The Anatomy of Grey's casting drama

     Casting drama is all the rage over at Grey's Anatomy.  While characters have rotated in and out almost since the show's inception, there has been a lot of news as of late.  Most notably, Dr. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver, 24, Lipstick Jungle), after only a handful of episodes, has been picked up as a full time cast member.

     Of the original characters from the pilot, three have long been involved in controversy and infighting.  The first, Isaiah Washington, was let go way back in the spring of 2007.  While that should have ended it, T.R. Knight seemed to stay unhappy until he was let go last spring.  Now the final member of the trio, who has also had her share of saying the wrong thing in interviews and when accepting awards, is trying to be released, and rumor is, she's going to get her wish.  Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up) still has a year left on her contract, but she has been largely absent from this season, and it would not be a surprise if they just let her get out of their hair.

     In happier news, Grey's has recently recast two of its older characters to do a flashback to 1982 in the February 18th episode, entitled "Time Warp".  J. August Richards (Angel, Raising the Bar) will take over for James Pickens Jr. when he plays young Richard, and Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip) will play the younger version of Ellis Grey.  Sarah, in particular, resembles Kate Burton, the actress who played Ellis in fifteen episodes of the series.  We will also see flashbacks for Dr. Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Callie (Sara Ramirez), but the actresses currently playing those roles will stay the same, as it won't be as far in the past.

     Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9pm on ABC.