wasn't?

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

That snippet was interesting to listen to.  Too bad the entire thing isn't available as I'd love to hear what else she has to say.  If a series of things did happen to lead to this point, I actually think it's best for most of the cast to keep silent until the end of the season or more.  Things may not be what they seem, and no one is entitled to know anything.  No one has to tweet anything to calm down fans.  Let the chips fall where they may, let people accept or reject the remaining episodes, and then maybe we'll learn more. Who knows how messy this situation was or still is.

There was also a tweet (which Lynette deleted) that said he would have definitely stayed. So my educated guess is that the series of things were mostly SR's and not brought up to PD, pushed ABC into a either/or and resulting in writing PD off. Of all the things that could be problematic for SR, racing is the most obvious (I still doubt the attitude reports). 

 

Sometimes they are what it seem. Things are still probably messy that they might need to regroup and define what's next. The silence seemed odd, to me, given how the cast has acted with prior departures.

 

Either way, I think it's not needed to repeat that the tell-all book and interviews will be so good.

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

So, Dempsey wanted to leave the show, but then bravely and with great self-sacrifice agreed to stay on the show for two more years

If he wanted to leave, he would've either not signed or asked to be released from his contract. From the perspective you're providing, ABC would have had no problem with either. Yet he did sign and he didn't ask to be released from his contract. I don't believe you can count his "I rather be racing" comments as actual actions of leaving the show. So there is no proof that he wanted to leave the show. Unless you find those comments enough to believe that, which not even PD concreted into wanting to leave GA until SR wrote him out without him even being aware of. What changed ABC's mind is yet to be known but until SR gives a good explanation (rather than a generic statement) and PD has his eventual "tell-all" interview, the assumption he wanted to leave is just that: an assumption.

 

Sorry, but you guys can't b*tch all the time about how Katie Heigl was nasty for not showing up and not finishing out what she agreed to do, and then turn around and say what Shonda did by kicking Patrick off the show halfway through his contract wasn't just as awful

I think the KH and the PD situations are both very different and were handled very differently. KH did want to leave. She took the steps to leave. PD didn't. KH did seem to have more problems on set than PD did (at least that can be proven as true). SR did follow KH's wishes of not returning while didn't for PD. So I don't think that both situations are not comparable as both were met with very different circumstances and both were encountered with very different reactions. Granted, KH has said she'd love to return but she already burned the bridge down. 

 

It'd be completely different if during negotiations Shonda had told ABC "I don't think I'll be able to work around that" and they had decided not to pick up his contract. OR if she had waited until the end of season 12, another contract renegotiation year, and decided to off his character.

This is what I'm having most trouble with: ABC has gone along with it for a while and were willing to go with it for two more years. What changed? Has SR's creativity been sucked entirely by Scandal? This wasn't ABC's decision, clearly. I really want to know what changed but doubt we ever will. 

 

E! has to be working on this E! True Hollywood story already, right? 

[S11.E21: How To Save A Life]

I wish Derek had just died from pancreatic or liver cancer. He could have gotten the diagnosis in DC and come home to die a couple episodes later. Imagine that. A character dying from illness. A unique way to go and a quick way to go with there still being time for people to say goodbye.

THIS. If Derek had to be killed, at least this would have ben...gentler, sort to speak. To get a diagnosis of a terminal disease with no cure and just go home with time enough to have his good byes and die at home with his wife and kids, instead of that shitty hospital with strangers. 

 

This episode was lazy writing. SR should be ashamed of herself for this. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

Couldn't that be referring to the fact that Derek dies (i.e., the episode script), not necessarily the decision to write PD out?

Does it matter? He was gone either way and I know that had Derek lived, there was the possibility of bringing him back, but I seriously doubt that she would if things were in fact difficult with SR. 

 

I agree this probably goes down really badly in Hollywood. Not a lot of sportscar racing fans, and so many unemployed/underemployed actors who would kill to have his job. (Probably among the GA cast as well... which, in itself would be enough to generate the "diva" rumors.)

I don't think that it necessarily goes down really bad in Hollywood. I mean, many big time actors do have other strong passionate interests than acting and make it known that their interest does fulfill them in a better way than acting does not. I mean, that's fine. Maybe it's a social cause or maybe it's a sport. Regardless of it, PD is not the first one to really like something else better than acting. They know they cannot make a living as activists or in PD's case a racer, but they still do it. And Hollywood knows it. The thing is, you have to be good enough and have enough capital to be able to do and say this. I don't know if PD will ever return to TV (and I do hope he does) and it will be interesting to see how he handles that. I do believe that Hollywood is switching here to prefer the more than one interest as people tend to find them more interesting people. 

