I was watching the episode last night where Susan leaves. I was thinking of something afterwards. When Sherri left she wasn't allowed to do anything for two years. She was still on contract and they didn't want her to leave. Kellie's exit was different. She was killed off and she was still on contract. I heard somewhere that she's filming a new movie. I can't remember where I heard that. Anyways, I started to wonder if Kellie really left on her own terms now or not. I know this has been asked before but I don't think anyone saw this between Sherri and Kellie. I know Kellie wanted to leave but did she really ask to leave or was she forced to leave? We may never know for sure but I hope she left on her own terms and wasn't forced out. The other reason I thought of this was because on "Oprah" thay had Tina Turner on one of the shows. They showed members from the cast of "ER" wishing Gloria good luck. When Rosie did a shoe with "ER" not one person mentioned her. It was as if they didn't care that she left. I'm sorry this is so long but I had a few things to say.

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), June 06, 2000

Answers

I think the two situations were very different. Sherry was the first original cast member to leave, and she had to break her contract to do it. She upset the apple cart, and TPTB weren't too happy about it. I also heard that some of her cast members were upset with her, too.

I don't think Kellie got fired. I think she got tired of her lack of storyline and of being a character that most viewers hated. (I liked Lucy, but I know I'm in the minority.) TPTB agreed to let her out of the contract because they weren't trying very hard with her character, anyway. It sounded amicable to me, or at least more so than Sherry's departure. Kellie even agreed to their wishes to kill off Lucy, to send her out in a grand fashion. And guess what? It worked.

Personally, I don't think TPTB are interested in firing anyone. Maybe they'll start with Michael Michele!

As for no one mentioning Kellie on Rosie, I think that's just more of ER/TPTB's "let's move on, shall we?" attitude that they've had since Sherry left. It's always seemed kind of arrogant to me, but it's probably best for the show. Keep moving forward.

I guess there will be this kind of speculation for as long as people are still talking about Kellie's departure/Lucy's death. Irregardless, I'm glad that Kellie's happy and working again. I think she got off what I'm afraid will be a sinking ship next season.

-- Avan (avanveck@aol.com), June 06, 2000.

Just out of curiosity, do you know which cast members were angry or upset with Sherry when she decided to leave? I heard that she's still friends with George & Anthony, and she & Julianna seemed really close. Just wondering...

-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), June 07, 2000.

Thanks for asking that Arianne. That was going to be my question as well.

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), June 07, 2000.

I don't know which cast members so can't answer that question, but I can understand why they would be. As an ensemble cast, Sherry's character was very important as is honoring your commitment to the show and others. Also some of them could have been concerned for her since she left to be close to a (former now) boyfriend and had the chance of seriously damaging her career. Remember, she couldn't work, on TV at least, until her contract expired. One more point, I've heard she'd already pulled a similar stunt on another show, NYPD BLUE, I think. Just a few thoughs on the subject. She definitely didn't leave in good graces with TPTB but Delta Burke didn't leave DESIGNING WOMEN in good graces with Linda Bloodworth Thomason either and ended up doing a series with her later; she's still on the outs, however, with Dixie Carter. A little difference but some similarities between the two stories.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), June 07, 2000.

Sherry did do something similar on "NYPD Blue." She played David Caruso's character's ex-wife in the first season. She was a supporting character, I believe, if that -- she may have only been recurring. At the end of that season she and that show's PTB mutually decided they'd taken her character as far as it could go -- she was basically a launch or a history service to Caruso's character. Well, I think Sherry decided her character had maxed out, and TPTB agreed with her amicably. I can understand why people on "ER" would be upset -- these six people were so identified with each other and with the show, for the first person to leave it had to be scary. If she were my friend I'd be concerned for her, though Stringfield has said the "boyfriend" comment got blown out-of-proportion and she really left because she was making this astronomical amount of money, yet had no time to pay the bills.

-- Arianne (CarolRossSusanGreene@yahoo.com), June 07, 2000.