t.r. knight

Isaiah Washington sure is involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities lately, thanks to his unstoppable mouth. He's working hard to save his job as Dr. Burke on Grey's Anatomy, after pissing off co-workers and offending gays everywhere with his derogatory comments about co-star T.R. Knight.

After visiting with gay activists last week and agreeing to be in PSAs (public service announcements), today he announced that he has entered counseling to deal with his bigoted view of the world anger toward homosexuals. In a statement, Washington said, "I remain committed to transforming my negative actions into positive results, personally and professionally." Grey's producer Shonda Rhimes released her own statement, applauding Washington for taking corrective action for his "behavioral issues", which makes it sound like he has a whole laundry list of issues.

The New York Times is reporting that ABC and Disney execs are "mulling the future" of Isaiah Washington. He's in hot water with fans, critics, and his own co-stars for using the word "faggot" to describe gay co-star T.R. Knight. His use of that word may be in violation of Disney's corporate antidiscrimination policy (plus, there's an online petition to get him canned).

Let me sum up: He got into a verbal and then physical argument with Patrick Dempsey on the set of Grey's last year, in which Washington used the f-word to refer to Knight. It all simmered down until Golden Globes night when Washington told a room full of reporters that it never happened and he repeated the f-word. Co-stars Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight went on different television shows blasting Washington. Since then, Washington has apologized, claimed he's "getting help", fired his publicist (why? because he's the bigot?), and hired a crisis management team. Yesterday, he met with gay activists.

Leave it to somebody not even remotely associated with a controversy to have a solution for it.

You've probably heard (here and elsewhere) about Isaiah Washington's use of a certain word to describe co-star T.R. Knight during a fight on the Grey's Anatomy set between Washington and Patrick Dempsey. And you've heard about Washington's denial that he used the word, his co-star's outrage that he denied using it, ABC's outrage at Washington in general, GLAAD's outrage over the entire incident, and now news that Washington has agreeed to meet with gay leaders and seek help (whew...hope you followed all that). Now musician John Mayer has come up with a way to solve the entire crisis without kicking Washington off of the show.

Make his character gay! As he says, "What better way for an actor to get to the roots of his discrimination than by portraying the very the subject of his own ire for the remainder of his contract? That'll learn ya!"

[via TV Tattle]

(S03E12) Don't panic, folks. I'm just here to help Joel cover Grey's while he's off covering the TCA for us. I'm as shocked at you are that I, of all people, is covering this show at all, especially with what I've said about it in the past. But yes, I watch this show now and am pretty much caught up with everything, but just the same, be gentle in your comments. Please? Thanks. I'll keep it short.

The theme for this episode seemed to be all about becoming personally involved. Let's go over how this theme appeared among all the show's characters.

Isaiah Washington may be the least liked cast member on the set of Grey's Anatomy. After the Golden Globes, he ticked off Katherin Heigl, who plays "Izzie" on the show. After the cast won the Golden Globe for Best Drama, Washington faced some tough questions from the media about an explosive incident on the set last year where Washington reportedly called T.R. Knight a "faggot", and nearly got in a fistfight with Patrick Dempsey over his comment. The entire thing led to T.R. Knight admitting his homosexuality to the national media.

On Monday night, Washington told the media types that the whole incident "never, never happened." Katherine Heigl disagrees and sounded off to Access Hollywood, saying that Washington is full of crap. Knight concurs. It sounds like Washington makes his work environment rather uncomfortable.

Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington has not only apologized for getting into that little fight with costar Patrick Dempsey on the set a few weeks ago, but he's also apologizing for using the words "little faggot." (The fight between Washington and Dempsey started after costar T.R. Knight - who just revealed he's gay - was late for a scene.)

Washington was supposed to be on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show today, but canceled. Costar Katherine Heigl had warned DeGeneres to "step back" when she interviewed Washington, so maybe that fueled the cancellation even more.

Wow, is the drama on Grey's Anatomy as good as the behind the camera stuff? If so, maybe I'm missing out by not watching it.

(S03E01) Season premieres are always a little bit of a letdown, aren't they? Those cliffhangers that were oh so effective at hooking you in and keeping you wanting more all through the summer end up looking a bit silly in retrospect when things start to play out the next season. The third-season premiere of Grey's Anatomy has elements of that. When we left off last May, Denny was dead, Izzie was a mess, and Meredeth just had prom sex with Derek and needed to choose between him and Finn.

Now we're back, and of course, none of those issues get resolved. But at least by the end of this episode you have a feeling that things are going to be pretty interesting over at Seattle Grace this year.

Katherine Heigl, who plays Izzie on Grey's Anatomy, is dropping hints about what's going to happen during the second half of the season at Seattle Grace Hospital. Stop reading here if you don't want to know any more.

Heigl says her character is going to be involved in a love triangle, there is some sort of prom episode coming up, and she also says that someone is going to leave the show. That last revelation comes as no big surprise to me as it is becoming painfully obvious that they are going to get rid of a certain intern whom I will not name. Fine by me, as that character has pretty much run its course. There's always the possibility that they will boot Addison Shepherd off the show but I find that extremely unlikely considering all the drama she causes among the interns. Plus, I'm rooting for her in the other love triangle. What Katherine doesn't do is reveal the big question that everybody seems to want to know: will Meredith and Dr. McDreamy reunite?

The next new episode of Lost isn't until Wednesday, January 11th, so ABC is kindly airing a recap of the season so far. It airs at 8 pm on January 11th, and is called "Revelations," and then the new episode about Eko and his stick, called "The 23rd Psalm", airs at 9 pm the same night. By then, we will have gone for six whole weeks without a new episode of Lost! If you've never seen Lost, but you want to get in on the excitement, I would recommend watching the DVDs for Season One and then watching the recap. You can also read recaps of all this season's episodes here.

And, if you're like Ryan, and you're wondering what all the excitment is over Grey's Anatomy, ABC is also airing a recap episode of that show on Sunday, Jan. 8th at 10 pm. The next new episode of Grey's is a week later. This won't be nearly as hard to catch up on as it will be to catch up on Lost. Basically, Meredith Grey is a really skinny surgical intern in Seattle who had an affair with another surgeon who is married. She has pretty much spent this whole season pouting about it. Yet, I can't stop watching...