 

I do agree with windsprints that GA audience is less receptive to this. I think it was for the last year PCA Awards that those PD comments had just came out and people were furious with him on Twitter or Tumblr or some shit and say not to vote for him because he clearly doesn't love GA and is a bad actor and blah blah blah. It lasted like 20 minutes but it has certainly caused resentment in some fans.

 

It really sounds to me like Shonda needs to get over herself and stop burning bridges with actors.

I do wonder what the work environment is there because it seems to be an all in or out there. Either you think SR is a TV God that should be on a pedestal (like most of the Scandal crowd seems to be) or you disagree with her view and get blacklisted as an asshole (KH and now probably PD too). Does she really need all that admiration or what is it? How does the HR department measure that?

[S11.E21: How To Save A Life]

Followed by Mark, walking up and saying, "Well. This is awkward."

Then Denny arrives going: "You guys have no clue what you're missing with ghost imaginary sex." Bomb guy just gives him the Chloe side eye. 

[S11.E21: How To Save A Life]

What is NFTG?

In this context, I assume it's "not a fuck to give".

 

Don't even get me started on the geography.

What I don't get is how the hell Amelia was there in surgery before Derek even got to the airport. I mean, she clearly left later than he did. How the hell lis that even possible. 

 

I'm going to amuse myself with Derek's imaginary reunion with George in heaven:

"Hey, what's up, O'Malley? Hey, you know how you died saving someone's life? Well, I saved four people, so suck it!"

HA! 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

I bet it will be Ellen or Chandra. Long distance chance Justin, Kevin or Sara

Chandra already put out a generic statement but yeah, has to be Ellen. 

 

Wished Justin was in more interviews though. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

So, who knows, maybe Shonda did always plan this...or maybe she just went back to that episode and found a way to visually link to it so we would think this.

Even if she didn't, you just gave her a perfect way to explain this (for hardcore fans, anyway). If you think of it, the mirror moment of the S5 premiere happened with the opposite result. In S5, Meredith dreamt Derek was dead from a car accident but was alive. Last episode, she dreamt that Derek was ok after the accident but instead, essentially dead. 

 

Maybe she did remember that episode or coincidence? It'd be too perfect.

 

essentially serves as an ambassador for the show, in addition to whatever else he's doing. I think maybe Shonda et al have seriously underestimated the value of that.

 

PD has always been more out there than the rest of the cast and this has been since the beginning of the show. I posted a while on the PD thread, I think, that ABC has settled on him being used for the marketing of the show (even if he was only there 12 seconds) and that if he did leave, the show will need a new strategy than leave the whole promotion to the show to Ellen. The thing is that, even if the rest of the cast are great people as they seem to be, they're not as popular as PD is or are able to cause press reaction as he has, which may cause a problem in deciding how to proceed without him. I do agree that SR underestimated the huge loss that this would be. I am curious to see how they proceed. 

 

However, I'm not sure if its going to actually backfire on Shonda.  Everyone is taking it out her now, but Grey's is getting media attention they haven't seen in YEARS.

The one thing ABC needs to do is sustain this level of press, which they might not want to as it's not the press they would want. If GA can make a convincing aftermath, like TGW did after Will died (not over it), then maybe they'll jump back into the radar. The other thing they'd need to do is start putting their people out there to do the clean up of this. Given that the majority agrees that Derek's death was the worst, they'll need the positive press soon.

 

I don't know if Shonda personally will take a hit of this since she has distanced herself from GA a lot and seems to be all about Scandal but GA as a whole will need a new public strategy to not be remembered as the show that killed everyone that was liked and loved in horrifying ways. I mean, I doubt that the show will ever get this sort of press ever again but at least for those that still watch the show, it has to be a good one.

 

And I REALLY hope that Thursday's episode doesn't repeat the same mistakes this one did, but leaves everyone feeling like Derek/Patrick was respected.

They need to do a better job, that's for sure.

 

ETA:

 

I don't follow Patricks racing interviews at all. So I'm talking strictly tv. I agree Ellen seems to be doing more promotion than usual.

 

I don't either but they usually show up in social media afterwards, especially if he says something "big" about the show. If you follow him on Facebook, as an example, and there's a racing outlet that reports on him they tag him and it shows up on your TL with the news from both the racing and the show. It's how I've followed them. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

It also seems to be a case of "the straw that broke the camel's back." I just don't think they anticipated this level of critical outrage.

 

I don't think so either and that's probably why PD is viewed in the positive while Shondaland in the negative. Even though PD has been critical of the writing, nobody seems to understand why it was necessary to kill him in such a brutal way and to be honest, Shonda hasn't really explained it in a way that's convincing or justifies it. The reboot excuse is too easy and with the history of the show, we will know that the execution will be poor and that next week, nobody will even remember Derek died. It will seem like an empty decision at the end. 

