Last night, news of Colin Egglesfield (Auggie Kirkpatrick) and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz's (Violet Foster) quick Melrose Place alumni status rang across the blogosphere and entertainment sites, dropping jaws and cackles across the board in the process. Well the smoke has cleared and now we can get down to business on why walking papers were given so early to Colin, because Ashlee's exit was pre-planned.
According to the sexy Korbi Ghosh over at Zap2It, Colin Egglesfield was blind-sided with the news and had no clue about his upcoming departure. While that news was a shock, TV Guide Online's report was the equivalent of a bitch-slap. According to them, the 'reason' behind Egglesfield's departure was The CW felt that Auggie's bout with alcoholism was too "dark" for the show.
<blinks eyes>
Excuse me? Come again...?!?!?
Now I would have took the excuse that the character wouldn't fit into the mold of the direction the show was taking. That's fine. But to say that his character was too "dark"? That's a slap to the face of every TV viewer out there. The show also has medical student Lauren Yung (Stephanie Jacobsen) moonlighting as a call girl/prostitute to pay her medical bills. Gossip Girl had underage drinking, sex, and drugs during it's first two seasons. 90210 has two of their teens dealing with teenage pregnancy, but alcoholism is too "dark" for The CW? What next? Are they going to yank Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries as well? We know that last bit is unlikely, but the point is don't insult the intelligence of your audience, CW.
