"Grey's Anatomy" Halts Lesbian Relationship, Fires Actress

LOS ANGELES — Callie and Erica's burgeoning romance on "Grey's Anatomy" is coming to an abrupt end, and so is Brooke Smith's role as Dr. Erica Hahn.

Smith's final appearance as Dr. Callie Torres' flame comes in this Thursday's episode of ABC's medical drama, the network said Monday.

The move was a creative decision and unrelated to the sexual orientation of Smith's character, said series creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes.

"Brooke Smith was obviously not fired for playing a lesbian. Clearly it's not an issue, as we have a lesbian character on the show _ Calliope Torres," Rhimes said in a statement Monday.

Sara Ramirez, who plays Callie, is an "incredible" actress and the goal is "to play up her magic," Rhimes said. "Unfortunately, we did not find that the magic and chemistry with Brooke's character would sustain in the long run."

The breakup's effect on Callie will be reflected in upcoming episodes, Rhimes said.

"I believe it belittles the relationship to simply replace Erica with `another lesbian,'" Rhimes said, noting that Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) mourned the departure of Dr. Preston Burke (former cast member Isaiah Washington) for a full season.

According to a tally released in September by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, ABC's fall schedule had seven characters that are either gay men or bisexual women, including the Callie and Erica characters, the most of any broadcast network.

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In previous episodes, Callie has had heterosexual relationships.

Smith's departure from "Grey's Anatomy" was first reported by Entertainment Weekly.

The actress, who first appeared on the show in 2006, told the magazine she'd had high hopes for the fictional lesbian pair.

"I was very excited when they told me that Erica and Callie were going to have this relationship. And I really hoped we were going to show what happens when two women fall in love and that they were going to treat it like any heterosexual couple on TV," she said.

"And so I was surprised and disappointed when they just suddenly told me that they couldn't write for my character any more," she said.

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Comments

[leonaraisin]

Anagram time for your favorite TV shows. This time it's Grey's Anatomy: [greasy man toy]. Play now:
http://leonaraisin.blogspot.com/2008/11/greasy-man-toy.html

[skibiketrash]

The whole show has been a pile from the start and I bet it gets dropped very soon.

[yuinmibiz]

I miss Burk. I have found this season of Grey's to be very boring. Sigh. I didnt like the lesbian relationship it was a big turn off.

[Amalek]

Turn off? Are you kidding? Girl on girl action is so hot.

[madcelt]

I liked that there was a lesbian relationship on Grey's, but I did not find Callie and Hahn terribly believable. (I am lesbian). I was shocked to laughter when Callie asked McSteamy for sex tips. What woman does NOT know what SHE likes? Very confusing. Why ask a man? The chemistry wasn't there, and I appreciate they gave it a go. I like both actresses very much, but maybe the storyline can carry on with Callie's self discovery and maybe find a new babe.

[gisellestwocents]

Callie and Hahn were not a good couple. And they just weren't a couple that you wanted to watch... Callie is not believable as a lesbian. If she enjoyed being with women, she wouldn't be so uncomfortable with it. Maybe they should have paired Hahn with Izzy...

Callie belongs with the geek doctor. They were cute together. I forget his name; because I rarely watched after they let Izzy steal him away...I'm not comfortable with cruelty or baseless disloyalty.

I watch occasionally and I noticed that the geek Doc and Izzy aren't together anymore. Don't know what happened with that...BUT I'm not surprised!!

[Hechizera]

I had no problem with Erica being gay. What I had a problem with was her being a rude, evil, insufferable, obnoxious bítch. Every time she opened her mouth I wanted to slap her into the middle of next week. Good riddance.

[jajohnson9]

Obviously this account is not true. Once again, a producer and staff are presenting a prepared myth. I personally don't care about the story line, but once again Grey's Anatomy has made a change that characterizes weakness and signals an end that will come sooner than later. So much promise early on.

[avicenna]

You think they had a heads up regarding the outcome of Prop8?

[KimberleyC]

Oh. Is that show still on?

[Lucida]

even if the story line sucked, WHY was Brooke Smith fired? Seems like something went down and the powers that be are fine with everyone not asking questions about why she was fired. I am disgusted by all the sex and lack of meaty stories. The callie/erica thing = jumping the shark.

[zorak1704]

Mark my words, Brooke Smith will be replaced with a hotter lesbian.

[mjc]

It must be really tough to be an actress on tv. First, they write a controversial sexual orientation for a character that you are asked to play and then when it is time for that characteristic to be revealed you are suddenly out of a job because you do that characterization too well!?! Some of these tv series take themselves a bit too seriously.

[rickczar]

Catherine Martin? You're safe!...

[mood]

happy days. that was the most forced story line ever. the erica hahn character was interesting when she was competing against burke and then as an antogonist to yang. but she obviously had something lacking in her life.....maybe this secret lesbian issue.......but to bring this skeleton out of her closet with torres was just plain stupid.........they could have had her hook up with a nurse or something and developed a whole other side of her.

sounds like she just got the shaft because of poor story development. they tossed her back in buffalo bill's well with precious........

[siney]

precious!!! that was the name of that darn dog!! i just called her prissy in another post :) ...thank you, thank you!

i wouldn't say the story was forced, just could have been written better ...those two had great chemistry and callie always struck me as gay for some reason since the start of the show way back when....

loved erica and hate what the network/disney/show's producers have done to brooke smith...

[sus1]

i'm finding grey's anatomy boring anyway. none of the storylines are good anymore. and, i really didn't like the hahn character. has nothing to do with sexual orientation... she was just annoying.

[Tyrione]

Maybe they'll spare us the entire show and blame it all on Prop 8 passing.