Departures

I’ve been busy lately, and I haven’t been watching as much of anything as I usually do – especially television. It’s old news by now, but I was bit dismayed by the news of two departures from television shows I usually love. Emmy Winner Katherine Heigl of Grey’s Anatomy and Paul Schneider (one of the lone persons of normalcy on the hilarious Parks & Recreation), have left their posts on their respective shows. I’ve been following Grey’s sporadically this season, because of time issues. Sure, it’s not as good as it used to, but I’m still a (tempered) fan. I’ve always been very fond of Heigl’s work, but her character had become so shrill I wasn’t too sure what the writers were up to. Poor Justin Chambers (who I feel was robbed of Emmy love last season) can’t even catch a break with Alex. I figure there’s no romantic steadiness imminent for him, since he and Heigl’s Izzie severed their marriage of a few months. Grey’s just isn’t the same without the original people, even T. R. Knight, who was won’t to annoy me on occasion, saddened me with his departure. I really would like for Grey’s to get back on track, for their sake at least (I still love Pompeo, Chambers, Oh and Wilson) but I’m not too sure how’s that working out.

I’ll be missing Schneider too on Parks & Recreation, I will admit that I preferred his weird chemistry with Poehler’s Leslie Knope to his romance with Rashida Jones’ Ann. They were just both too normal for each other. Schenider presented a balance to Parks & Recreation with his sedate humour and sense, and even though I’m glad he’s pursuing his film career after his excellent turn in Bright Star, it’s still sad when an original leave. I’m not so worried for the fate of the show, though. With the excellent cast, things are looking good…if only they’d get Megan Mullally back for another guest stint… and Schenider says he’s willing to return to the show if his schedule permits, so I guess all bets aren’t off.

          

Maybe I’m just a sucker for consistency; I’ll admit I don’t like when things change, but what are your thoughts on cast members leaving their TV shows. Sure, life must go on, and careers will grow but it always pains me. Then I heard Charlie Sheen is threatening to leave Two & A Half Men. That doesn’t bother me so much; they just cancel that atrocity.