STORM2K

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/0 ... index.html

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- British actress Alex Kingston says she has been axed from the hit U.S. hospital drama "ER" because she is too old.

Kingston, 41, who plays the widowed surgeon Elizabeth Corday, said she was "shocked and upset" when she learned her contract would not be renewed.

"Apparently I, according to the producers, the writers, am part of the old fogies who are no longer interesting," she told the BBC's Radio Times listings magazine.

"Does it mean that I am the geriatric being pushed out because she is too old?"

Kingston joined NBC's Emmy award-winning show in its fourth series, broadcast in 1997-98, and became one of the main characters, starring alongside George Clooney.

She said she had grown "deeply unhappy" with the show and felt her character was being used less and less.

"There was a point where I had to find out what was going on and that was when the producers said they would no longer renew my contract," she said.

"It was a shock and upsetting, but it is just your ego that is upset."

Kingston said her $150,000 an episode salary may have made her too expensive.

"I am sure there must have been some financial feeling behind the decision not to renew my contract."

Kingston, who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, plans to return to Britain from Los Angeles. She hopes to act, write and produce.

"ER" was created by "Jurassic Park" author Michael Crichton and is based in the casualty ward of a Chicago hospital.

BIG ER fan here.. Ill, miss her, but I dont think the show will... Not that I dont like her, but I think there right.. She dosent bring much to the show anymore.. I was thinking you had some inside scoop as to what character got shot in the last episode.. lol

Ugh, yeah...Mary just brought that to my attention.

She really isn't too old for the show. Like I told Mary, she's merely 2 years older than Maura Tierney and 6 years younger than Kerry.

And as she said in another article, they need the older mentor types for the young students. It's ridiculous to get rid of them just because they're old.

I'd hate to see her go. But ER has had a lot of changes in the past and still lives up to the quality that it's known for (at least, IMO). It hasn't been AS great as it was in the beginning, but it certainly hasn't jumped the shark.

Ming-Na is leaving also. No loss there.

What one is that GD?

She used to go by Deb and then reverted to Jing-Mei, her Chinese name. I think they made her too sl*tty and b*tchy. She didn't bring anything to the show except strife.

ah.. No loss there at all. So I guess she is the one that got shot in the car??

Oooh! Oh, yeah...I didn't make that connection. Sorry, I hope I didn't spoil it. I wasn't thinking about her being in that last scene.

hehe.. Na, no worries.. Thats who I assumed got it anyway.

Dang, according to the current most-email Yahoo news -- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index2&cid=964 -- that story is in the top 10 (twice!).

I watched ER and Friends when they both started. I planned my Thursday nights around both shows. There were so many ER eps from the early seasons, that you were literally on the edge of your seat. You just didn't know what to expect next! Then one by one, our beloved initial ensemble cast decided to leave ER. I missed Doug, Carol, Susan, when they left. The place just wasn't the same without them. Even Benton!!! When he was there, you just hated his guts!!!! When he left, you thought - who do I have to loathe now? LOL Okay we had prickly Romano but we didn't see him eachweek giving Carter a hard time, for one thing. Benton had it in for Carter, who everyone really liked!

All of that said, the defining moment of ER's glory days and now not so glory days is when Mark Greene died. That was it! He was the absolute core, driving force of that magical ensemble cast.

And now when I read articles like this about a character like Lizzie, I'm sad. Sad that she's considered too old for ER. But not as sad as when Mark died. I think that's when the real ER died for me. I ask was Anthony Edwards too old for ER? Was he not good looking enough for ER (let's face it, he's not the hunk type at all! The complete opposite of George Clooney, but he had it all baby, IMHO, who cares if he was losing his hair? LOL). So now we're losing our last connection to Mark - Lizzie.

Sometimes I'm surprised it's still chugging along. I'm just no longer on the edge of my seat anymore. Sad isn't it? Still watch, mainly b/c I don't want to miss a show that may still blow us all away. And then I'd be kicking myself for missing that show.

