Brooke Smith
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Brooke Smith says she isn't holding a grudge after abruptly and controversially getting fired from the cast of ABC's Grey's Anatomy last month.

"It's an end of a chapter," the actress, 41, said over the weekend at the Trevor Project's 11th Annual Cracked Christmas event in Los Angeles.

"Grey's Anatomy was good experience," she added. "I'd played gay characters before, and I don't think that's going to end. There's no hard feelings. I have other projects now, so it is what it is."

Smith is now writing a new show with NYPD Blue producer David Milch.

Rumors swirled that Brooke Smith got the ax because her character was gay, but show creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes denied that in a statement, saying:

"Brooke Smith was obviously not fired for playing a lesbian. Clearly it's not an issue as we have a lesbian character - Dr. Calliope Torres (Sara Ramirez)... we did not find that the magic and chemistry with Brooke's character would sustain in the long run."

Backing up Rhimes' remarks is the fact that intern Sadie (Melissa George) was flirting with Callie in the most recent episode, "All By Myself," while a new love interest, Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) is rumored to be joining the cast come Spring.

Former Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington - who was let go from the show after the end of the third season in mid-2007 (amid allegations of making homophobic slurs about gay co-star T.R. Knight) - is slamming the show for its recent firing of Brooke Smith.

"I looked at a brilliant actress, whom I have adored since I first saw her in Silence of the Lambs," Washington says in the November 17 issue of TV Guide.

"For her to be treated this way, I find very interesting."

After Brooke Smith was let go, Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes released a statement last week insisting she "was obviously not fired for playing a lesbian" and did not think the "chemistry with Brooke's character would sustain in the long run."

Regardless, Isaiah Washington says the move was harsh.

"The fact is that, just before the holidays, you have a mother, a wonderful actress removed from a steady income without the proper reasoning behind it," he said.

"You look at the way another consummate professional [is] being treated because her character, her story line [has] potentially made producers uncomfortable."

He says Shonda Rhimes is getting the raw deal.

"Now that I see what they're doing to a show that I love and I care about, I think it's disgusting," Isaiah Washington said. "The fact that Shonda has been put in this position is extremely unfair. It's unfortunate because it was probably, at the time, the most progressive show on television. Now I see it [being] systematically torn apart."

How can the show be fixed?

"Bring Burke back!" Washington says.

Would he return to the show, despite all the drama? "Absolutely!" 

As controversy continues to swirl around Brooke Smith's firing from Grey's Anatomy, EW's Michael Ausiello offers the following insight in his weekly Q&A session ...

Q: What the heck about Brooke Smith leaving on Grey's Anatomy? And her last episode is this Thursday? And Hahn's final scene consists of her leaving work for the day? Insanity.

A: I'm going to give Shonda Rhimes the benefit of the doubt and assume she's intentionally leaving Hahn's exit ambiguous and, therefore, open to interpretation. Sort of like the Sopranos finale. Did Hahn get shot to death on the way to the parking garage? Did she pull a Thelma & Louise and drive her car off a cliff? Did the hospital's automatic doors malfunction and decapitate her? Did she return to Weeds? The possibilities are endless. Personally, I'm leaning toward the Thelma & Louise scenario. According to one of my Grey's Anatomy moles, Callie and Erica have a big, relationship-severing blowout in tomorrow's episode that starts with an argument over whether Izzie paid a big enough price for her role in Denny-gate (guest star Jeffrey Dean Morgan also supposedly makes an appearance tonight!), and ends with Callie realizing she doesn't love girls as much as Erica does. Hey, people have killed themselves over less.

During an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Patrick Dempsey commented on Brooke Smith and her departure From Grey's Anatomy - meaning he read a statement from ABC.

Clearly the Grey's Anatomy leading man can't say a lot about it - he may not even know a lot about it - but Patrick did manage to crack a joke at one point. Here's the clip below (if anyone can find the full interview please post the link and we'll add it)!

As we reported early this morning, sources confirmed that Brooke Smith, who plays Dr. Erica Hahn (a heart surgeon who recently realized she is gay), has been axed from the Grey's Anatomy cast. Brooke Smith sounded off on this to EW's Michael Ausiello.

