Contemplating Doug, wouldn't a surprise be good?

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Everyone has been writing about how or if Doug Ross should come back, whether Carol should go to him, or whether they have been hiding that GC is coming to do her last show, etc. I'm guessing a lot of people are assuming he is not coming back (me included, unfortunately), but how great would it be if he were to come back, without any publicity? You know, the show is just going on as usual, and then they pan over to a doorway with the slow Doug/Carol music on and there he is. Maybe Mark or Carter and a couple of nurses are around. And every single Doug and Carol fan would be ecstatic, because no one knew. That would be great wouldn't it? I mean, it is driving me crazy that there still is a *slight* possiblity that he may come back, and we don't know for sure. Of course, I doubt they would throw away good publicity by not announcing ahead of time of his appearance, but it would be great wouldn't it?

-- Elaine (mrsclooney78@hotmail.com), April 16, 2000

Answers

definitely, a surprise would be nice...i was actually contemplating the same thing. i know, i know, it's the farthest longshot in the world that GC would come back, but the best way would be a suprise. just a short shot, like elaine said, would be just fine. it's probably not going to happen, but we can always hope

-- Marcia (mlg244@is9.nyu.edu), April 16, 2000.

Yes, it would be GREAT!! If TPTB are set on keeping the details of her departure a secret, then that they will do. As was mentioned on an earlier thread, keeping the public unsuspecting is highly successful and possible (think Billy's demise on "Ally McBeal"). People will be tuning in in throngs for the sole fact that it's "Hathaway's" last episode, and in the chance that he *DOES* return, audiences would DEMAND that the episode be re-broadcast, and most likely the ratings for that episode -- even in rerun -- would be high: fans who saw it would tune in to watch again and possibly tape it, fans who taped it obviously love it enough to watch again, and fans who missed it would clear their calenders!!

-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), April 16, 2000.

To get high ratings the first time, I could see NBC hyping something like, "And a surprise from Carol's past...." Then people would tune in almost assured of seeing George C. But since I haven't heard that, it looks like GC won't even make a surprise appearance. I think if he were remotely connected to Carol's departure NBC would hype it for all it was worth for the sake of ratings. I can't see that they would sacrifice viewers just to shock us.

-- Jane (lc19@swt.edu), April 17, 2000.

I wouldn't put it past TPTB at all to suprise the audience. They're already going to have sky high ratings anyway for Julianna's last episode. George has said he doesn't want to steal her thunder,(how noble of him) and TPTB don't want to look like they are using him to get inflated ratings. If her exit storyline arc has anything to do with Doug (and from what we saw last week, they have started down that road) folks will more than likely tune in just because of the mere possibility of it all. And just for the record, a Doug and Carol reunion sans George would go over like a lead balloon. I'm not saying it's going to happen that way, I just wouldn't be suprised if it did. JMO of course

-- JLD (jld@whoever.com), April 18, 2000.

I really doubt that GC could make a "surprise appearance" for a bunch of reasons. I'm sure the second anyone saw him step onto the Warner Bros. lot in May, they'd be on the phone to whatever gossip-type media product they could find to spill...plus, wouldn't NBC want to hype the appearance beyond all reason? (I suspect they'd leak the stories about GC showing up...) I wouldn't mind seeing Doug reappear for a few episodes, but one comes off like a cheesy soapish event (and I'd still like to pretend that ER isn't a soap...) I mean, why not just have Carol wake up, then slip back into a permanent coma, proving that the past six or seven seasons have all been a dream brought on by her overdose in the pilot.

-- Kevin (Desjy@canada.com), April 19, 2000.


It doesn't mean anything for GC to be on the lot, he's there all the time playing basketball with Anthony Edwards and Noah Wyle, and visiting Julianna Margulies. So the media wouldn't neccessarily think anything about it, only that he was visiting friends.

-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), April 19, 2000.

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