Mary

That is a load of crap!! I am an avid ER fan and that just makes me really mad about her getting the axe like that!! Ill tell ya what.. they need to quit it with that some sex realtionships.. They need to get rid of Weaver... Shes the old one...

That sucks! I really liked her!

YankeeGirl wrote:That is a load of crap!! I am an avid ER fan and that just makes me really mad about her getting the axe like that!! Ill tell ya what.. they need to quit it with that some sex realtionships.. They need to get rid of Weaver... Shes the old one...

(I assume you mean "same.")

Uh, her partner is DEAD. There is no relationship. So, your wish has been granted.

As if there was really any big storyline with that anyway...until the baby was born and then Sandy died a few eps later. Other than that, it was mostly on the backburner. I was getting kind of tired of them being in Africa all the time and Carter having that darned beard!

Weaver has to stay. She's chief of staff. Carter doesn't have enough experience to be COS.

I didnt like the Africa episodes too... they were boring... Sorry ... I cant spell... I meant same... I just didnt like the twist.. like you said, it was a story line going no where... But I am really disappointed about Alex leaving... Im still in shock!

wx247 wrote:
"ER" was created by "Jurassic Park" author Michael Crichton and is based in the casualty ward of a Chicago hospital.

I'll take another "Jurassic Park" sequel over "ER", any day!

This SUcks. I liked her

That is unfortunate. Lizzie was awesome! She told it like it was! It seems that the glory days are slowly winding down... Most of the original actors like Anthony Edwards, Clooney and Julianna Marqulies have left the show. Every year, new doctors join the show leaving the viewers to quickly decipher who is who. Best episodes IMHO are Loves Labor Lost and the one where Greene died.

Shannon - Loves Labor Lost was the one that had me riveted to the TV. I taped and watched that night. In case the phone rang and I couldn't get out of the call. Another fave is when Ross saves the little boy in the storm drain. And my first favorite episode, after the pilot of course, is Season 1's finale, Carol's ill fated wedding to Tag. At the very end when the reception goes on anyway, and she's trying to thank her wonderful friends for their undying devotion to her (they could have easily sided with Tag you know, he was a doc there too) I lost it. When they all begin dancing in slow motion, I cried more. And finally when the camera panned around to the core group - Mark, Carol, Doug, Susan - that was the moment I knew ER was an awesome new drama. All year long it had high ratings but I'm a sucker for mushy moments like that. I was crying, sad and happy for Carol, and muttering - I love this show!

Just a few examples of ER's glory days, IMHO. Long gone now. If ER can still survive with newcomers, then I say go for it. But for fans from day one, like myself, we already know it was superb back then. It just won't be like that ever again. Similar to the Friends cast - magical ensemble casts like ER/Friends/Cheers/Andy Griffith/Mary Tyler Moore/M*A*S*H, etc. just do not come along everyday in TV Land. When they do, you'd better appreciate them. Let's just leave it at this - I appreciated how good ER was back then.

Mary

LLL has ALWAYS ranked as my absolute favorite ER episode!!! Of course, it helps that I'm a Colleen Flynn fan (she played Jodi O'Brien, the mom).

Shannon and Shawn - what's ironic about LLL is that it isn't very believable! Even though we all knew that, ER took us all along for the ride. OB was just a few floors up. All Mark had to do was put that patient on a stretcher himself and say screw OB, I'm not waiting, I'm taking her up there myself! But no he was trying his best to save both mom and baby. I did not see the baby dying coming, at all.

This would never happen in a big city hospital ER would it Shawn? I can it happening in a small town hospital maybe but not in this day and age! How long would it have taken to get that mom up to OB - mere minutes? Still it was a wonderful show just the same. And when we reminisce about it, rarely do we think of it from a reality standpoint - in real life it wouldn't have happened that way.

Mary