 

I said this earlier in the thread, but for whatever reason she seems to be enjoying the media attention much more now than she did in the early seasons. She seems much more enthusiastic about the show, Maybe they've given her more control?

 

 

I'm not sure this is the case. She certainly is more comfortable in interviews now but I haven't felt any difference in her reaction to the show from the early years. She's always been a cheerleader for the show and good for her but I don't see any more enthusiasm than the one she has had. Like PD, she has criticized some aspects but unlike PD, she hasn't expressed any sort of desire for a life post Grey's, other than the time she said she would probably quit acting. We'll see how she is on her next interview (which obviously will have to address PD's exit) but in my pure observational methods, no difference from me.

 

I also very much doubt she's been given any sort of control. 11 seasons and she hasn't been made producer? I do recall times when SR would discuss with EP about future storylines but I also recall her doing that with many (at least pre-Scandal days). I also do remember that EP & PD went to dinner with Tony to discuss the resolution of the S7 argument. In the TV Guide interview for their cover in S10, she said she has no control over the writing. So doesn't seem this is the reason. 

 

And she can't help but come off better than PD when she says she doesn't care if she ever plays another character besides Meredith Grey. For "fan service," no one can compete with that.

True. PD has been more ambitious this way and that may have backfired to GA fans. However, she does have the responsibility of leading the show, so perhaps she is also putting that into account with this. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

I'm wondering about the plane crash and if ABC overruled that, too.

Network meddling can be a two way street. This situation remind me of when the Homeland writers wanted to kill Brody in S1 and Showtime told them no until they gave in in the terrible S3. For ABC, if they ever meddled to make sure PD stayed, it was a smart decision. I'm not sure why ABC gave in here (after all, they've done all they can to make sure that PD gets what he wants) but it'll be interesting to see if we ever find out. Most departures on this show have been problematic, so I wonder how ABC has discussed them.

 

I'm not trying to blame him but to act as though he is a complete non-entity in this whole situation just isn't true.

I see what you're saying. His eventual wishes were obviously a factor but for me, he really wasn't the catalyst in the decision. He would've stayed. I don't think you have to adore your job all the time, so I didn't find this "I rather be racing" comments that surprising. I would have been more cynical if he had signed past S12. 

 

I also agree with Tuleh2 that if ABC had issues with racing and all, they could've either stopped him or make reduce his "off" time for that. They didn't. So, what is up with that?

 

I'm sure she thought she could make this "bold move" and be lauded for it. I think she badly underestimated public affection for the character of Derek Shepherd, and by extension, PD. The fallout will be interesting, for sure.

That, I have to give them credit for. Killing Derek was sure as hell bold and ballsy, especially on a show like GA. Credit where credit is due. 

 

I am surprised at the reaction. I knew it was going to be big but not this big. The leading newspaper in my country reported it and was one of the most discussed articles on Facebook, most angry. This shit went international. That kind of tells you the weight that losing this man did. 

[S11.E21: How To Save A Life]

Uh, GRRM is your go-to for being the pinnacle of great creativity, rather than being rich and powerful thanks to luck and milking it? Mmm..

Are you saying that GRRM is not rich or powerful? 'cause he is, too. 

 

And wasn't there Dr fight at GSwhatever hospital a couple weeks ago about whether to do the CT first or the internal bleeding - oh wait that's like every fifth  episode it seems.

 

The one I recall of the doctor making the  mistake was April in S6. Not sure who else did it TBH.

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

Maybe Patrick wasn't really close to anyone?

That wasn't certainly the impression with regard  with Ellen & Jessica. Sara always spoke like they had good times. He & Kevin also seemed to have a good relationship.

 

Ellen hung out with her after she left and so did Kate Walsh and SaRa.

Not anymore, at least after she had her baby girls. It was reported she attended ED's kids party but it's not the constant meet and greet.

 

Also, perhaps it's difficult to hang out with him with him in the Middle East right now. 

[Behind The Scenes: The Drama Behind the Drama]

What is it like to work with someone who gets paid all that money and really doesn't want to be there.

The current job environment? 

 

I don't buy the diva rumors. I think if they'd were true we would be hearing about it a long time ago. It was 10 years. They could've faked some interest and care (if it's true that they didn't) and just say a 140 character farewell. KMK did one that was lovely. Not so hard, is it? 

 

Now maybe the actors that do want the job can get more screen time. Yay!

 

The joy. Amelia giving speeches and April still being there. Oh well, there was a point where I would have to stop caring. Maybe I'll finish The Wire now. Can't seem to get past S4. 

 

ETA: I do have to give credit to both parties (Shondaland and Patrick) for being cordial about the whole thing. Even if SR & ABC just talked in generic statements, at least they've handled this one better. For now.