I doubt ABC is purging though. Ugly Betty has been on for 3 seasons, and the other shows are well-received. Suddenly purging is not just not inline with what they endorsed (well…shown on their channel), but risky. Fans will speak up.

@ Tom – Hey, I’m southern, don’t sweat it, ha. Anyway, I’ve included an “edit” to my post to reflect your knowledge about Romijn’s situation. Thanks!

As I said, I don’t know enough about the ABC suits, or the other shows, to give an informed position on a supposed gay purge by ABC as a whole.

However, I know Ugly Betty pretty darned well. I covered both the Penette firing and the Romijn demotion in depth last year. I can say with a pretty good amount of certitude that neither decision came from ABC corporate.

Horta was up front – he took a humongous (but much needed) risk – those two things were only a small part of the overhaul.

The timing isn’t right, either – the decision on Romijn happened last season (coincidentally, about the time she got pregnant). The firings on the other shows seem to be more recent.

However, I don’t think it’s “silly” (nor do I really think anyone looks “silly”) for including Ugly Betty/Rebecca Romijn in the group. The ideas people are having are based on changes that several ABC shows have undergone (or are currently undergoing) – not merely what one show (Grey’s Anatomy) has done. It’s because of the departure of other gay/bi/transgendered characters on other ABC shows that this new development of Grey’s (getting rid of Brooke Smith) is so in the spotlight.

Too, the changes don’t seem to be coming from the writers, producers, etc. of these shows. They seem to be coming (according to entertainment news sources, so, everyone has to be his own judge) from the much higher ups at ABC. If that’s true, I don’t think Silvio Horta’s sexual orientation would play much of a role in what the higher ups at ABC want. At the same time, it could always be that ABC is “okay” with homosexual characters, but not transgendered ones (re: Carmelita from Dirty Sexy Money). And, if that’s the case, people would be left looking for another reason why Brooke Smith had to leave.

In any event, I don’t think anyone is using the change with Ugly Betty/Rebecca Romijn as solid evidence that ABC is being “anti-gay.” I think it’s more of an example of “Hey, wait a minute…this kind of character departure seems to be happening network-wide…remember Ugly Betty?”

And Grey’s maybe shutting down a lesbian storyline, but another huge ABC show has had a few ‘gay’ storylines in the past and is still having some: Desperate Housewives! Andrew and Justin in the past (and still a bit nowadays) and Bob & Lee as neighbours on Wisteria Lane. So i don’t really mind that they shut down the lesbian storyline on Grey’s, there are plenty of gay related shows on ABC!