You may have already seen this, but in the wake of Smith's surprise and sudden firing, insiders connected to the ABC series tell E! Online that some of the gay-themed story lines are being downplayed - and even erased from upcoming Grey's Anatomy scripts.

And that goes for the series' latest (and controversial) newcomer, Melissa George of Alias fame, who is set to join the medical drama this month ...

Melissa came on to the show as a bisexual character and love interest for Callie (Sara Ramirez), but a reliable insider says that's no longer in the cards, "They changed the script, and now she isn't. She starts off flirting with Callie but it never goes anywhere."

Melissa will portray Meredith's (Ellen Pompeo) best friend - with a possible history - and a new intern at Seattle Grace. No word on how that will play out.

Grey's Anatomy included a prominent bisexual / lesbian storyline in Season Five in the blossoming (and complex) relationship between Hahn (Smith) and Callie (Ramirez). That storyline will end in this Thursday's episode, "Rise Up" - which will be Smith's last on the series.

"They don't really give her a goodbye," an ABC source says. "It ends rather abruptly."

Grey's Anatomy has officially cut ties with a female, outspoken, blonde doctor – and it's not Katherine Heigl. It's Brooke Smith. As in Dr. Erica Hahn.

As in half of Callica, Grey's Anatomy first-ever significant gay couple.

And that's only part of the story. According to Entertainment Weekly, this was not Shonda Rhimes' decision but rather an order that came down from the network.

According to one Grey's Anatomy source, the suits at ABC "had issues" with both the explicit direction Callica was taking (think: undiscovered country, south of the border, etc.) and, more importantly, with the Erica Hahn character in general.

Basically, they didn't like her and wanted her gone ASAP.

But how soon? Follow the jump for Michael Ausiello's interview with Brooke Smith and a statement from Rhimes in response to this story at the end of the Q&A ...

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This isn't a new interview, it's actually a few weeks old. But it's still neat to see - in video form - what Brooke Smith (Erica Hahn) has to say about Grey's Anatomy and her character, which has one of the most intriguing story lines this year ...

Grey's Anatomy star Eric Dane, who plays Mark Sloan, decided to bring the big guns to work in Los Angeles yesterday morning. See below ...

In between flexing his bulging biceps, the 35-year-old actor shot scenes with co-stars Katherine Heigl, Patrick Dempsey and Brooke Smith.

Always good to see the gang back in action. Click to enlarge some more photos of the aforementioned Grey's Anatomy stars on the set ...

This spring, Grey's Anatomy introduced a lesbian story line with a romance between the confident, sexually voracious Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) and the professionally ambitious yet personally restrained Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith).

The plot line, culminating in the season finale, "Freedom," offered both the drama Grey's Anatomy has become known for and a groundbreaking truthfulness network television has rarely achieved when it comes to lesbian relationships.

For Callie and Erica, the season ended with a passionate kiss...

With that kiss, Callie and Erica became the only regular lesbian or bi-sexual female characters currently on network television.

This is also the first time that two regular stars on a network show have begun a lesbian romance, as opposed to one becoming involved with a new lesbian character introduced expressly for that relationship.

To prepare for the story line, which will continue next season, the Grey's Anatomy producers consulted with GLAAD, which worked with the series on a previous story line about a transgender character with breast cancer.

To read more about how the Callie-Erica story line was developed on Grey's Anatomy, and for hints at what's to come, follow the link here ...

For Grey's Anatomy fans who began the season wondering if Dr. ­Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith) was gay, last week's season finale offered an answer - she might just be, after Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) made her move.

The two-hour episode - which culminated with Callie planting a kiss on Erica outside of Seattle Grace - had people asking: For the love of The L Word, could EriCal eclipse MerDer as the Grey's Anatomy "It" couple?

Creator Shonda Rhimes tells Entertainment Weekly that we may not have seen the last of this budding (and much buzzed-about) Seattle Grace romance.

Is there a future for Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Erica (Brooke Smith)?

"Callie and Erica have an undeniable chemistry," says Shonda Rhimes.

"Watching the story unfold is something the writers are looking forward to. I wanted to illuminate their relationship in the same way we try to do all relationships on the show - ­funny, sweet, honest, and a little bit dirty."

As for Brooke Smith, she doesn't think Dr. Hahn was coming out of the closet in the last few weeks leading up to the finale.

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